NSW Animal Pound's - Observe The Law & Get the Kill Rates Down

We the undersigned would like to demand your strict attention to the following:

Section 64, para 5, of the Companion Animals Act-

This is what it states:

(5) Before destroying a seized or surrendered animal as authorised by subsection (1), it is the duty of the council concerned to consider whether there is an alternative action to that of destroying the animal and (if practicable) to adopt any such alternative.

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1/ On March 15th 2013 an incident at the Animal Holding Facility (AHF) at Blacktown occurred, with the sad and tragic deaths of five (5) innocent dogs who had rescue holds.

Dignity, Marlon, Zorro, Ronan and Clint did NOT deserve to die.

An Independent Provider assessed the five dogs that were KILLED and deemed them to not be suitable for rehoming due to aggression issues.

Temperament testing should always be done outside of the shelter, in a less stressful environment for the animal!

Pounds are scary, noisy places for the animals, and to assess them in this environment is just not fair.

The Law states that it is illegal to kill dogs when there are alternatives:
What protective measures are in place to prevent the killing by law? No matter how an animal (or dog in this case) ends up in a council pound, subsections 64(5) and 64A(2) of the Companion Animals Act 1998 (NSW) stipulate that it is the DUTY of the council concerned to consider whether there is an ALTERNATIVE action to that of destroying the animal and if practicable to adopt any such alternative. It is NSW state law to choose rehoming of these dogs.

2/ On Sunday March 24th an innocent young Cattle dog at TAREE POUND NSW AUSTRALIA was killed so needlessly.

VIA- Dog Rescue Newcastle ..this one year old pup had Rescue coming for her on Monday 25th March.

The companions Animals Act states that if a due date falls on a weekend or public holiday they have to give more time . .. but -they didn't and she was killed.

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ANIMAL welfare groups say RSPCA kill rates in the Lower Hunter are too high.

RSPCA statistics show 4862 of 11,989 dogs received in NSW in 2011-12 were euthanased – a 41per cent kill rate.

However that doesn't cover the cats. When you add those in we're talking a kill ratio of 50.6%. 16 409 cats entered the RSPCA system whilst they destroyed 9 531. 

Overall figures for companion animals are 28 398 entered the RSPCA whilst they killed 14 393. 

The RSPCA has been accused of refusing to work with rescue groups to help rehome more animals.

We want to see the local councils in NSW start pressuring the RSPCA to do more to rescue animals from death. We want to see the RSPCA become more Rescue friendly and the kill rates lowered. RSPCA operated pounds must start releasing cats & dogs to rescue groups to satisfy the legislative requirement in Sect 64 of the Companion Animals Act.

Ratepayers also deserve to know how many pound dogs were being killed each year at the Pounds, so more transparency and the release of statistics is to be made available to the public.

Sincerely...