New animal welfare Bill strengthens protections for pets and other animals

Draft legislation to amend the Animals Act has been introduced with the aim of improving animal welfare through a range of new measures.

The Bill, which has yet to be debated in Parliament, imposes a duty on individuals responsible for animals to ensure their welfare, outlining the specific needs that must be met to avoid committing an offence.

The Bill creates a new offence of taking a dog or cat without lawful authority, recognising the impact such incidents have on both the animal and its owner, and affirming that animals are not merely property.

It also prohibits the use of certain types of collars for cats and dogs.

This includes collars capable of delivering an electric current, choke collars that function as a noose, and pronged collars designed to pinch the animal's neck.

Two new provisions have been added to ban the mutilation of protected animals and the docking of dogs’ tails unless it is for medical reasons.

It will be an offence for anyone to dock a dog’s tail, or to allow it to be docked, outside of medical treatment.

The Bill also enhances enforcement following conviction.

Courts will be able to issue deprivation orders to confiscate animals from owners convicted of relevant offences, where a specific animal is identifiable.

Such orders may be issued alongside or in place of other penalties.

Disqualification orders may also be imposed, preventing a convicted person from keeping, owning, or working with animals, either generally or in relation to certain species.

The Bill gives courts the power to order the destruction of an animal where a cruelty, fighting or welfare offence has been committed, if recommended by a vet and deemed in the animal’s interest.

Destruction may also be ordered for fighting animals where public safety is a concern following a conviction.

A new section has also been added to formally recognise all vertebrates, decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs as sentient beings, whether wild or domesticated.