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 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 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– Outdated and fails to meet community expectations (published 2002)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

Breeders & Rearers (Revised Code 2013)

• 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 protecteddepi.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– Outdated and fails to meet community expectations (published 2005)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, overnight 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 desexingfor 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.