Allie Jalbert Domestic Animal Businesses Shelters/Pounds - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Allie Jalbert

Domestic Animal Businesses

• Shelters/Pounds
• Breeders/Rearers
• Pet Shops
• Boarding

Establishments

• Dog Training

Establishments

• Greyhound

Establishments

creativesoulinmotion.com

DAB Responsibility & Accountability

• DAB permit required to
• perate
• 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

protection (Does it achieve this though?)

scrup.com

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 permitted

wikipedia.org

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– Outdated and fails to meet community expectations (published 2002) – Vague and open to interpretation- difficult to apply legally – Euthanasia by firearm acceptable –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– Outdated and fails to meet community expectations (published 2005) – Little health & welfare protection for animals or consumers – Record keeping – Interconnectivity to breeders, rearers, other pet shops

peta.org

Boarding Establishments

• Good

– Covers day boarding,

• vernight boarding, and

home care – Minimum care & hygiene standards – Minimum health care requirements for incoming boarders

• Could be improved

– Health management plans – Emergency management – Enrichment requirements

westflamingo.com 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, especially w/ breeding & long- term care – Emergency management

gap.grv.org.au

DAB Oversight & Enforcement

DAA Limitations

• Management of non-

complaint businesses

– VCAT issues – Criminal charges – Continuing to operate – Limited power to remove animals – Lack of search warrant provisions

Enforceability

• Councils primarily

responsible

– Limited jurisdictional focus – Priorities – Resources – Inconsistency – Other laws (eg. Planning)

• 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
• f 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.