On the back of the news that the Queensland state government is scrapping their mandatory registration directive for cats, news today that they have also rejected a petition put forth to parliament calling for mandatory desexing.
The petition was sketchy on details;
Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House it is estimated that 250 000 plus animals are abandoned / surrendered / dumped each year because of backyard breeders and puppy / kitten farms around Australia.
But the government was crystal clear on its reason for rejecting the notion;
When the Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Act was drafted, it did not include mandatory de-sexing of cats and dogs because the evidence at the time indicated it would not be effective in reducing the number of unwanted animals. The ability to enforce such provisions was also considered impractical.
The Government has also ruled out state-wide cat or dog breeder registration schemes.
Being able to prove efficacy is key to producing good laws based on a solid premise, likely to succeed. In this instance, many many hundreds of cities worldwide have tried mandatory desexing as a tool for reducing shelter euthanasia, and yet not one can prove its effectiveness. The Queensland Government has now confirmed this.
Under Anna Bligh, the Queensland Government even ran a $380,000 localised, two-year trials in several cities (Moreton Bay, Gold Coast, Logan and Townsville) of breeder licences, mandatory desexing and compulsory registration, to test their merit.
Now, we see a government repeal of mandatory registration for cats and that they have walked away from breeder licencing.
Despite what more laws! supporters have proclaimed, they have failed to produce a compelling case for either mandatory desexing, or compulsory registration, outside their almost religious belief that ‘it will work’.
Could we try looking at those programs which do actually work now?
