neuter and spay Archives | Lawyers for Companion Animals

DEATH TOLL A POUND OF PAIN

FLOSS FLOSS — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 12:06:54 +0000

Daily Liberal

LISA MINNER

05 Jul, 2012 04:00 AM

ABOUT 50,000 cats and dogs are euthanised in NSW annually so Dubbo-based lawyer for Companion Animals, Anne Greenaway, is demanding more pets to be desexed and is calling for backyard breeders to be licensed and regulated.She said the kill rate could be reduced by breeders and pet owners desexing their litters.“People don’t appreciate the connection between backyard breeding and not desexing their animals and the high animal euthanasia rates,’’ she said.“Go check out some of the local noticeboards around town – there’s a never-ending supply of dogs and cats for sale – or free to good home.“Too many cats and dogs are seen as disposable commodities that can be thrown away when the puppy or kitten phase is over, rather than a commitment for the life of the animal.”

Melanie Hancock and her daughter Liz with their blue cattle dog, Scrappy. Mrs Hancock drove to Port Macquarie to adopt Scrappy from a dog rescue group. the four-year-old dog is now a much-loved member of the family. Photo: AMY MCINTYRE

The Dubbo City Council’s 2011 figures (January to December) reveal 225 cats and 41 dogs were killed at the Dubbo City Animal Shelter.

The combined NSW RSPCAs saw 13,031 cats and 8209 dogs killed. The rest of the euthanised animals came from other (council) pounds and shelters within the state.

She said people mistakenly believed that if animals end up at the pound the RSPCA will find them a good home, which was not always the case.

Ms Greenaway said the RSPCA pounds and shelters are burdened with an unnecessary excess with the shame laying squarely at the feet of irresponsible owners and unethical breeders.

The lawyer said she believed breeders who do not desex their animals fall into three categories- ethical purebred breeders who are selective about who they supply to, puppy farmers who do not care what happens to the animals after they have made a quick buck and those “who probably do care” but are not seeing the long-term effects of the breeding cycle they perpetuate.

http://www.dailyliberal.com.au/news/local/news/general/death-toll-a-pound-of-pain/2613949.aspx

NSW COMPANION ANIMAL TASKFORCE (update 19 March 2012)

FLOSS FLOSS — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 08:03:27 +0000

Please note a generic submission in response to the Discussion Paper can be found here
http://lawyersforcompanionanimals.com.au/generic-submission-response-to-companion-animals-taskforce-discussion-paper/

1494—COMPANION ANIMAL TASKFORCE

Ms Clover Moore to the Minister for Local Government, and Minister for the North Coast—

How many times has the Companion Animal Taskforce met?

Were all members present, and if not, which were not?

Were minutes take at meetings?

If not, why not?

Will the Taskforce conduct any consultation to develop its promised Discussion Paper?

If so, who with?

When is a Discussion Paper by the Taskforce expected to be released?

Which animal welfare⁄ protection⁄ rights groups and other organisations will the Taskforce send the Discussion Paper to and specifically ask for a submission?

How will the Discussion Paper be publicised to ensure a wide range of views and experiences are involved in the process to develop recommendations?

Will there be public hearings?

Will submissions be publically available?

Will the taskforce provide a response to submissions?

Answer—

I provide the following details in response to your questions:

The Taskforce has met on four occasions since August 2011.

All members have been present at the meetings, with the exception of the Australian Institute of Local Government Rangers whose representative was unable to attend two meetings, and the Pet Industry Association of Australia whose representative was unable to attend one meeting.

Yes.

See answer to 3.

Consultation on the Taskforce’s areas of inquiry will be conducted as part of the forthcoming discussion paper submission process.

The general public will be consulted through the submission process.

The discussion paper is expected to be released in the first half of 2012.

All interested animal welfare⁄protection⁄rights groups are encouraged to make a submission when the discussion paper is released.

Notices advising of the release of the discussion paper will be placed in metropolitan newspapers and the Government Gazette. Minister Hodgkinson and I will also issue a media release advising of the discussion paper’s release and promote the discussion paper at relevant events. The Taskforce Chair, Mr Andrew Cornwell MP has also indicated that he will publicise the discussion paper at various targeted events. The discussion paper will be available on the Division of Local Government website.

No.

Submissions may be made publicly available, unless individuals specifically indicate that they do not want their submission made public.

No. Submissions will be considered by the Taskforce in preparing its final report to Government.

Question asked on 14 February 2012 (session 55-1) and published in Questions & Answers Paper No. 65.
Answer received on 6 March 2012 and printed in Questions & Answers Paper No. 71.

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/la/qala.nsf/18101dc36b638302ca257146007ee41a/74efa98aeab96e14ca2579a4001fd4b3?OpenDocument

Pet death row shame

FLOSS FLOSS — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:30:04 +0000

CALLAN LAWRENCE

23 Jan, 2012 01:00 AM

ALREADY this year about 400 animals have had to be impounded at the Blacktown Animal Holding Facility, at a rate of about 200 a week.Cats and dogs that are not microchipped are destroyed at the pound after seven days if they are not claimed and those that are microchipped are kept for 14 days before they are killed.One volunteer who battles the odds to re-home and save some of these animals is Mel Norman, who travels an hour and a half from her home in Curl Curl each week to help at the pound. She believes unregulated “backyard breeders” contribute to the high number of animals that are being killed in Blacktown.”If I could nail one single cause, it’s quite clearly backyard breeders,” she said. “When you look at it breeders can get $300 a pooch and dogs can have a litter of nine.”So that’s $2700 in tax-free cash each time. Some breeders don’t care where the pups go. Whether they’re chipped or de-sexed, they just churn them out.”She said these backyard breeders are operating all over Blacktown.

“Even when I go to the pound to rescue seven dogs from the kill list, I go past a dozen signs that say pups for sale.”

Although Blacktown pound takes animals from up to seven other councils, about 70 per cent of the animals impounded come from Blacktown.

Blacktown mayor Alan Pendleton said the problem was multifaceted but he believed educating residents about responsible pet ownership was the biggest challenge.

“Some people go on holidays and take their cat or dog to the pound then come back and get another when they get back,” Councillor Pendleton said. “That type of attitude is just disgraceful.

“We’re trying to educate our community so that when everyone does the right thing by their pet, we won’t need a facility like our pound, except for when an animal is lost.

“Then it won’t churn through the numbers that it does.”

Details: Anyone who is interested in helping re-home animals can call Vicky Goulding, Pound Rounds, 0425 705 561.

comments

Date: Newest first | Oldest first

Thank you Blacktown Sun for highlighting the terrible – and avoidable – tragedy that is a pound euthenasia rate!

Posted by Melanie, 25/01/2012 10:40:37 AM, on Blacktown Sun

Thanks Blacktown Sun for another article highlighting the need to help the poundies. Hopefully this will raise awareness within our community that backyard breeders must be stopped. I am part of Pound Rounds and see first hand the impact of how over breeding contributes to the euthanasia rate. Thanks to all the rescuers, foster carers and adoptions the past 12 months as it has been the best rehoming rate ever and I am extremely proud to be a part of that here’s to getting to zero soon!!

Posted by Lizzie, 25/01/2012 12:23:11 PM, on Blacktown Sun

Congratulations to Pound Rounds, Blacktown Council and Blacktown Sun for your efforts in bringing attention to the plight of animals that are unfortunate enough to end up in a pound. Until mandatory desexing and strictly regulated industry codes are implemented this terrible misery will continue.

Posted by maxijj, 25/01/2012 1:36:27 PM, on Blacktown Sun

This is a “Council” problem.You should be asking your council how come they find this an acceptable solution to their animal welfare problem. It is also their responsibility to educate their rate payers and find a humane solution to this problem. They our the pound keepers and are supposed to be in charge of the welfare of the animals they collect.It is not acceptable for councils not to improve on their animal welfare and it might be a starting point to have them provided a subsidy for desexing and microchipping like a lot of other councils if they have such a horrendous animal problem.

Posted by christy, 25/01/2012 2:56:08 PM, on Blacktown Sun

For many years small reg animal rescue charity’s have worked at the coal face of animal rescue, saving dogs and cats on Deathrow from the many pounds around the country, many have also been assisting low income people with desexing their animals and working within their communities, they do all this on very limited funds and most involved are volunteers.rspca desex nowBring breeder permits in and Blacktown pound-desex all animals before they are adopted.

Posted by pam holmes, 25/01/2012 4:20:48 PM, on Blacktown Sun

It alright for Mr Pendleton to say educating the public…yes we should be..but Blacktown council will NOT have mandatory desexing ..so that when these dogs get adoped out from the pound they will NOT be able to reproduce….now before we can educated the public we have to educate the council….they don’t want to spend the money….there are plenty of ideas that have been brought to the attention of the council re mandatory desexing…vets coming on board the AWL helping out….but no still these dogs leave the pound undesexed ready for any back yard or puppy farm to breed with them….

Posted by Jan Baker, 25/01/2012 6:28:48 PM, on Blacktown Sun

This article misrepresents the AHF. It does not touch on the problem with cats, particularly feral cats. There many rescue organisations for dogs and very few for cats. And animals aren’t killed after 7 days or 14 days. That is the legal holding period, not a kill day. You are dealing with a diverse population in Blacktown. The people who can’t be reached via education due to a lack of conscience, are the same people who violate many other laws with no regard for the consequences. I wholeheartedly agree with the plight, just not the misinforamtion/disinformation. Some Council stats?

Posted by Misha, 26/01/2012 7:15:54 AM, on Blacktown Sun

if they didnt make it so expensive to get your pet back from there there would be less pets in there cats roam my cat got taken there they wanted me to pay $500 to get her back who can afford that i ended up talking to them and paying about $260 she was in there like 2 days she could not of eaten that much food and why can they cut down the price like that if people could just go get there animals back they wouldnt be so many in there

Posted by stan, 26/01/2012 9:56:46 AM, on Blacktown Sun

Mayor Pendleton says ” educating residents about responsible ownership ” is the biggest challenge. Animal advocates – who understand the problem far better than the mayor – have been saying for years that whilst ever Blacktown pounds sells un-desexed animals, they are simply fuelling the huge Back Yard Breeding problem. His own personal view is that owners should be able to decide for themselves if they want desexing for their animals – his are not. The problem is the Mayor and his policies, not educating responsible ownership!!

Posted by Paul Archer, 27/01/2012 11:56:08 AM, on Blacktown Sun

All councils who have taken on the non kill model and impliment desex and microchip of all pound animals have noticed a huge drop of animals returns and animals rehomed.Why would this councils want to waste rate payers money by creating a problem for themselves. Desex means no more dogs than are wanted and microchip means all animals have a home.

Posted by christy, 27/01/2012 1:44:36 PM, on Blacktown Sun

http://www.blacktownsun.com.au/news/local/news/general/pet-death-row-shame/2429629.aspx