Page 1210 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 29 March 2017

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we are dealing with. The draft animal welfare and management strategy is a good place to start. I look forward to further work by the Assembly on this matter. I move:

Omit all words after “That this Assembly”, substitute:

“(1) notes that:

(a) the number of people treated for dog attacks in emergency departments (EDs) in the ACT last year was 155, however, it is unknown how many presentations are ACT residents;

(b) the second highest injury in dog attacks in ACT EDs was to the patient’s head;

(c) there were 360 officially reported dog attacks in Canberra last year;

(d) as a consequence of these attacks, 124 dogs were seized by officials in Canberra last year;

(e) on average there is an attack reported in Canberra every day;

(f) dogs that have been found to have committed attacks on people or other animals are returned to the community, often with stringent conditions;

(g) the number of dog attacks treated in ACT EDs has increased 50 percent in the past five years;

(h) penalties for dangerous dog attacks were increased in 2014;

(i) in February 2016, the Government set up a working group to investigate dog management processes; and

(j) the ACT Government has today released the draft Animal Welfare and Management Strategy for public comment; and

(2) calls on the ACT Government to:

(a) consider allocating more resources to investigate attacks by dogs;

(b) consider allocating more resources for education about obligations and responsibilities of dog ownership;

(c) report on changes made to dog management processes following feedback from the 2016 working group;

(d) review relevant laws and internal procedures that govern the management of dangerous dogs and report by the end of September 2017; and

(e) review the penalties associated with the management of dangerous dogs.”.

MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (11.41): This issue is one that the Greens take seriously, as I am sure every member of the Assembly does. As a number of people

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