New Proposed Animal Welfare Legislation. Anyone in government care?

MiissTL

Just wondering if anyone in the government is pushing the proposed new animal welfare legislation?

I know there is a major recession and all anyone cares about is that, is this the case?

What can we do?

dudmis

Is this the puppy farm legislation? Is there any info on any website that I could take a look at? Don't know much about it at the moment.

MiissTL

http://www.anvilireland.ie/fulcrum.html?ep=5

Not just on puppy farming legislation but it seems the current animal welfare legislation is PRE HISTORIC..

Cherry Blossom

The dog breeding establishment act and the greyhound welfare act have both been signed into Irish law already. Is this what you mean, or are you referring to some other proposed legislation?

MiissTL

What I basically mean is;

Is there any chance of people who are cruel to animals to be stopped/deterred, make animal welfare a national responsibility and stop animals being bred unnecessarily?

I high hopes

dudmis

I might be naive, but why would any political party not support greater regulation of dog breeding? From what I can see, it wasn't going to cover greyhounds (which would have prob been a pretty big lobby group) so I can't see why they wouldn't pass this asap.

What am I missing?

dudmis

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

The dog breeding establishment act and the greyhound welfare act have both been signed into Irish law already. Is this what you mean, or are you referring to some other proposed legislation?

Thanks.

Does this ban puppy farms? Is it being enforced?

Cherry Blossom

The main problem is a lack of people reporting these cases and lack of enforcement of the the laws that already exist. The dog breeding establishment act goes some way towards addressing the over-breeding issue, makes it easier for premises to be inspected, makes breeding on a large scale less attractive as people have to fork out more money for the licence so profits are less.

On the down side - a person has to have at least 6 breeding bitches before the law applies to them which won't stop people operating on a smaller scale and a big part of the purpose of this legislation is for the purpose of generating tax.

MiissTL

I hate this country

Cherry Blossom

dudmis wrote: »

Thanks.

Does this ban puppy farms? Is it being enforced?

No, it doesn't ban puppy farms - it just means they have to pay a licence fee. It has only recently been signed into law, so how well it will be enforced remains to be seen.

Cherry Blossom

Welfare of Greyhounds Act 2011 - here

Dog Breeding Establishment Act 2010 - here

Graces7

MiissTL wrote: »

I hate this country

We too; so little the govt cares.

Got evicted from our last house for helping rescue a pony. Too ill to move again so am wearing ear plugs out as there is a dog barking all the time.

There is a huge cultural rural gap where animals are involved and it is spread even to the younger generations.

BUT, and we try to hang on to this, at every market we trade at, we meet rescued dogs. All any of us can do if the govt etc fail animals, is pick up what we can, do what we can. All our four here are rescues; I made that commitment to stop breeding Siamese for this reason.

Heard this week from an English ex pat lady who already has two Lbs that they have taken on two rescue pups. Six months old and they think part greyhound.

Sorry; off thread but am a very practical person!

Irishchick

We have an animal welfare lobbying society in our college. We recently sent 600 letters to government about the prehistoric welfare legislation here.

The new act has been passed, it just needs to be signed in. We were hoping it would be one of the first acts the new president would sign off.

MiissTL

Irishchick wrote: »

We have an animal welfare lobbying society in our college. We recently sent 600 letters to government about the prehistoric welfare legislation here.

The new act has been passed, it just needs to be signed in. We were hoping it would be one of the first acts the new president would sign off.

I had heard that.. Do you have any idea when this could be?
And I understand that there is no explanation as to why the bill isn't signed.

Discodog

The Animal Welfare Bill is on the schedule but, given the economic situation & the problems with getting any welfare legislation passed, it may be a few years away. There is lobbying. For example the National Animal Welfare Forum met in May & is actively lobbying the government.

The reason why it is not being prioritised is because the government do not think that the electorate see it as a priority. There was a lot of adverse comment when the Dog Breeding Bill was proposed & I am certain that there will be the same with the AWB. The Greens were accused of putting dogs before people & the economy.

But the lack of an AWB does not prevent prosecution. The old 1911 Protection of Animals Act has served very well - the RSPCA have secured plenty of prosecutions under this old Act. Legislation is pointless unless it is enforced. The ISPCA & local SPCA's are so short of money that they cannot fund anywhere near enough Inspectors - the ISPCA have 5 covering the whole country.

Unfortunately Irish animal lovers do not donate to the SPCA's in anything like the pro rata amounts donated in the UK. Personally I would introduce a tax on petfood with all of it going to animal welfare.

MiissTL

Discodog wrote: »

The Animal Welfare Bill is on the schedule but, given the economic situation & the problems with getting any welfare legislation passed, it may be a few years away. There is lobbying. For example the National Animal Welfare Forum met in May & is actively lobbying the government.

The reason why it is not being prioritised is because the government do not think that the electorate see it as a priority. There was a lot of adverse comment when the Dog Breeding Bill was proposed & I am certain that there will be the same with the AWB. The Greens were accused of putting dogs before people & the economy.

But the lack of an AWB does not prevent prosecution. The old 1911 Protection of Animals Act has served very well - the RSPCA have secured plenty of prosecutions under this old Act. Legislation is pointless unless it is enforced. The ISPCA & local SPCA's are so short of money that they cannot fund anywhere near enough Inspectors - the ISPCA have 5 covering the whole country.

Unfortunately Irish animal lovers do not donate to the SPCA's in anything like the pro rata amounts donated in the UK. Personally I would introduce a tax on petfood with all of it going to animal welfare.

I see.
A tax on everything, I would put and dedicate it to Animal Welfare...
Any info on how we can join in, on this lobbying?

Discodog

Well you normally start with your TD & then write to the Minister etc.

By the way a 5% tax on pet products would raise over €10 million per year.

Shanao

Discodog wrote: »

Well you normally start with your TD & then write to the Minister etc.

By the way a 5% tax on pet products would raise over €10 million per year.

And the less responsible people decide that having a dog is too expensive and dump them. Its happened plenty of time before and is happening now. In theory its a good idea, but the reality of it not so much

Discodog

A 50 cent increase on a €10 bag of dog food is not going to make many people dump their dog & at least there would be the money to look after it. The money has to come from somewhere & it is reasonable to expect pet owners to pay.

The ISPCA received €100,000 in 2009. €10 million would fund the ISPCA, the local SPCA's & increase the grants to rescues. I can't see many pet owners objecting provided that all the revenue went to welfare.

We have to do something & this would be a simple, quick way to make a huge difference.

sensibleken

Discodog wrote: »

A 50 cent increase on a €10 bag of dog food is not going to make many people dump their dog & at least there would be the money to look after it. The money has to come from somewhere & it is reasonable to expect pet owners to pay.

The ISPCA received €100,000 in 2009. €10 million would fund the ISPCA, the local SPCA's & increase the grants to rescues. I can't see many pet owners objecting provided that all the revenue went to welfare.

We have to do something & this would be a simple, quick way to make a huge difference.

This is actually a very good idea. Who would you recomend writting to. My local TDs are hopeless but when I wrote to Alan Shatter and Maureen O'Sullivan about the greyhound bill they got back to me and kept me updated.

Discodog

The problem is whether one could trust the government to implement it properly. There would be a big temptation to give it to the LA's or to adsorb a chunk of it into general revenue. One would also need the agreement of revenue to keep the collection costs to a minimum.

There doesn't seem to be anyone in government who has a clue. The Dog Breeding Bill legalises puppy farms instead of banning them & the Greyhound Bill allows the industry to self regulate just as before.

I wondered whether it might be better as a Joe Duffy Liveline idea but Pat Kenny is more in touch with animal welfare.

Graces7

Discodog wrote: »

The Animal Welfare Bill is on the schedule but, given the economic situation & the problems with getting any welfare legislation passed, it may be a few years away. There is lobbying. For example the National Animal Welfare Forum met in May & is actively lobbying the government.

The reason why it is not being prioritised is because the government do not think that the electorate see it as a priority. There was a lot of adverse comment when the Dog Breeding Bill was proposed & I am certain that there will be the same with the AWB. The Greens were accused of putting dogs before people & the economy.

But the lack of an AWB does not prevent prosecution. The old 1911 Protection of Animals Act has served very well - the RSPCA have secured plenty of prosecutions under this old Act. Legislation is pointless unless it is enforced. The ISPCA & local SPCA's are so short of money that they cannot fund anywhere near enough Inspectors - the ISPCA have 5 covering the whole country.

Unfortunately Irish animal lovers do not donate to the SPCA's in anything like the pro rata amounts donated in the UK. Personally I would introduce a tax on petfood with all of it going to animal welfare.

Please see bolded

At a loss how you can defend legislationj that encapsulates a basic lack of any real appreciation of an animal's need and will prosecute only the severest of cases of utter abuse and cruelty.

Or an organisation that has and uses so little power.

If any animal has access to food water and shelter - and that can mean for cattle and horses simply trees or a hedge, then there is nothing that can be done.

One rescue worker we know was called out to cattle standing knee deep in mud 24/7. Notihing done.

We have come up against this time and again. You may remember the wee pony confined and head-tied in a shed 24/7 for many months. The inspector in that case saw nothing wrong with that.

We have also lost most of our trust in the SPCA here beacuse so many of the inspectors seem badly trained and with no power.

It is almost always the independent rescue groups who do the real work. Not the SPCA.

Discodog

The Act is very comprehensive & I have attended Court on many occasions when it has been used successfully. There are two key elements needed to prosecute. The first is veterinary evidence & the second is the availability of legal services, in other words not being dependent on the states prosecutor.

In the UK Vets willingly testify & the RSPCA have the money to employ their own lawyers. Here there can be a difficulty in getting Vets to testify & the ISPCA/SPCAs cannot afford to employ their own lawyers.

Obviously an Animal Welfare Bill would be better but it will only make a difference if there are the funds to supports it's enforcement - it all boils down to money.