We know the Victorian government are big on seizing pets. Whether it’s ‘pit bull’ types, or community cats; any program which increases the numbers of animals impounded (and inevitably killed), seems to get the nod.
But the Victorian government is no longer happy simply to pick off certain profiled pets – they want to expand their net to include ALL pets. That is anyone’s pet at all, who has the misfortune to find itself lost:
Victoria’s vets have been told they’ll be slugged up to $700 if they don’t hand stray dogs in to council pounds.
Most vets locate owners as a free or low-fee community service by scanning stray dogs for microchips and keeping them overnight if needed until the owner can pick them up.
An email warning from the Department of Primary Industries on February 25 told vets they risked a $700 fine unless they contacted the council to pick up strays.
With people becoming more educated on pound procedures and high kill rates in the state, pet lovers are becoming less are inclined to drop a lost pet at the local pound, naively believing they’ll keep it safe. Instead, they look for other options; either trying to find the owner themselves, or taking the pet to a local vet to be scanned for a microchip.
This of course has thrown the ‘dog catching’ business into chaos.
Casey Council charges a $143 release fee and can impose a fine up to $282.
… revenue raised through the council release fee would pay for the safe keeping of dogs at the pound.
For every dog who goes straight home, over $400 is lost by council. Since Casey signed over management to The Lost Dogs Home in 2011, they’ll be looking to squeeze ever dollar out of their animal management systems, so rattling the sabre at local vets is a quick way to up intakes, and income.
Neil Harding from the Berwick Springs Veterinary Hospital believed it was revenue raising and said in over 15 years as a vet he hadn’t heard of anything like it.
“To me, it’s just ridiculous,” Mr Harding said.
“This is something that most vets have done as a service to the community and now we’ll be fined for something we’ve done pretty much forever.
“There’s going to be a lot of resentment because we’ll have to say to people who do hand in strays, ‘we’re just going to have to call up the pound’.”
Vets can accept the dogs if they have a s84Y agreement with their local council but the Victorian branch of the Australian Veterinary Association confirmed very few if any of its members did.
Australian Veterinary Association Victoria branch president Trish Stewart said vets dealt with stray pets every day and was hopeful her discussions with the department would end in a resolution shortly.
The push of managing the community’s pets away from community-based solutions, into the happily waiting arms of multi-million dollar private companies continues.
Shame about all the dead pets.
It’s time that someone put so-called ‘council officials’ in their place. According to out Attorney-Generay, councils aren’t legal, so any action or demand they make is unlawful.
http://www.clrg.info/2010/07/attorney-general-confirms-local-councils-are-not-constitutional/
You have to be kidding!!!! What is wrong with the Victorian Government. We live in a democracy not a dictatorship. You can not penalise people for caring loving humanitarianism. I hope vets ignor the governments stupidity and continue to advise people when animals are found.
Hi,
I have just read the sad story of Bobo who was a resident at the “Lost Dog’s Home” in Melbourne. If the government is planning to send dogs to this sort of place, there may not be many dogs left in Australia at all. How crazy are these people? Leave the dogs alone. BSL is only here because of a Commonwealth Import Restriction of five breeds and, apparently, some peoples acceptance of it. It is a useless system, and should be banned. I should also say leave the vets alone too, they are great people and are usually helping the community with their dogs and other animals.
Do they plan to charge fees and fines for lost children too?
This is so disgusting I’m ashamed to live in Victoria and afraid for my pets lives if they should ever go missing.
Makes me want to spend my spare time outdoors as a vigilante lost pet rescuer, finding and reuniting them with their families!
Maybe the networks could make a reality TV show with me and publicise the need for such am individual……
You’ve got to be kidding me right? Vets are doing a great job finding the owners and now some bureaucratic disgusting revenue-raising morally-bereft governance are putting their hands out for money from the vets/owners?? What a disgrace!
This is a continuation of the Victorian State Government’s ignorant and relentless attack against companion animal ownership. The current Breed Specific Legislation is so bad, the Agriculture Minister, The Dishonorable Peter Walsh, has the power, WITHOUT GOING BACK TO PARLIAMENT, to add ANY breed to list, at ANY time, for ANY reason. WE, as a group of pet owners who vote, need to send our elected representatives a message that we DEMAND they pull their heads out of their clackers and stop this stupidity. I emailed my local member, well as Walsh and the Premier, only yesterday about the wider issues (I wish I had seen this earlier). You can read my entire email here: http://ianrluke.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/a-letter-to-our-pollies/ I wish the media would stop chasing the cheap and easy headlines and instead demand our politicians explain why they have saddled us with a piece of law which history shows does not work, logic and science says can not work, and worse, is barbaric and endangers lives.
This is what I wrote directly under the article in the Herald Sun:
“I find it ludicrous that the DPI bureaucracy are now enforcing a 10 yr rule that many vets still have no idea existed – I have contacted the local vets in my own area to encourage them to apply for a Section 84y and suggest that others do the same in your own local areas, so vets can continue to assist without getting into trouble.
WHY is the DPI enforcing this NOW and threatening decent vets with huge fines – simply by assisting animals to be returned home where they belong? What is the purpose that the ONLY people and animals who will be punished by this enforcing are those that responsibly microchip and keep contact details updated, so their animals can be returned immediately. All other animals are sent to the pound anyway if no owners are contactable. The emotional and physical welfare of the animals in question are not being considered her whatsoever and that is APPALLING! If council can’t be contacted why should vets be mandated to hold animals until council is open to collect and not just contact the owner for return? The majority of animals in Melb go to the 2 largest shelters, LDH & RSPCA – the distance to collect is ludicrous as is the fines – NO JUSTICE for the lost animals!”