While the government cracks down on illegal puppy farms, animal welfare advocates argue that laws governing them don’t go far enough. Andria Cozza and Claire Knox take a look at the industry, which some argue is unnecessary considering the high number of abandoned dogs looking for homes.IT’S a searing January afternoon in 2010 and the wind is feverish, whipping Debra Tranter’s wispy, auburn hair around. She sits, dejected and at a loss, under an elm tree in South Gippsland, retracing her last week.
The previous morning, Oscar, the toy poodle-cross she had rescued from a puppy factory in the Macedon Ranges — fur matted with faeces, skin torn and genitals almost glued to his hind legs — had been ripped from her arms by police and handed back to the breeders. Tranter was thrown into a cell overnight, charged on summons for theft.
She had raided the breeding farm just six days earlier after receiving a tip-off that the property had been abandoned.
‘‘The conditions were putrid,’’ Tranter recalls. ‘‘There were temporary crates in the walkways of the shed. These animals never saw the light of day, they lived in complete darkness. Rat shit was everywhere.’’
Oscar, the factory’s breeding sire, cowered in a tiny cage. Tranter recorded footage and whisked the tiny dog away. She reported the conditions to the council, but days later the police came for him. She says she urged compliance officers for days to inspect the property, but they checked it only once Oscar was returned, ‘‘giving the owners time to clean up’’.
Dale Thornton, director of assets and environment at Macedon Ranges Council, says the council inspected the property several times, after Oscar had been returned.
‘‘On each occasion they have met the requirements,’’ he says.
Thornton says the council’s role was to administer the Department of Primary Industry’s animal breeding industry code of practice but welcomed a review of it ‘‘to provide some more humane options for animals’’. Tranter, who had previously raided puppy factories around the state and sent evidence to alert councils to what she believed were inhumane conditions, changed her tack.
‘‘I knew what I had been doing wasn’t working,’’ she says. ‘‘The way I had campaigned was too graphic, it disengaged people. I was going in and seeing the most horrendous, cruel things but if you show that to people they baulk.”
She created the Oscar’s Law campaign, setting up a Facebook page with the slogan ‘‘the power is in our hands’’.
Within a month of going live the page was attracting hundreds of ‘‘fans’’ a day and it has now accumulated 23,000.
More than 5000 protesters gathered at the Spring Street steps of Parliament House in September, urging the government to ban the industry.
In July, Tranter legally rescued Oscar. Cupped in her hands, his coat, clean, short and tangle free, it’s hard to envisage him as a sire.
The Baillieu government in October pledged to obliterate rogue unregistered puppy farmers and breeders. It introduced laws including fines of up to $20,000, animal ownership bans, compulsory microchipping and a $1.6 million injection into an animal welfare fund.
Tranter was elated that action was finally being taken and that hundreds of dogs would be saved, but says more legislation was needed to monitor the code of practice for ‘‘legal’’ or council-registered puppy farms.
DPI’s code of practice is now under a 12-month review, with the RSPCA, Animals Australia, The Lort Smith Animal Hospital and Tranter consulting with different committees, agencies and groups to get the new code up and running.
THE Victorian RSPCA defines a puppy factory as an intensive dog breeding centre with inadequate conditions that fail to meet the dogs’ behavioural, social and physiological needs.
It has drawn attention to farms where dogs are forced to urinate, defecate, eat, sleep, give birth and care for their puppies in the same small contaminated area.
Founder of Pet’s Haven animal shelter in Woodend, Trish Burke says people get carried away with the ‘‘cuteness of puppies’’ without thinking about where they come from.
RSPCA Victoria says on its website that 95 per cent of puppies sold in pet shops are produced in puppy factories or by backyard breeders.
According to Burke and Tranter, buying from a pet store fuels greater demand for the puppy farming industry.
“Would you buy a television from the back of a ute, without a warranty?’’ Burke asks. “Why do some people do that with dogs?
“Responsible and reputable breeders will ask questions about you and what kind of property you have.’’
RSPCA Victoria CEO Maria Mercurio says while the government’s crackdown gave the RSPCA greater power to enforce the code, the code itself was ‘‘sadly out of step with community opinions’’.
‘‘We have powers but the reality is that we have no power if they’re complying with the practice - conditions that you or I would find absolutely awful. It’s woefully inadequate.’’
Dr Linda Marsten, from the Anthrozooology (the study of human and animal relationships) Research Group, says the key is an evidence-based approach.
‘‘The code of practice should always be continuously reviewed and refined as we get more scientific knowledge, in line of evidence.
‘‘The more information that goes into it the better, and a balanced, evidential-based approach has the greatest chance of success.”
She says the RSPCA and the DPI needed greater resources to enforce legislation
KATRINA Beard likes to talk. A lot. With a friend she runs small animal shelter Central Victorian Animal Rescue: Heading for Home in the Macedon Ranges.
Four tawny, 10-week-old whippet-cross puppies squeal and squirm in delight. They, like most of the animals CVAR rescues, hail from pounds flanking the Victoria/NSW border around the Riverina — some dumped by farmers, some picked up off the street. The women enforce a strict quarantine for all animals, test their health and temperament and start some early obedience training.
They say most are great, obedient dogs already. Many are dumped because the owner had not put enough thought into the responsibilities and consequences of pet ownership.
Beard, who works in risk management, deplores the squalid conditions of rogue puppy farms, but doesn’t think banning commercial-scale breeding will necessarily work.
She thinks rigorous and continuous reform of the code of practice could be the answer to monitoring the industry effectively.
‘‘I’m all for people who are breeding dogs to treat them really well, giving appropriate medical care,’’ she says. ‘‘If that’s what the code of practice said and if a commercial breeder was fulfilling that role then why shouldn’t they be allowed?’
She believes that promoting pet rescue and adoption would reduce the demand for pet farms.
“I don’t think legislating against puppy farms is helpful. Whether or not I disagree with breeding dogs commercially, if animals are well treated and council laws and rules are adhered to then what can I do about it?
‘‘It has to be an animal welfare issue, therefore it needs to be about regulating and updating that code.’’
The Department of Primary Industries failed to respond to a request for comment from the Weekly.
For further information head to the Pet Rescue site or the RSPCA's Smart Puppy Buyer's Guide.
Email a friend