Legislators in Queensland, Australia, have passed amendments to the state’s animal protection legislation, the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001, which include new bans and tougher penalties. Offenders will face up to three years in prison if they breach their duty of care and cause death, disablement or prolonged suffering to animals under human care.
The new law will ban the use of pronged collars and gives animal welfare inspectors power to intervene when an animal is found to be in distress. There will also be a ban on inhumane practices such as the firing or blistering of horses and dogs. From now on, dogs would have to be secured while travelling on a vehicle tray or a trailer attached to a vehicle. The use of CSSP Pig Poison will also be an offence.
Not everything will be of an abolitionist nature, though. There will be several new regulations of animal exploitation practices that will continue to legitimise them. For instance, facilitating the use of animals for scientific purposes, implementing some of the recommendations of the Martin Inquiry into the treatment of racehorses, and a new framework for cows and bulls procedures accreditation schemes in animal agriculture, including lay pregnancy testing.
The Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities Mark Furner said to Mirage News, “this follows the first major review of the Act in 20 years and extensive community consultation with over 2300 Queenslanders… Queenslanders want to see animals better protected and people who don’t comply punished appropriately, and that is exactly what these updated laws provide… Being able to love and keep pets like dogs is an important part of many people’s lives and Queenslanders want those pets to have strong protections… Queenslanders want animals treated with care and respect and the updated Animal Care and Protection Act will contribute to that.”
