Animal Welfare League NSW hopes to end cruel puppy farms
The Animal Welfare League NSW has welcomed as “a life-saving leap forward” a raft of measures announced by the NSW Government to reduce the thousands of cats and dogs euthanized in this state each year.
The government this week announced a range of measures in response to recommendations of the Companion Animal Taskforce. AWLNSW, a member of the Taskforce, has particularly endorsed government moves to:
- Support in principle a breeder licensing system;
- Require sellers to display breeder licences or pets’ microchip numbers;
- Encourage people to buy pets from rescue organisations;
- Discount registration for desexed pets;
- Provide better grant funding for targeted microchipping, registration and desexing programs, and for research into dog and cat issues;
- Support reducing barriers to pet ownership in strata blocks; and
- Standardise and improve information and education about pet ownership and care.
Says AWLNSW Acting Chief Executive Jon Berkowitz: “We applaud the government’s leadership, and we’re keen to work with its agencies to implement these measures.
“We’re particularly keen to see an effective breeder licensing scheme, and a publicly-accessible register that will prevent the operation of cruel ‘puppy farms’ – including independent inspections, as supported by 87% of NSW residents in a recent survey.
“To ensure the effectiveness of a breeder licensing system, it should include mandatory licensing to breed, an independent monitoring structure, sustainability of compliance mechanisms funded by the breeders, and an online register accessible to the public.
“With these measures built in, a breeder licensing scheme will go a long way towards delivering positive outcomes for these animals, their owners, and legitimate breeders.”