Help our community stop the Puppy farm and dog kennels at 2312 Steve Irwin way (MCU18/0311).

This application was first submitted to Council in 2018, but ran into some headwind (huge social media outcry) in 2019.  We assumed it would go away, it did not.  The application is currently at public notification stage, which is the next step after the long pause in 2019.  We personally do not wish to prevent anyone following their business dreams, but they are asking to place up to 260 dogs at our communities back door.  This frightens us as we hope it does you too.

Many of us are heartbroken about the ethical conundrums of puppy breeding. In Australia, we currently face the problem of an estimated 250,000 healthy but unwanted dogs and cats killed at municipal pounds per year.

Although sad, this is not something council can take issue with. The RSCPA were previously contacted by Council, and nothing seemed to come from it, certainly not enough to shut the application down. Thus, any submission made for the application to be declined on the basis of it being a puppy farm, rest assured, are extremely unlikely to have much influence.  In order for submissions to be effective, they need to call upon how the application contravenes specific code and how that might impact you. 

We have a brief opportunity to lodge a submission to Council.  All Council can do with these submissions is to validate the points made against the Council code. They look at how the application fits within the code and how anything at odds with the code are addressed in the application. Council regulations require a separation between proposed kennels and any residential zoned land (Landsborough) of 5 Km. The closest residential homes in Landsborough are approx. 2.4 Km from the proposed kennels. This does not mean that Council will automatically decline the application. If the applicants are able to address the various issues raised in the previous phase (information request) sufficiently, Council may well approve it. It is up to us to smartly raise concerns around these issues. 

In addition to your signature on this petition, you can help our community by showing your support in the matter by submitting your opposition to Council.  Please contact Council to submit an objection to the application.  It's easy!  https://www.oscarslaw.org/campaigns/reject-proposed-sunshine-coast-puppy-farm?fbclid=IwAR0x43qlMY-zrRZX8Ws4vz9rVWpKwgfYQ9OKrDugIXIvPwoozivGvVeglIA 

I’ll leave you with the following facts about the application that you may not be aware of:

- The application is at a late stage and once the current phase is over, Council go into a decision phase.·

- They are applying for 60 dogs for breeding purposes in the first phase, and for 100 dog sitting kennels (up to 200 dogs?) for the subsequent phases.

- The average noise level of a single dog bark is 85dB (average), that is “the cut off between safe and potentially unsafe loudness levels” (Sharon A. Sandridge, PhD). Imagine the cacophony of 260 dogs, a few hundred meters away.

- The application states that neighbours will not hear the dogs barking when they are indoors (in our houses). No mention is made of when we are outside at our BBQs with our friends, or doing the gardening.

- For more information on the application, go to https://developmenti.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/ and search for MCU18/0311 under the “application search” tab.