Friday, June 30, 2017

Have your say about Companion Animal Management in NSW

How should dogs and cats be managed in NSW?

How should pet dogs and cats be identified, registered and managed in New South Wales? (I know not all SAT readers are based here but bear with me).
The NSW Government wants your feedback in relation to its review of the Companion Animals Regulation 2008, which falls under the Companion Animals Act 1998.

If you cohabit with a cat or dog, you might want to read the discussion paper. Yes, it is 42 pages, but I can tell you this is about half the length of the average discussion papers circulated about animal welfare matters, and will potentially impact all pet owners (and some of those pages are cover pages and contents etc!)

The Office of Local Government wants you to tell them if this Regulation effectively promotes responsible ownership, and if not, why not? Aside from identification and registration, the discussion paper also touches on cat management, muzzling of dogs, penalties and fines.

You can download the discussion paper here.

Feedback must be provided by 19 July.

Remember anyone can comment. You don’t need to be a vet. And if you cohabit with a companion animal, its helpful to familiarise yourself with the relevant legislation as you may be surprised about your obligations and responsibilities.


Meantime it’s been a hectic few weeks at SAT HQ and yes, we’ve missed some posts. We’ve had some unwell human family members, and an important antimicrobial summit to attend, all while battling some version of the flu that clearly wasn’t covered in this year’s vaccine. Apologies for the missed posts. We will be back to our old selves (at least, this is what us and our phagocytes are planning) next week.