I'd like to know the laws on the methods you can use to cull rats. I was under the impression that freezing them alive was illegal but yesterday I phoned a pet shop and they told me they don't use gas, they just stick them in the freezer. I don't know if this was due to the assistant's ignorance - maybe he didn't know CO2 is standard and was under the impression I wouldn't want to hear that my snake food had chemicals in it? I don't know but either way I was shocked. Rats are mammals... freezing is not going to "put them to sleep" and it's cruel.
I couldn't find any information on the laws in Qld online so I called the RSPCA who didn't know; I've made an enquiry to the wildlife department and got a response saying a Wildlife Ranger would get back to me but in the meantime if someone here could shed some light that would be great.
Also - just speculating... do you think there are a lot of rodent breeders who claim they gas to cull, but just freeze instead to cut down on costs? Is there a way to tell if a rat has been gassed first or not? I noticed that with one supplier the rats' eyes would be half to fully open sometimes, with feces stuck sometimes to the rats.
Thanks for your input...