Page 3294 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 13 November 2007
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no-one to look after them or no-one who can afford to keep them. ACT residents have to pay for running Domestic Animal Services, and for the vets, because of a few irresponsible people in the community.
The requirement that those selling entire animals notify the registrar of the sale is a good idea. However, I would raise a concern that it is unlikely that this will actually lead to any substantive improvement in compliance and a corresponding increase in the rate of desexing. This is not to say that I do not think we should give it a go. Rather, I would say that, for it to be effective, extra resources will need to be given to Domestic Animal Services to follow up and ensure compliance.
I note that Domestic Animal Services are struggling at the moment, with many staff departures, including that of the former registrar. The staff there often have a very difficult job to do. I would like to take the opportunity to recognise their efforts in managing the ACT’s dogs and reuniting lost dogs with their owners. The animal shelter, from which I obtained my current dog, is a clean and neat place. It is absolutely crucial that it is staffed by people who love and understand dogs—tough love, of course. But even tough love is not enough, especially in the face of abusive dog owners who resent paying a fine for their inadequate custodianship.
I strongly support bringing the regulations on cat ownership into line with those for dogs. These changes are both necessary and sensible. I think that we should be stringently enforcing the act and ensuring that people have the correct permits where they wish to keep animals beyond the ordinary scope of the act. Cats, in particular, have the potential to cause significant environmental harm. For that reason, the Greens have called for, and the government has introduced, cat containment measures in, hopefully, many new suburbs, especially where they are adjacent to nature parks and other areas for wildlife. It is interesting to note that Mulligans Flat, which I visited a week or two ago, has lost nearly all its endemic native species due to the ravages of cats—
Mr Hargreaves: And foxes.
DR FOSKEY: And possibly foxes and other animals that are not native to our bush. However, cats are a very important part of many people’s lives. We need to balance the interests of both. I believe that the bill strikes the right balance and I congratulate the government for it.
Pet ownership is a very important part of our society. We know that domestic pets bring great benefits to many people’s lives. We know that pets are important in a child’s upbringing, because they enable the child to learn that caring has responsibilities as well as pleasures. There is a greater understanding that animals have a great role to play in alleviating the loneliness of people who live alone and people who are ill in our society. I know that the RSPCA has a program, which I really commend, of taking animals into participating schools. Too often, especially when families are forced to live in flats or in rental accommodation where pets are not welcome, children do not have what I believe is a necessary experience.
Unfortunately, as is so often the case, there are some in the community who do not properly consider the consequences of their actions. We know about the impulse
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