Anne Goddard has joined the RSPCA and voiced support for the real underdogs this Federal election. Anne said she shared the RSPCA’s concerns about a number of animal welfare issues, in particular the intensive breeding of dogs in puppy factories.
The main problems associated with puppy factories include: over-breeding (too many litters per female), in-breeding (mating close relatives), minimal or no veterinary care, poor hygiene, inadequate and crowded housing conditions and high mortality rates. Thousands of dogs are bred in puppy factories throughout Australia every year and they’re all destined for the pet retail market.
Closing puppy factories will require action from all levels of government but the Commonwealth can do two things to make it harder for puppy farmers to operate:
- Tighten export provisions for the sale of puppies overseas including making it mandatory for all exporters of dogs to be licensed and to comply with a regulated code of practice
- The Australian Tax Office should be required to inform the relevant government authority of any positive identification of a puppy farm.
The RSPCA said it welcomed support from Anne and has encouraged all candidates running in this election to become Political Animals too.
For comment: Anne Goddard flynn@qld.greens.org.au
Political Animal is an RSPCA campaign to highlight four issues that the animal welfare charity wants the next Federal Parliament to deal with. They are live exports, puppy factories, food labelling and humane slaughter.