Page 1376 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2011
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are sourcing their animals. They are not subject to any mandatory code of practice that governs how they keep and treat animals. They do not have to reveal how many of their animals are euthanised. They do not need to desex the animals they sell. They are not restricted in how they advertise, meaning they promote impulse buying, and they can sell to children.
Animals can also be sold through avenues such as markets or fairs. It is not uncommon to see someone selling puppies or kittens from a stall at a market. According to animal welfare groups, these are a useful place for unscrupulous breeders to quickly sell animals without scrutiny.
Breeders can also advertise with freedom through newspapers, flyers or the internet. This is another popular and unregulated avenue of sale. An analysis of newspaper sales in the ACT revealed that in the Canberra Times alone there were over 5,000 puppies and kittens offered for sale annually. Breeders of these animals are unregulated. They do not need to be licensed in order to breed.
There are no checks on their premises. We do not know the condition in which the animals are bred. Nor do the sellers of animals need to microchip or desex the animals they sell. This combination of an unregulated breeding environment and the availability of various uncontrolled avenues of sale is ideal for bad breeders looking to make a quick buck breeding and selling animals, with profit as their only motive.
What is the result of having animals bred in bad conditions or sold in bad conditions? Firstly, the animals suffer. They develop poorly, both physically and mentally. This leads to behavioural problems which are, in fact, one of the main reasons why animals are abandoned. Animals are sold to people who have not considered their purchase, a so-called impulse buy. They are also prime candidates for abandonment. And animals bred from accidental litters, because of animals that were not desexed, also end up on our streets or in shelters or pounds.
The suffering of animals and the costs to the community of bad breeding or selling mostly remain invisible. But we get a picture of it from looking at some statistics about animal abandonment. This is unfortunately a serious problem in the ACT. Thousands of companion animals are abandoned each year.
During the 2009-10 financial year, the ACT RSPCA alone was presented with 1,670 dogs and puppies and 2,748 cats and kittens. This means that, on average, the RSPCA is presented with over 12 cats or dogs each day of the year. This is in addition to the hundreds of dogs processed by ACT Domestic Services and the animals rescued and re-homed by other volunteers in the ACT. Each year, hundreds of these animals have to be euthanised.
In 2009-10, for example, the RSPCA had to euthanise 1,183 cats and 98 dogs. DAS euthanised over 100 of its saleable dogs and an unknown quantity of unsaleable dogs. In addition, the number of animals euthanised by pet stores is unknown, as pet stores are not required to disclose data about this.
This picture of unregulated breeding and sale of animals and the resulting suffering is unacceptable. If we are to be a society that respects and cares for animals, then we
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