South Australia already ahead of the game in the fight for reduction of backyard breeders
- South Australia now ensure all breeders, whether selling one or fifty litters a year have to have a license.
- This new license covers businesses big and small, as well as individual breeders.
- Thorough checks are carried out to ensure no unlicensed breeder can sell.
- Resident in South Australia Shelley Wells spoke to NQ Reporter Sarah Kerrigher in support of the Pets Not Profit #BanBackyardBreeding campaign.
Although a small part of the world, South Australia’s breeding regulations are up there with some of the best in the world. According to Animal Welfare organisation ‘Good Dog’, any breeder and seller with the intent to sell a dog or cat must register as a breeder with the Dog and Cat Management Board in South Australia.
The regulations also state that you must not sell a dog or cat unless it has been desexed (by 6 months of age) and microchipped (by 12 weeks of age) in accordance with the Act, and that if you are a breeder and seller any advertisement you place for the sale of a dog or cat must include your contact details and breeder registration number – this ensures all breeders are registered, and holds the breeder/seller responsible after the sale of any animal.
Local in South Australia, Shelley Wells stated “I’m from South Australia where it is compulsory to spay/neuter unless you have exemption. Compulsory registration and microchipping ensures that the only two no kill shelters in our city our small.
Hence the need for me to advocate for shelter pets in the USA. They would rather kill adoptable pets daily than reform their ‘shelters’.”
In a press statement, the South Australian government stated ‘On the 1 August 2017 new standards for the breeding and trading of companion animals will come into effect. The South Australian Standards and Guidelines for Breeding and Trading Companion Animals (the Standards and Guidelines) are regulated under the Animal Welfare Act 1985 (the Act).
The standards are mandatory. They set the minimum level of care that must be met under the Act to meet the health, safety and wellbeing needs of companion animals. The standards will not apply to companion animals that are given away. The guidelines represent a higher level of care and are designed to complement the standards. ‘
The main aim from these new regulations coming into act was in fact to tackle puppy farms and backyard breeders – unethical breeders in general. Environment Minister in South Australia, Ian Hunter in a statement said “Cruel and dodgy puppy farms that operate ‘under the radar’ have no future in South Australia,”
“The vast majority of our breeders and traders love their animals and care for them, so they will have few, if any, changes to make to their management practices,”
These regulations are massive step in the right direction in comparison to the UK’s new regulations, and the lack of regulations in the US. It is apparent that although many animal welfare organisations and advocates in the UK have strived for changes much like South Australia’s we are a far way off being at this pivotal point, and it may be a while before backyard breeding can be demolished completely – backed up by stats that state that 88% of puppies born in the UK every year and bred and sold by unlicensed breeders – a stat in which South Australia are far off by this point.
To help raise more awareness and in the future encourage the government to enforce tighter breeding regulations in the UK, please sign the Petition, and follow the Twitter and Facebook pages for constant updates on how the campaign is going.