NEW CAT & DOG LAWS FOR NSW, AUSTRALIA

(Companion Animals Legislation)

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All newly acquired Cats and Dogs must be registered and microchipped

• Will these laws reduce the numbers of stray animals killed?
• Will these laws ensure more responsible care of animals?

NO	Those who care responsibly for their animals will continue to do so - whether registered or not. Those who don't care will dump them.
NO	Once owned animals are identified by microchip, the unowned will be killed. The new legislation implicitly encourages Councils to capture and destroy all unidentified dogs and cats. Much larger numbers of dogs and cats will be killed under the new legislation.

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Please write to the NSW Premier:

HON BOB CARR
Premier, Parliament House
Macquarie Street, SYDNEY NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9349-6440  Fax: (02) 9349-4594

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IN YOUR LETTER PLEASE MAKE ANY OR ALL OF THE FOLLOWING POINTS:

Cost

Compulsory identification by microchip is stated to cost $35 ($15 for pensioners and $25 for breeders). However the current fee for Microchipping by Vets is up to $70. By what means will the Government force Vets to now charge only a tiny portion of their usual fee? The $35/$25/$15 fee quoted in the Act is presented as a fact but can be no more than a suggestion. There is no way of enforcing it.

The Value of animals to their owners

Australians have one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world. Thousands upon thousands of people truly love their animals and many are dependent on them for affection and companionship. Legislation which makes ownership of a dog or cat more difficult for these people and fraught with anxiety is bad legislation. It is social engineering of the worst kind. It is also legislation which will not accomplish what it claims to accomplish - that is, reduce the number of dogs and cats put to death in pounds.

Loss of Native Species

Cats and Dogs are being blamed for loss of native species, but as scientific studies world-wide agree, the true causes of species loss are massive land clearance, leading to destruction of habitat; grazing of vast herds of sheep and cattle - a major cause of the erosion which plagues Australia; chemical and factory-farm pollution of land, rivers and ocean, destruction of river systems through damming and irrigation.

Desexing of Owned Animals

After intense lobbying the Government created a price differential for registration of a non-sexed companion animal. However there is no recommendation to Councils to assist, as a priority matter, those organisations which already provide cheap or free de-sexing. Anecdotal evidence from welfare/desexing/placement groups confirms that it is often poverty which prevents owners of companion animals from having them de-sexed.

CATS

Impounding Your Cat

Under the Act, if a neighbour sees your Cat 'attacking a person or animal' on his/her property (no proof required) he/she may catch the animal and return it to you, the owner, or take it to the Pound or have the Local Council take it to the Pound. If your neighbour chooses to take your animal to the Pound rather than to you, it will cost you a considerable fine to reclaim your cat. If the cat is not registered and chipped you will have to pay these costs plus boarding fees before being able to reclaim your animal. If your animal is not desexed it will cost you even more.

But unlike such everyday human actions as owning a car, working with power tools, having a social gathering, learning an instrument or playing TV or stereo - all of which impact inevitably on neighbours, but which are regarded as matters of mutual tolerance, owning a Cat is categorised as requiring special permission from the entire neighbourhood.

De-sex and Return of groups of Non-Owned Cats

This highly successful strategy involves trapping the animals one by one - with the assistance of the carer if there is one. The animals are then de-sexed, medicated and returned to base. Homes are found for the kittens. No more kittens are born, as the group's numbers stabilise and the territoriality of the existing cats ensures no more cats join the group. Studies done by RSPCA UK, by Alley Cat Allies in US, by CATS INC in South Australia and by CSIRO in their studies on foxes all confirm de-sex-and-return as cheap, humane and permanent. Killing members of any group merely ensures that more of the young survive and that numbers quickly return to pre-kill level.

DOGS

Right of Officers to Enter Private Property

Under the Companion Animals Act, if a dog so much as threatens (barks?) at another animal or person, even on the private property of the owner, Council staff may enter the property and seize the dog. This action will take place while the owner is absent.

Off-Leash Areas for Dogs

It is imperative that increasingly confined dogs be allowed to run free at least once a day. All Councils are now obliged to provide a leash-free area in their shire or municipality but there is no obligation upon them to provide more than one or to make it accessible to those without private transport.

Dangerous Dogs

Dogs suffer acutely from loneliness, boredom, neglect, lack of freedom and exercise and human ignorance as to the needs of dogs. These things are given little attention in the Act. There is no questioning in the Act as to WHY a dog becomes dangerous, or WHY a dog barks or in other ways becomes a nuisance. Legislation which claims to be devoted to the welfare of animals must deal also with their psychological and behavioural needs, not just provision of food and shelter. Denial of these needs may cause a dog to become savage.

Guard Dogs

No-one in the city or elsewhere should be permitted to train a dog to become savage - either to guard their own home or to rent out to others to guard their premises. In a time of readily available high-tech surveillance, it is archaic that a living creature should be deliberately trained to be savage and unapproachable and be condemned to the narrow restricted life of a guard dog.

BREEDERS

80,000 'surplus' dogs and cats are killed in NSW each year. Despite this "appalling figure" (Hon E. Page, Minister) breeding of new animals for profit is condoned and breeders have a special rate of only $25 per animal. Intelligent healthy stray animals are needlessly slaughtered, because the homes which might have sheltered them are filled with animals which have been deliberately bred for someone's commercial profit. Only an immediate five year moratorium on the commercial breeding of dogs and cats will amend the situation.

What should a Companion Animal Act Provide?
1	De-Sexing Clinics Provision by Councils of cheap or free de-sexing clinics for companion animals and/or de-sex-and-return schemes and/or assistance to the welfare/de-sexing organisations which already provide these services.
2	Pounds - Duty of Care Every effort made by Council Pounds to re-home abandoned or unclaimed animals.
3	Breeding There should be an immediate five-year moratorium on the commercial breeding of dogs and cats.
4	Education Education of the public as to the needs of dogs and cats and encouragement and help to members of the public to provide homes for as many stray animals as possible, thus solving the problem of companion animal over-population.
5	Walking & Leash-free Areas That dogs may be walked in any area, including parks, if they are on a lead. That all parks are leash-free for the exercise of dogs at some period of each day.
6	Training Classes Encouragement of dog owners to attend training classes (using humane methods) with their animals.