The role of ethics in the management of New Zealand's wild mammals

Ethical concern for the welfare of sentient animals is increasingly accepted within animal-based sciences. Wildlife researchers and managers in New Zealand have attempted to define specific ethical responsibilities towards introduced pests of conservation values. Animal welfare guidelines developed for captive and domestic animals have been found unsuitable for this new context. Marks' (1999) recent recommendation that we should adopt an ecocentric ethic that always relegates animal welfare to a secondary concern is shown to provide an incomplete methodology. We propose a more comprehensive framework for considering ethical responsibility to pest species based on a review of contemporary bioethics. This framework is adapted and demonstrated specifically for New Zealand's introduced wild ungulates. Under this framework some contemporary assumptions must be questioned (e.g., justifying recreational hunting through the provision of an ecologically therapeutic role). We recommend continued and comprehensive processes of ethical consideration in management decision-making for other introduced wild mammal species.