Puppy farms in the firing line

Findings from a select committee on dogs and cats as companion animals in 2013 were handed down early last year and since then, Opposition Environment Minister Michelle Lensink introduced the Animal Welfare (Companion Animals) Amendment Act 2014 to parliament in September.

The Weatherill Government is reportedly working on its own bill which it plans to introduce later this year.

But the changes have caused concern for working dog breeders who hope they will be exempt from the bill and its various restrictions.

Ms Lensink said the focus of the Opposition's bill – still in the consultation stage – was to eliminate puppy farms, and that a clause in the bill could see working dogs exempt.

"We're targeting puppy farms and also cats, because obviously we've got a lot of unwanted cats and they can breed up very quickly," she said.

"I think dogs are probably the more valuable commodity, if you can use that term, so they get targeted by unscrupulous people just wanting to make some money out of them."

Ms Lensink said the proposed amendments had been out for consultation since July and it had been a parliamentary issue for some time.

"We've been very critical; they (government) had all of last year and didn't do anything about it, so we did our own bill which was based on the select committee," she said.

The findings of the select committee – which one breeder said were under the impression working dogs would not be included in the legislation – resulted in a range of recommendations.

"The bill encapsulates pretty much all of those," Ms Lensink said.

"It would provide an enforceable standard for the breeders of companion animals, introduce a licensing scheme, a cooling-off period (for animal sales) and have compulsory microchipping and desexing prior to sale.

"It also introduces some new offences, it becomes illegal to buy or sell companion animals unless they're bred according to laws, and it's illegal to sell an animal that hasn't been vaccinated, wormed and microchipped."

The select committee had recommended that working dogs be exempt and Ms Lensink said a clause in her bill provided for this.

"Clause eight provides exemptions for things that are done in accordance with animal husbandry practices and that should capture working dogs," she said.

"If they're covered by some other code of practice then they won't be included in the bill."

Ms Lensink said legitimate breeders had nothing to fear from the changes because they were as vigilant as anybody about caring for their animals.

Environment Minister Ian Hunter did not comment on the issue but a government spokesman said the Opposition's bill proposed to apply to all companion animals.

"This includes not only dogs and cats, but potentially horses, rabbits and reptiles," he said.

"It is a complicated and burdensome scheme that will achieve limited outcomes.

The spokesman said the state government would introduce its own bill later this year targeting the management of dogs and cats.

It is unclear if working dogs will be exempt from this particular bill.

Kay Hocking, Washpool Kelpies, Avenue Range, has been involved in the government's draft legislation and said it was originally believed working dogs would be exempt from legislation "but that hasn't happened at this stage".

"It still might happen if there's enough lobbying," she said.

"In the meantime we work with the department to get the best result that we can.