Animal management in Queensland is the talk of the town today – but is it good news about effective and compassionate animal welfare initiatives?
Hardly. Instead try pounds that kill pets, support for new laws that bully owners and the demonisation of dogs – and you have a recipe that puts animal welfare completely at odds with a pet loving public. Go figure.
Kill! Kill! Kill!
First is the news that the Logan City Council pound is going to continue sending it’s death row pets to the University of Queensland for their students to practice ‘terminal surgery’ on (read: kill).
Of the 3,500 pets impounded with them every year, 800 will continue to end up in the program with the justification “they’re going to die anyway”. But according to the Australian Association for Human Research, the RSPCA QLD’s Mark Townend says he is happy to rehome as many dogs as the councils can supply and the RSPCA has called for the practice to be stopped.
The ol’ bait and switch
With all this bad press about QLD’s pound dogs winding up as landfill, a new $380,000 initiative has been launched by the Queensland government
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said yesterday that two-year trials in the Moreton Bay, Gold Coast, Logan and Townsville council areas could look at mandatory de-sexing by-laws.
She also plans to introduce compulsory registration and microchipping state-wide by the end of the year.
These new laws aimed at irresponsible owners will help reduce the pound population by impounding the animals of those people who don’t microchip or desex… hangon a minute. Can I have that again?
Moreton Bay Deputy Mayor Greg Chippendale said 3000 dogs and cats were dumped at its pounds each year, which was why he backed mandatory de-sexing, except for animals owned by breeders.
So people breeding their animals (breeders) won’t be made to desex, but everyone else who isn’t breeding their animals (not breeders) will be made desex their pets. And this will stop breeding. And those who can’t or won’t desex will have their animals impounded. Reducing the pound population.
Sorry, no I’m confused.
“It’s not just unwanted adult cats and dogs that are being put to death, it’s kittens and puppies as well,” Local Government Minister Warren Pitt said.
So forget fully functioning adoption programs that include offsite adoptions. Forget banning pounds from killing healthy pets when other options are available. Forget using the funds generated from dog licencing to offer desexing for low income earners and the semi-owned and feral cats. Forget reducing the $130 release fee (+ $25 per day) to get pets back into their homes.
No – much better to send animal control out into the community and start heavying the public into compliance with a new law. Rather than inspire the public and develop the relationship between pet owners and rescue – we’ll bully them into supporting us. That should work.
Anti-dog initiatives
The state government today released a report showing the rapidly developing region’s koala population could be gone within 20 years.
A task force will now look at drastic measures including banning dogs in new residential areas, phasing out dog ownership in existing residential areas, and mandating koala-friendly fences for homes.
All while completely overlooking the fact these housing estates are being built on top of the forests where koalas used to hang… like, who needs habitat man?
Boo.
