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| Animal Welfare Act
The Duty of Care is yours - you must take it seriously!If you have animals, own animals or look after animals, you are responsible for their welfare. This applies whether your animals are pets or livestock. You may be deemed to have the care or charge of an animal if you are: - The animal’s owner
- A person with control, possession or custody of the animal
- An operator or manager of commercial premises involving the animal
- A share farmer
- A chief executive officer or a director of a company that owns the animal
Employers are liable for the actions, or inactions, of their employees in relation to the welfare of an animal.
If a company is convicted of an animal welfare offence, everyone in the management of the company (ie including directors) is deemed to have committed the same offence unless they can demonstrate the offence occurred without their knowledge or they took action to prevent the offence.
The maximum penalties for offences have been increased. Importantly, a system of infringement notices has recently been established to enable the less serious animal welfare breaches to be dealt with more quickly and efficiently. In practice, this means that people who are cruel to an animal (and that includes neglect) are more likely to be charged and convicted than previously.
Neglect is cruelty
There is a legal requirement that animals unable to provide for themselves must be given appropriate and sufficient food, water, shelter and exercise. There is now a legal interpretation (refer S8 of the Animal Welfare Act 1993) of what “appropriate and sufficient” means in terms of food, water and shelter.
The Animal Welfare Act 1993 was amended on 29 July 2008. There were many changes. Most relate to increasing the powers of inspectors to take quick action to help an animal in trouble and to gather evidence for a prosecution, but they also included some changes to the rules about animal research, rodeos and the use of glue traps in rodent control. To view the whole Animal Welfare Act, with the recent amendments included, visit the Tasmanian Legislation Website .
Here is a detailed summary of the recent changes to the Act.
All states are working towards nationally consistent livestock welfare standards and guidelines. The previous Tasmanian standards have become "Guidelines" under the new system.
Further Information Contact: Animal Health and Welfare BranchBiosecurity and Product Integrity Division
Animal Health and Welfare Branch
13 St Johns Avenue
NEW TOWN TAS 7008
Phone: 03 6233 6875
Email: AnimalWelfareEnquiries@dpipwe.tas.gov.au | |
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