Allie Jalbert
Domestic Animal Businesses • Shelters/Pounds • Breeders/Rearers • Pet Shops • Boarding Establishments • Dog Training Establishments • Greyhound creativesoulinmotion.com Establishments
DAB Responsibility & Accountability DAB permit required to • operate Optional conditions for • permits Compulsory Codes of • Practice establish minimum ‘duty of care’ welfare standards Permit subject to inspections • Prosecution powers for non- • compliance Consumer and animal • scrup.com protection (Does it achieve this though?)
Shelters & Pounds (Original Code) Good • – Minimum care standards – Pre-adoption requirements (desex, chip, health, behaviour) Not so good • – 28 day rule – Vague on health/behaviour (restricted adoption) – No foster – Euthanasia by firearm wikipedia.org permitted
Shelters & Pounds (Revised Code 2011) Good • – More comprehensive – Removal of 28 day rule – Foster care – Enrichment – Long-term seized care requirements – Ability to adopt more animals Could still improve • – Euthanasia by firearm – Better protection for long-term seized psychological health
Breeders & Rearers (Current Code) Good • – Minimum care, hygiene, and sales standards Bad • – Outdated and fails to meet community expectations (published 2002) – Vague and open to interpretation- difficult to apply legally – Euthanasia by firearm acceptable – Little health and welfare protection for animals or consumers
�������������������������������������� Good • – Comprehensive consultation & drafting process – Significantly improved health & welfare standards – Clear & enforceable standards – Breeding limits/breeder retirement – Enrichment/exercise required – Euthanasia methods improved – Record keeping improved Could still improve • – Enforceability & resources to do so – Welfare & consumers not completely protected depi.vic.gov.au
Pet Shops Good • Minimum care, hygiene, and sales – standards Covers dogs, cats, pocket pets, – birds, & reptiles Requirement to provide purchasers – health care and desexing literature Bad • Outdated and fails to meet – community expectations (published 2005) Little health & welfare protection for – animals or consumers peta.org Record keeping – Interconnectivity to breeders, – rearers, other pet shops
Boarding Establishments Good • – Covers day boarding, overnight boarding, and home care – Minimum care & hygiene standards – Minimum health care westflamingo.com requirements for incoming boarders Could be improved • – Health management plans – Emergency management – Enrichment requirements moderncat.net
Dog Training Establishments Good • – Minimum care, hygiene, and training standards – Approved organisation registration discounts available Bad • – Outdated and not in line w/ current practices / community standards (published 2002) – Vague and open to interpretation- difficult to apply legally – Fails to adequately address in-care requirements – Little health and welfare protection for animals
Greyhound Establishments Good • – Industry specific code for racing greyhounds – Covers owners, trainers, boarding, spelling, and breeding – Minimum care & hygiene standards Could still improve • – Limited Code for such a broad spectrum of business purposes – Should be reviewed to better reflect community expectations, gap.grv.org.au especially w/ breeding & long- term care – Emergency management
DAB Oversight & Enforcement DAA Limitations Enforceability • Management of non- • Councils primarily complaint businesses responsible – VCAT issues – Limited jurisdictional focus – Criminal charges – Priorities – Continuing to operate – Resources – Limited power to remove animals – Inconsistency – Lack of search warrant – Other laws (eg. Planning) provisions • Limited RSPCA powers • Is this the right model?
What RSPCA Victoria wants • Further amendments to the DAA for improved enforcement and investigation • Outdated codes to be prioritised for review • Interstate enforcement issues addressed • Commitments to adequate resourcing • Is the DAA protecting animal welfare and consumers?
Liz Walker
Domestic Animals Act, is it achieving its purpose? • Domestic Animals Act has been in operation for twenty years. • It was known as the Domestic ( Feral and Nuisance )Animals Act. • Would like to look at a few key points in the Domestic Animals Act that have had the biggest impact from a shelter perspective.
Domestic Animals Act, is it achieving its purpose? • Registration • Micro-chipping • Cat Management • Accountabilities of the owner and DAB • Accountability of Councils (DAM Plans) • Restricted Breeds • How many changes?
Registrations • Has been many variations over the years on fees • Good to see that certain criteria have become mandatory such as micro-chipping and desexing. • Still too easy to have an undesexed animal, this is reflective of the amount of undesexed animals that enter our shelters - YTD 13/14 - 45% of cats (total 4,345) and 48% of dogs (total 8,014) were undesexed when they came into RSPCA Shelters
Micro-chipping The introduction of micro-chipping has enabled hundreds and • thousands of animals to be reunited with their owners
Cat Management • Registration alone is not enough • Compulsory desexing for registered companion cats • Cats Admitted: – 10/11 – 14,885 – 11/12 – 11,658 – 12/13 – 10,963
Owner Accountability • Gone are the days when you can open up your gate and let the dog take itself for a walk • It is now up to the owner to: – Make sure their dog is on a lead – Confine their pet to their property – Keep those noise levels down – Ensure their pets don’t hurt other people or animals – Identify and desex their animal – Clean up after their animal
Domestic Animal Business Accountability • Apply to obtain a Domestic Animal Business Permit • Comply with minimum standards set out in various Codes of Practice • Subject to local council inspections • Ensure good Animal Welfare outcomes • Educate owners on responsible pet ownership
Domestic Animal Management Plans Knox.vic.gov.au
Breed Specific Legislation BSL – Relates to laws that • attempt to regulate or ban certain breeds completely in an attempt to reduce dog attacks • mnn.com • Ultimatepitbullforum.com
How Many Changes???? • There has been around 25 amendments to the Domestic Animals Act • Each one of those amendments may contain numerous clause changes • Latest Restricted Breed amendment had 36 clauses • If Councils, AMOs, Shelters and Pounds find it hard to keep up and understand the changes, what hope does the general public have?
Moving Forward • Apply the same minimum standards to all who adopt/sell animals • We need to focus more on cats (DAMPs) • More education on dog ownership and how to have a “Good Citizen” dog (Calgary Model) • Abolish BSL • Legislation for Cats, Dogs, Native Wildlife, Livestock, but nothing for “Pocket Pets” • Let’s not forget about the welfare needs of the individual animal
Thank you.
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