Further to our post of January 11, 2016, James Caleja was last week sentenced to 3 months jail for shooting Spot the kangaroo with a crossbow. An extract from the Age newspaper report follows: “A man who donned camouflage gear and shot a kangaroo with a crossbow outside a family’s home has been jailed for…
The Parliamentary Inquiry into the legislative and regulatory framework relating to restricted breed dogs was established in 2015. In March 2016 the Victorian Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry published its report. Acting upon a key recommendation from the Inquiry, the Victorian government has announced that it will remove the ban on registering restricted breed dogs,…
On 13 April 2016 the Panel was contacted regarding Butch, a 5 year old male Staffordshire Bull Terrier held at Hawkesbury Pound who was due to be put down that day. He had failed a temperament assessment test conducted at the Pound. The assessor found him to be friendly with people but highly dog reactive.…
The consumer watchdog says it has no sympathy for an egg supplier fined by the Federal Court for misleading buyers. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took Derodi Pty Ltd and Holland Farms Pty Ltd to court, claiming it had falsely labelled eggs as free range from January 2012 to December 2014. The…
Wagga Wagga City Council is under fire amidst claims that a large number of animals in its care have simply disappeared without a trace. An ongoing Fairfax Media investigation has revealed that 44 dogs and 37 cats have vanished from Wagga Wagga City Council’s animal shelter records in the last three years. Their disappearance coincided…
Today State and Federal ministers sacrificed animal welfare and ignored consumer sentiment when they agreed to define “free-range” as a stocking density of up to 10,000 birds per hectare. Greens animal welfare spokesperson, Senator Lee Rhiannon said the decision was a disgraceful move by the National Party to misuse the Australian Consumer Law to…
The Victorian parliamentary committee of inquiry investigating the regulatory framework for restricted breed dogs today published its report and recommendations, the key underlying conclusion of which is that Victoria’s BSL is not working. The Committee has recommended that the government lift the current ban on the registration of pit bulls that have not been…
Media reports suggest a parliamentary report – to be published this month – is expected to recommend repealing 2012 restricted breed dog legislation that resulted in so many dogs being put on death row in Victoria. The Panel made a submission to the Economy and Infrastructure Committee parliamentary inquiry calling for the law to be…
The Swiss government announced it will ban the sale of cosmetics containing ingredients newly tested on animals. The announcement comes in response to a motion introduced by Green Party parliamentarian Maya Graf and if passed would make Switzerland the 35th country to take legal action to stem the trade in animal-tested consumer products…
In our posts of 15 and 26 December 2015 we reported that Rudolph, a sick baby deer nursed back to health by teenager Andrew Foots, had been seized by Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources who then obtained a court order to kill Rudolph on the basis that he was a danger…
Labour moving to ban animal testing for cosmetics in Australia – Image courtesy News.com.au. Labor has announced that it is introducing a private member’s bill into Parliament this week to ban the testing of cosmetics on animals as well as the importation of any cosmetic products tested on animals. There is currently no legislation…
Elephants are among several exotic animals that will be banned for use in circus shows in Melbourne. Picture: Herald Sun / AFP Emmanuel Dunand. Melbourne is set to join 45 other councils around Australia in banning exotic circus animals within its borders. Elephants will be one of many exotic animals banned from being used…
Documents recently obtained by the ABC reveal extensive allegations of animal cruelty at Murrayfield Station on Bruny Island, Tasmania. Despite the conclusion of Tasmania’s Primary Industries that there was adequate evidence to prosecute for animal cruelty, it chose instead to issue an infringement notice for $280.00. In an interview with the ABC’s News Sunday program,…
Brothers James and Robert Calleja, both of Sunbury, were charged with trespass and animal cruelty offences after allegedly shooting a kangaroo named “Spot” in the head with a cross bow on private property in the Macedon Ranges in Victoria in August 2015. The crossbow bolt was lodged in Spot’s head for nine days before he…
On 5 June 2015 Ozzy and Luna, two Staffordshire Bull Terriers living in Ceduna, South Australia, escaped from their yard whilst their owner was getting his infant child out of the car. Both dogs ran up to a man in the street and nipped him and then ran away. The man sustained superficial injuries. The…
After hearing reports that dogs were being beaten and flame torched alive in Northern Sulawesi, Rupert Imhoff, a research officer at the Bob Irwin Wildlife and Conservation Foundation, flew to northern Sulawesi to see first hand what was happening. What he found and subsequently documented is horrific. Dogs being pulled from cramped cages, clubbed on the…
The Humane Society of the United States recently defeated efforts by the Australian government to repeal a decades-old ban, set to resume in January, on the trade in kangaroo skins and meat. This came after an outpouring of public and media concern about the last minute efforts to promote the sale of kangaroo…
The External Review Special Committee established by the City of Knox to consider the fate of the dog Izzy has decided, after a hearing in August of her owner’s applications, to release Izzy to RSPCA SA. Such a course was contended in the alternative by Izzy’s owner at the August hearing, where she was represented by…
Panel Founder and director Graeme McEwen appeared late Monday afternoon 14 September 2015 in Canberra at a hearing of the Senate Rural Affairs Committee convened to consider Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon’s Bill to establish a national statutory authority with animal welfare functions to act as a spur and a counterpoint to the federal department of agriculture.…
Further to our post of 28 June 2015, at approximately midday on 25 August 2015, Diesel moved into his new home on an 80 acre farm. On the day of his rehoming he was last seen by a City of West Torrens Council officer happily sitting in the passenger seat of an old farm…
This story is attributable to the Sydney Morning Herald – follow the full story here: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/us-judge-overturns-state-law-banning-secret-filming-of-animal-abuse-at-agricultural-facilities-20150805-girwny.html#ixzz3i0MX287N
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/pit-bull-dog-on-death-row-dramatically-freed-during-late-night-raid-20150727-gil9fp.html#ixzz3h42eXjhJ
Further to our post of 28 June 2015 the Panel and the City of West Torrens are still working to find Diesel a new home. The City of West Torrens has prepared the flyer below which is now being widely distributed. The City of West Torrens will pay for Diesel’s first year of registration, training…
The Panel and Animals Australia each made extensive submissions to the then Opposition Leader, now Victorian Premier, on the overwhelming need for reform. Reform is now here: http://m.theage.com.au/victoria/new-pet-shop-rules-to-stop-puppy-farms-come-into-force-20150702-gi3bqc.html
PANEL INTERVENES TO SAVE DIESEL AND HELP FIND HIM A NEW HOME On 10 September 2014 Diesel, a 4 year old Staffy, was declared a dangerous dog by the City of West Torrens Council, South Australia, after a gate was left open at his home and he got out and attacked and killed a…
Izzy’s owner this morning won her appeal to the High Court of Australia. The Court found that a fair-minded observer might reasonably apprehend that the Council officer who was the moving force behind bringing the charges in the Magistrates Court against Izzy’s owner might not have brought an impartial mind to the subsequent decision by…
Judgment in Izzy’s High Court appeal will be handed down on Wednesday 10 June at 10:15 am . The result will be published to our FB as soon as it comes to hand. It will be recalled from previous posts that Izzy’s owner was unsuccessful at first instance in the Supreme Court of Victoria on complaints of…
AUSTRALIA FOR DOLPHINS brought a suit in a Geneva civil court against the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums seeking to require it to enforce its own code of ethics against inhumane capture. The parties had been ordered into 90 day settlement discussions by the Geneva Ct during which WAZA issued an ultimatum to JAZA: WAZA suspended the…
PANEL TAKES ITS AG GAG FIGHT TO SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING Panel founder and representative Graeme McEwen appeared on Friday 15 May 2015 in Canberra at a hearing of the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs convened to consider Senator Chris Back’s private member’s Bill to introduce an ag gag law in Australia. Here…
On 20 April 2015, for the first time in history a judge in New York granted an order to show cause and writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a nonhuman animal. In a case brought by the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP), Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe issued an order to show cause and…
The Grand National was tinged with sadness today as a six-year-old horse died after falling at one of the hurdles. The novice hurdler, Seedling, died instantly after he hit and somersaulted over a large jump as he took part in the Mersey Novices Hurdle. He tragically fell at the second to last on the third day…
Izzy’s appeal to the High Court of Australia is to be heard in Canberra tomorrow, 14 April 2015. It will be recalled from previous posts that Izzy’s owner was unsuccessful at first instance in the Supreme Court of Victoria on complaints of procedural fairness about the City of Knox Panel hearing convened to determine whether Izzy…
Last Friday the Panel dispatched lengthy and detailed letters opposing Senator Chris Back’s Criminal Code Amendment (Animal Protection) Bill 2015 to all Federal Labor MPs and relevant Senate cross-benchers. A copy of the panel’s submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport may be found here (submission 240): http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Rural_and_Regional_Affairs_and_Transport/Animal_Protection_Bill/Submissions. The…
On Friday the Panel again publicly called for the greyhound industry to be shut down following the discovery of 55 greyhounds in a mass grave near Bundaberg, Queensland . A 71-year-old man and 64-year-old woman have now been charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm after a police search found a rifle and ammunition in a…
