Recently, New South Wales (Australia) has proposed a bill which would ban intensive puppy farming in the region. Sounds good, right?
Well, apparently not everyone thinks so.
The Companion Animals Amendment (Puppy Farms) Bill introduced in 2021 would limit cat and dog breeders to a maximum of 10 breeding females. Other limitations introduced by the bill includes:
- limiting female cats and dogs to two litters;
- capping the age of male breeding animals to six years of age;
- and a limit of five animals for every staff member.
Puppy farms refer to the wide scale intensive farming of dogs for the pet trade industry. These farms are normally large sheds located in regional areas. A lot of intensive puppy farm breeders relocated to NSW from Victoria after a similar bill was passed by the Victorian government.
The number of puppies getting adopted skyrocketed during the pandemic
The pandemic worsened the issue of intensive breeding farms. With the increase in people adopting a puppy during the lockdowns, puppy farms have seen their profits skyrocket.
And that’s a problem. Because of the vast amount of money each puppy generates (easily over $1,000), the breeders resort to forcing the animals to produce litter after litter with little breaks in between each litter.
The Bill was introduced to reduce this kind of behaviour, which most people can agree is inhumane. And I definitely agree that this Bill should be introduced in order to ban intensive puppy farming. However, some people think that it would actually do the opposite.
Do more harm than good
Lyn Brand, the president of Dogs NSW, believes that the legislation would only punish the breeders that are doing the right thing without reducing the inhumane puppy farms.
This is because most puppy farms don’t microchip their puppies and do dodgy transactions such as meeting up in carparks to hand over the puppies. Therefore it would be difficult to stop the dodgy puppy farms.
Dr Zammit, a veterinarian and dog breeder, also had some objections to the bill. While he has no objections to the limit of 10 breeding females, he believes that some other aspects of the bill were unnecessarily restrictive. This includes the limit of two litters per female and the age limit of six for a breeding male.
A new Bill has recently been introduced in New South Wales which aims to ban intensive puppy farms
Animal Rights
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) welcomes the bill. However, the RSPCA believes that limiting the number of litters each pet is allowed would create unintended consequences. This limit would cause breeders to obtain more animals if they wished to continue breeding.
However, the RSPCA said the limits on the number of litters per animal could create “perverse outcomes” because it would encourage breeders to acquire more animals if they wanted to keep the retired dogs and continue breeding.
The litter limit of two was proposed after consulting with experts on animal welfare. These welfare experts included veterinarians, Oscar’s Law, and the Animal Welfare League.
The litter limit ensures that the female breeds do not spend the majority of their lives as breeding machines.
What do you think about the Bill? Do you believe that the Bill would reduce intensive puppy farming? Let us know in the comments down below!
Key Aspects of The Companion Animals Amendment (Puppy Farms) Bill:
- More enforcement powers for local councils
- Breeders are limited to 10 breeding female cats or dogs
- Female cats and dogs can only breed up to two times
- Breeders must only breed from a male dog that’s younger than six
- Breeders are only allowed a maximum of five animals per staff member
Are you a dog owner in Australia? If so, there’s a new pandemic that you should be worried about. Read more here.
