Licence to Breed
This is an excerpt from an email Steve Smit of Animal Rights Africa sent in which he makes some important points. Steve is involved with those who are trying to get South Africa’s poor legislation changed to provide greater protection for our animal friends. (animalman)
Firstly – Tracy, thanks for the wonderful work you are doing to help find homes for all these precious animals. Just breaks my heart looking at the pics and realizing that their lives are being turned upside down and they have absolutely no say in what happens to them. They are entirely at the mercy of the humans who are making these life-changing decisions. Thanks again – you are a STAR!
Fact is that there are far more animals needing good homes than there are good homes available. And the reason is simply because, added to the “tough economic times blues” we are all experiencing – although I still find the weekend air polluted with the noxious fumes of braais everywhere we go to do our rescues, and the clubs full most nights of the week – animals are too easily obtained and just as easily disposed of. And yes, the SPCA’s are taking in an unprecedented number of dogs and cats, and yes, they are euthanasing more than ever before – though I am at a loss to understand why they refuse to provide annual euthanase figures ( this is on an instruction from the NSPCA) because this is precisely the kind of information the public needs to gag on as they take their kids to Spur to help them get over the sadness of having their “too expensive to keep or too expensive to take overseas” dog or cat euthanased that day.
Reasons for the dog and cat “overpopulation” hinge on a simple fact – over-breeding. So, if we can stop the breeding we massively reduce the number of animals needing homes. Its that simple, in theory, but how do we do it? I, and many others who face this tragedy head on every day, have our own thoughts on how to start the process, but rather that trying to get a zillion suggestions flying around on emails, I propose we hold a workshop asap and get a massive, co-ordinated effort underway to curb the breeding and promote responsible dog and cat ownership. Maybe we should start an organization whose sole objective is responsible dog and cat ownership, affordable sterilization, adoption into good homes and harsher sentences for dog and cat abuse and neglect (for starters).
Just a thought – With so many people emigrating or moving into “no dogs or cats” complexes and giving away their inoculated, house-trained, sterilised animals for free to friends, relatives, work colleagues, etc, why would someone looking for a dog or cat adopt a largely “unknown” animal from the SPCA at R200 to R400-plus? No wonder SPCA-adoptions are way down!
Now I’ll get of my soap box.
Warm regards,
Steve
Steve Smit and Carol Booth
Animal Rights Africa Trustees
ARA Monkey Helpline Project Coordinators
ARA Animal Rescues Unlimited Project Coordinators
www.animalrightsafrica.org
steve@animalrightsafrica.org
I could not agree with either Marion or Steve more.
Has anyone seen the Gumtree (to name only one) site lately? Puppies are made to look cuter and cuter with enlarged photos etc. In tough economic times, obviously anyone is going to take to selling puppies if you can get anything up to R1000 for an unregistered “pedigreed” puppy. There is a horrific number of puppies for sale, underage, with no laws to protect the adult dogs from turning into money making machines by being indiscriminately and continuously bred as an income generating option.
And of course, this means that even more pups end up in pet shops, indiscriminate and uninformed breeding creates pups with personality problems, which in turn leads to more neglect, abandonment etc. Somehow this cycle needs to be stopped!
Pet babies are NOT a source of income. This mind set has to change. And the only way I can see is exactly what Marion suggested…..laws. With the proper authority to back them up!
Hallo Steve,
Boy, oh boy, do I agree with your point.
I think to resolve this problem we should propose the following:
1. The SPCA by law becomes the official police with regards to all animals, domestic, wild or farm animals – but they have no or minimal shelters for emergencies only. This will give them the right to prosecute offenders.
2. The animal shelters that currently operate as NGOs become official animal shelters, therefore you can only BUY (yes you must buy the pet) from them. The price will be the same country wide and will cover all their costs.
3. Breeders must be registered with not only their Breeding Association but with the SPCA as well and will work on a quota system (just like the fishing industry). And this goes for all breeders, obviously farmers have a different quota to domestic pets. They should only be allowed to have a litter every two years and no more than 3 or 4 litters in the bitch’s lifetime. After that the bitch is sterilized, the same applies for a male animal.
4. If you buy an animal from a shelter or breeder your details are entered into a central data bank (like our car lisence) and the shelter or SPCA will ensure that the pet is sterilized at 6 months, if you don’t comply you are then fined and blacklisted.
5. Breeders should pay 10% of their selling price over to the SPCA who hands this money out to the shelters on a regular basis.
6. Pet shops are only allowed to sell pet products but no live animals what so ever.
7. All animals bought through either a breeder or shelter must have their first innoculations and deworming at least. Obviously a home inspection will also be done, before a pet is released. And the animal gets a chip.
regards
Marion