Bureau of Animal Welfare admits incorrect information posted on website – yes we can take undesexed animals.

Once again we were concerned we were being targeted by the Bureau of Animal Welfare when they posted on their website that we could no longer take undesexed dogs. Hence we began to gear for our next campaign.

Fortunately Dr Tate responded to VicDRG’s written protest yesterday and confirmed our interpretation of the amended Domestic Animal Act was valid and that the Bureau’s posting was erroneous. It has been corrected. He has further said that councils will be advised of this.

It is almost a year since we had this same battle over section 84ys so it is a relief that this has been resolved but most unfortunate it occurred in the first place.

Dr Tate has also pointed out that these are fact sheets not legislation. Please refer to the Domestic Animals Act if in doubt. You do not need to take the word of a local laws officer who may have been incorrectly advised on this or any other issue. Our legal team is always willing to look carefully at the particular areas of the act of relevance to rescue groups.

Yes we can continue to take undesexed animals as long as we have a Section 84Y with the pound. The Bureau have also agreed with our interpretation that a community foster care network with a Section 84Y can pass on to another CFCN, but only if vetworked.

Even better, for those of us who save wherever we can, the Bureau agree that if we take an animal from a pound under a Section 84Y we have the right to pass that animal on to a shelter undesexed, as they are bound under their own Code to do the vetwork. We at Victorian Dog Rescue feel this particularly personally, as it has been our practice to take dogs and cats we could not take ourselves on to smaller shelters with whom we had a relationship, particularly Australian Animal Protection Society. The dog and newborn pups pictured below were victims of this restriction placed on us some years ago by the Bureau. We were holding these dogs in a pound to move to AAPS who had agreed to take them. At the direction of the Bureau, we were told this was not allowable under the Domestic Animals Act.

First they killed the pups, then a week later, while we still fought for her, the mother. We do not want this to happen again. Nor do we want dogs like Gilda to die needlessly. The path for those in rescue is unfortunately strewn with the dead bodies of those dogs and cats who have died while we slowly progress. Another 50 000 dogs will no doubt die in Victoria this year.

So although this is a big win for all who mourn the loss of lives every day in Victorian pounds, we urge you still, even though the urgency is gone, to write to the Premier, The Minister Mr Walsh, The Opposition Leader and his Minister, your local politician to say that you support community foster care networks and the work they do, and that it should be mandatory for council pounds to rehome to them. Until that is mandatory, dogs and cats will die when CFCNs and other rescue groups are turned away every day from pounds.

And of course that the scourge of companion animal welfare, puppy farms, should be abolished. No breeding farm of over 30 dogs or cats should be allowed. But also we have a small celebration in that community foster care networks (CFCNS) are now officially mentioned in the Domestic Animals Act. We exist. We are legal. We will continue to make our way as an alternative means of saving lives with your support.

Please make your voice heard. They cannot speak. Let us speak for them.

Trisha Taylor