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…
The High Court of Australia has granted Izzy’s owner special leave to appeal. The High Court appeal will likely be heard in April. The Panel extends its grateful thanks to Panel counsel Richard Kendall QC and Andrew Felkel, instructed by Daniel Beecher of Phoenix Legal Solutions.
A small dog rescue operation on the NSW/Victorian border was subject to local Council enforcement action in respect of noise and number of dogs at the property. The principal had over time homed over 20 dogs, including ‘over- bred’ mothers, adult males and puppies. Rescued dogs included intensively bred dogs trained to be aggressive. Court…
Australian egg farmers planned to kill millions of hens prematurely and bury their eggs as part of an industry-wide strategy to boost their profits, the Federal Court has been told. Click here to read the full story.
Several weeks ago a dog was brought into an outer Sydney Council’s pound, and impounded as ‘ -CC 178’. She was considered aggressive and so, at the end of a pole, was consigned to the pound’s dangerous dog cage for the safety of staff. -CC 178 had no known owner so that after the lapse…
Coco was seized on 23 August 2013, along with a male dog, Brutus, and their 9 puppies then aged 2 weeks’ old. Coco and Brutus were declared to be restricted breed dogs. The puppies were not declared. Following intervention by the Panel and Dogs on Trial, on 13 January 2014 the Council agreed to release…
The International Court of Justice has found for Australia 12 to 4, ruling that Japan must cease whaling in the Antarctic. The UN court found that Japan’s whaling hunt in the Southern Ocean is not a scientific program, despite what Tokyo has always claimed. Watch the SBS report here. Click here for the ICJ Judges Opinions.
VCAT President, Garde J, today declared that the new Standard (gazetted 31 January 2014) for restricted breed dogs applies to the rehearing of the Kerser and Mylo applications. The reasons for judgement may be read here: Applebee v Monash City Council. The matters have been listed…
VCAT President, Garde J, in separate hearings today in respect of Jade Applebee as Kerser’s owner and Jessica Gray as Mylo’s owner heard submission’s from the parties on whether the new Standard gazetted on 31 January 2014 should apply in determining whether each is a restricted breed dog. Panel counsel, Richard Kendel QC and Andrew…
In a legislative first, the ACT House of Assembly last night banned battery hens, debeaking and sow stalls. The ACT has no factory farms, but the enactment provides a national legislative precedent and a moral beacon for other parliaments to follow. Tasmania’s government flagged in 2012 that it would phase out such practices but failed to…
In a judgment handed down this morning, Rush J of the Supreme Court of Victoria ordered, amongst other things, that the appeal be allowed; the VCAT order be set aside; the matter be remitted to the Tribunal, differently constituted, to be heard and decided afresh; and that the City of Brimbank pay Mylo’s owner’s costs.…
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has filed separate proceedings in the Federal Court against egg producers in WA and NSW alleging that each of the producer’s use of “free range” was misleading. The ACCC alleges that Snowdale Holdings Pty Ltd (Snowdale) in WA and Pirovic Enterprises Pty Ltd (Pirovic) in NSW, through the use…
Senior Member I. Proctor of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal today set aside the declaration by the City of Greater Geelong that Zeus is a restricted breed dog. VCAT’s decision today hopefully concludes a long battle by the Panel to rescue two dogs, Knuckles and Zeus, wrongly declared by the City of Greater Geelong…
Thousands of Australian sheep have reportedly died due to exposure to extreme heat while being transported to the Middle East. Read more here.
Panel counsel appeared for Zeus’ owner at VCAT on 17 and 18 December 2013 in an application challenging the declaration by the City of Greater Geelong that Zeus is a restricted breed dog. Judgment has been reserved, and may be handed down before Christmas. See previous posts about The Fight for Knuckles and Zeus: the declaration…
A seven-minute video released by Animals Australia shows Australian cattle being abused in Gaza. The graphic footage from October this year shows a man armed with a rifle knee-capping an Australian bull. Other bulls are seen being stabbed in the eye or having their throats cut open on the streets of Gaza. Livestock Shipping Services…
BREAKING NEWS… Croucher J of the Supreme Court of Victoria has allowed the appeal by Kerser’s owner. A re-hearing before a differently constituted VCAT has been directed. Panel counsel will appear for Kerser’s owner at the VCAT re-hearing. The Panel gratefully acknowledges the advocacy and work in particular of Noel Magee QC and extends its grateful thanks in addition to Anthony…
Knuckles: by orders made today with the consent of the parties the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ordered that the restricted breed dog declaration of the City of Greater Geelong dated 7 November 2012, be set aside. Originally, as Knuckles owner could not be found to challenge the restricted breed declaration, the Council believed it…
The Nonhuman Rights Project has filed the first lawsuit in the US to establish the legal personhood of chimpanzees. The animal rights group has asked a New York state court to declare Tommy, a 26 year old chimp, “a cognitively complex autonomous legal person with the fundamental legal right not to be imprisoned”. President of…
Game Farm has been fined $20,400 for claiming its birds were range reared, when in fact they were grown in commercial sheds. Game Farm has paid two Australian Competition and Consumer Commission infringement notices and has been ordered to send a corrective notice to its major customers. Read more here: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission : Game…
China’s Food and Drug Administration has announced that from June 2014, China plans to remove its mandatory animal testing requirements for domestically manufactured cosmetic products. “Non-special use cosmetics” such as shampoo or perfume may then have their product safety substantiated in reliance on existing safety data for raw ingredients, or European Union-validated non-animal tests instead…
The Prime Minister by media release today announced on cost grounds the abolition of the Australian Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, a non – statutory body which amongst other things advised the federal minister and department of agriculture and the Standing Council on Primary Industries ( federal and state agricultural ministers) on animal welfare matters. In…