Premier Palaszczuk promised to end puppy farming in Qld in her election speech, but sadly, the new laws scheduled for release this month will do anything but this.

Animal Liberation Qld was part of the consultation group when these new laws were being tabled, and we pushed for the following needs to be heard: a ban of sale of pups in pet stores (unless they are legitimate sale of rescue animals); a limit on the number of dogs allowed to be kept; a limit on the number of litters a dog can have capped to 5 per lifetime and a mandatory desexing and retirement scheme imposed thereafter; an extensive mandatory code of practice to ensure animal welfare, and further resources allocated to ensure there are no location that puppy farmers can set up in Qld in order to escape legislation.

Sadly, none of the above were included in the new laws which are scheduled to be released this month.  These laws will require all breeders to apply for a breeder ID number that will allow for traceability of the purchased animals to their origins.  This largely relies on point of sales displaying these numbers, the public being educated on this procedure, and the honesty of each breeder not only to apply, but to not forge such a number.  In short, it will change nothing for unscrupulous breeders.

Parts of Qld currently lie outside council laws, so effectively these restricted laws will do nothing to deter current breeders in these areas already, but also encourage others to move to these areas, and continue their unscrupulous ways.

We call on the Labor Government to step in now to amend such laws, and make their promise of stopping puppy farming in Qld a reality. Please follow the lead of your party equals in Western Australia and Victoria, and change the laws now.