Scenic Rim Puppy Farm

– David Margan Some months ago, Dogs Queensland, put in a submission to the Scenic Rim Council opposing a development application for a ‘designer dog puppy farm’.

We have made inquiries as to the current status of the application and received the following from the Council’s planning department:

“The applicant has provided additional supporting material in response to matters raised in the public submissions. This will be published to Council’s DAP Online portal shortly. The application remains currently under assessment, with no Council meeting date set at this stage.”

The proposal received thousands of objections mostly focusing on issues of animal welfare and the potential negative effects on neighbouring properties.

While the Council says the application is still under assessment, unfortunately, it appears that council officers will approve the development application.

The core issue here is that they simply have no other choice as issues of animal welfare are not part of Queensland’s Planning Act 2016 legislation. Consequently, Council officers can’t consider animal welfare, nor the Queensland Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Breeding Dogs and their Progeny in deciding their assessment.

The Council states: “these Guidelines primarily apply to the operation of the use and is thus a compliance matter, and not primarily a development assessment matter.”

This is a serious and non-sensical omission from Queensland’s planning process whereby the welfare of the inmates of this puppy factory is not an issue to be considered.

One also wonders what compliance inspections the Council is referring to as the Council doesn’t conduct any animal welfare checks.

The Council officers claim that: “The applicant is therefore proposing a lawful use in a zone that is intended for the use. There is identified demand for the dog breeds that are proposed by the applicant, and thus the proposal represents an excellent opportunity for a viable rural activity to be established, which will strengthen the Scenic Rim economy.”

So, money matters not animal welfare and they are simply prepared to accept the ‘word of the applicants in regard to welfare matters.

“The applicant has shown through the wellconsidered kennel design and operational information provided in this application that they will be responsible operators who will take their duty of care to the breeding dogs very seriously.”

Even more amazingly the Council Town Planning officers, in response to a submission by our own Helen Weil, also went on to claim, without any expertise or evidence, the following;

“The submitter claims that the proposed breeding kennel “has nothing to do with breeding healthy, sound, well-adjusted and well-socialised puppies.” This is refuted by the Enrichment program outlined in Attachment 3, which will provide the breeding dogs with daily exercise and enjoyment. Further, the owner-operators are deliberately crossbreeding to achieve dogs that better suite modern Australian lifestyles, which in turn will reduce the number of less-suitable dogs ending up in rescue centres and pounds. Further, crossbreeding eliminates the transfer of breed-specific genetic disorders to puppies, resulting in healthier dogs. So, this proposal will provide companion dogs that are healthy and well-socialised.”

While animal welfare has no place in their DA assessment now, they’re breeding and welfare experts who have ignored the mountain of evidence that ‘puppy farms’ fail in any duty of care.

They are being progressively banned in Europe and yet the Scenic Rim Council, with no canine expertise or knowledge, is prepared to simply accept the word of the applicants that everything will be alright.

“They will not be outsourcing the responsibility for the operation of the kennel to others and are completely committed to running a dog breeding In mounting support for the application Council officers also refer to what the applicants have referred to a , “a proposed Enrichment program for breeding dogs.” where an ‘enrichment’ area will accommodate five daily rotation activities.

This was not contained in the original development application but has been added in response to the torrent of opposition to the proposal.

Whether any of it will see the light of day is another question and it’s a pity that the Scenic Rim Council didn’t seek our advice about breeding and animal welfare matters.

Our only hope now is to lobby all the individual Scenic Rim Councillors to encourage them to vote down this Development Application.

And I urge our membership to lobby the Scenic Rim Councillors with the facts and our objections to this proposed ‘designer dog puppy farm.’

That’s exactly what happened to a similar application that was initially approved by council officers of the Sunshine Coast Council, but the elected Councillors rejected their advice and voted the application down 8-1.

The Qld Planning Act needs amendment, there needs to be a greater co-cooperation and resourcing between State and Local government when comes to issues of animal welfare.

At the moment dogs are falling through the cracks.

UPCOMING BREED FEATURES

Dogs Queensland is offering all breeders the opportunity to advertise in the Dog World magazine Breed Features at the discounted rate of $100 for 1/4 page. The following dog breeds are planned for the coming months: September 2022: Irish Wolfhound October 2022: Jack Russell November 2022: Australian Shepherd

For more information or to book an advertisement, email barbara@dogsqueensland.org.au