Published on Sep 25, 2012
THE Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) thanks Dr Andy Ho ("Let's talk about animal welfare"; Sept 14) for highlighting the Animal Welfare Legislation Review, which marks a milestone in animal welfare here.
We hope it will result in much improved legislation to protect animals against cruel acts, including wanton neglect.
As long as there are economic factors affecting animal industries - whether factory farming or commercial breeding and sale of pets - it seems that the welfare of the animals involved is often left out of the equation.
In New Zealand, which Dr Ho referred to, the SPCA does not have to go through the attorney-general or public prosecutor to take perpetrators of animal cruelty to task legally, unlike in Singapore, where no independent parties have the legal standing to seek action by the courts.
This can be a serious hurdle to action when there are differences of opinion between the authorities and the SPCA in terms of what constitutes a cruel act.
We support Dr Ho's suggestion to introduce codes of welfare here, as has been done in New Zealand.
Currently, there is an ongoing review of New Zealand's Animal Welfare Act 1999, and there are indications that the codes of welfare it currently has will be changed into regulations.
The reason is that the codes are not directly enforceable (in particular, the production animal codes for layer hens, pigs and meat chickens).
So, failing to meet the minimum standard under a code may not necessarily relate directly to an offence under its Act, making it difficult to prosecute for non-compliance of the minimum standard in the relevant code of welfare.
So we hope that if the authorities were to introduce codes of welfare here, the codes would make reference to specific offences under the relevant Act.
For instance, if a person, company or corporate body failed to meet a minimum standard within a code of welfare, they would breach the Animals and Birds Act and would be liable upon conviction to a fine or imprisonment.
Last December, we submitted a proposal for legislative reform, which included a recommendation to consider a separate, standalone Act, that is, an animal welfare Act.
The setting up of an independent animal welfare advisory committee was also suggested in our proposal, as is the case in New Zealand and Australia.
Deirdre Moss (Ms)
Animal Welfare Director
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
