April 30, 2013Comments are closed.pet shops/puppy farming, RSPCA
A follow up letter from the RSPCA National…
Dear Ms Williamson
Ending puppy farms in Australia
Thirty six per cent of Australian households have a dog as a pet, giving a pet dog population of around 3.4 million. This creates a substantial market for thousands of individuals to legally breed dogs. With this in mind, the RSPCA must work to improve the lives of these animals.
While you may disagree with the RSPCA’s definition of puppy farms, where I hope you do agree is that legislative amendments are required to state and territory animal management and welfare laws in order to address some of the serious animal welfare issues associated with the breeding of dogs…
So just to clarify again, this is not me disagreeing with the RSPCA’s definition of puppy farms – but the RSPCA trying to change the definition of a puppy farm, from a farm that farms dogs – to something they as an organisation define. This is the RSPCA disagreeing with the dictionary and the community’s general understanding of the term.
But I think I’ve probably made my thoughts on that pretty clear. And given I’ve not contacted them – this letter I assume is the end of the RSPCA’s legal posturing for the time being.
Onwards.
yet on your ‘where do puppies come from?’ campaign you define a puppy farm as “A puppy mill or puppy farm is a large dog breeding facility created to mass produce puppies for profit.”?
deleted my comment?
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – – that’s all.”
(Through the Looking Glass, Chapter 6)
“…This creates a substantial market for thousands of individuals to legally breed dogs.” So on the one hand, we have the RSPCA blaming “pet overpopulation” for high kill rates, and on the other hand, we have the RSPCA justifying dog breeding by pointing out that there’s a high demand for dogs. If only they put their efforts into promoting adoptions for the animals in their care, rather than promoting pet shops and puppy farmers.
the public will view ‘puppy farm’ as a derogatory term though, thanks to AR campaigns. But it’s still not clear to me where you consider a breeder turns into a ‘farmer’?