Got a problem? Get a law #2

When you look closely at these issues it becomes clear that the balance between a conciliatory and a confrontational approach has been weighted so far towards compromise that little has been gained for Australian animals.

RSPCA Australia Chief Scientist, Dr Bidda Jones @ AAWS

Just as groups attempt to get laws passed that reflect the best practice for animal welfare, industry and government can use the promise of change just to keep the peace.

Won’t you just shut up and go away?

Take the Clover Moore bill. I like Clover’s law, I think we’re ready for it. Any civilised society looks back on the history of the way it treated its animals with deep sadness; and I think shipping baby animals like fruit, then selling them from glass boxes to whomever has a whim, will be one of the things that will make future generations ashamed of us.


So news today that, although they’re not ready to ban pet shop sales

Dodgy pet shop owners will face tough new penalties for maltreatment of animals under new state government regulations to be introduced next week. ref

Well, that’s a relief… except didn’t dodgy pet shop owners always face tough penalties for maltreatment of animals? And wasn’t the system failing regardless?


So what are these ‘tough new regulations’?

Minors will also be banned from buying pets under the overhaul, and a mandatory three-day cooling-off period will be introduced to stop impulse buys.

Well, selling to minors is a no-brainer – you would have to truly be satan if you were selling pets to unaccompanied children. But a three day cooling off period neither stops impulse buys (pets are still small and cute after 3 days – they don’t turn into delightfully destructive adolescents until a bit later) or represents anything new, as the code of practice of 12 years ago specifies that a cooling off period should be offered.

So what is this all about?

Simply, this is the pet shop industry’s way of releasing information to make it look like something has happened to change them… all while things stay exactly the same.

Dr Jones cont…
We have reached a stage where animal welfare is firmly on the agenda of governments and industries but while this is a good start, there is still a strong resistance to any meaningful change.

Despite the high profile and public standing of organisations like the RSPCA, when it comes to policy-making, governments listen much more attentively to economic reasons than to ethical ones.

We get what we pay for

Society always moves much faster than any government or industry so if we want the situation to change then it’s up to us.

The big pet store chains are already moving away from live pet sales due to consumer demand. Pet shops won’t need to be dragged kicking and screaming by any new legislation, they’ll simply fail to thrive unless they meet the needs of their customers.