Page 1536 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 June 2007
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I call upon the local veterinary profession in the ACT to support this government initiative, which is in line with Australian Veterinary Association national policy, which supports increasing desexing rates in dogs and cats and acknowledges the importance of desexing for animal population control purposes. I am advised that Victorian vets are willing to provide workshops for ACT vets to train in early age cat desexing procedures.
The government is confident that reducing the compulsory desexing age for the ACT from six to three months will contribute positively to controlling the overall cat population by reducing unplanned cat breeding, reducing the number of cats that must be euthanised each year and the numbers of stray and feral cats that prey on native wildlife in Canberra, particularly endangered bird species.
The government has accepted the retail pet industry’s argument that the sellers of dogs and cats should be exempt from the requirement to sell desexed dogs and cats because it is the new owner of a young puppy or kitten who should decide whether it should be kept sexually entire for breeding purposes, not the seller. However, sellers of undesexed, or entire, dogs or cats will be required by law to notify the Registrar of Domestic Animal Services of the name and address of a new dog or cat owner within three working days of a sale. This will allow domestic animals rangers to advise new owners of sexually entire animals of their responsibilities and obligations under the act. This exemption for sellers is the second amendment to the exposure draft bill that the government has agreed to.
The sixth proposal is for the introduction of guidelines for determining animal nuisance. Responding effectively to dog and cat nuisance complaints from the public continues to be an important demand on domestic animals rangers’ time and resources. Declaring guidelines for determining animal nuisance will document standard operating procedures, encourage best practice and provide certainty for both domestic animals rangers processing complaints and for the general public.
The seventh proposal is for the establishment of codes of practice for keeping animals. Domestic animals rangers are regularly required to advise the public regarding the keeping of animals, including animals other than dogs or cats, such as pigs, horses, pigeons, rabbits, goats, geese et cetera. Where regulatory gaps exist, providing the general power to declare codes of practice for keeping animals provides a means to address any shortcomings.
The eighth proposal deals with the licensing the keeping of multiple cats. This new provision, requiring cat owners who wish to keep more than three cats to apply for a multiple cat licence has been introduced in response to repeated requests from members of the public for several years. It is strongly supported by the written submissions received on the exposure draft bill, with 47 per cent in favour and 11 per cent against.
This licensing requirement does not limit the total number of cats which can be kept. It simply requires a cat owner to apply for a licence to keep more than three cats. This brings the cat keeping laws in alignment with a similar provision that already applies to dogs, so that dog and cat owners are treated fairly and equitably. Requiring
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