Animal lovers suggest harsher penalties for animal cruelty offenders
Several local pet owners/animal lovers agreed recently that harsher penalties for animal cruelty offenders would be a good idea to seriously consider. Ramco resident Margaret Russell suggested that the offenders should do some community work.
(Ramco is about 15 mins from Waikerie. If you want to know where Waikerie is, please Google it :D)
"I'd put them to work in animal shelters, make them clean them out, make them look at pets and animals and I tell you what, they'd stop and think about what they've done. What punishment do they get? Growled at or a smack on the fingers or just spoken to? They're not punished. By not punishing them are they learning anything? Why not let them do something, let them think about what they've done."
One pet owner said she wasn't aware of the current animal cruelty punishments. However she had heard of fines and jail terms being possible punishments but suggested that most get waived or reduced to an extent.
She added, "I believe that animals should be treated to the same protection from cruelty as humans, and people that perform acts of cruelty on animals should receive the same punishment for it, as if they had abused a person."
An article posted on the ABC's website on Saturday August 14, 2010 stated that Tasmania's RSPCA organisation has renewed calls for magistrates to impose harsher penalties for animal cruelty, reporting a 37 percent increase in complaints over the past year.
The Acting CEO Michael Linke says most of the complaints involved the treatment of domestic animals.
"One of the worst was a cat with broken hips being left in a person's backyard for five days," he said.
Mr. Linke is calling for tougher penalties.
"More jail terms, higher levels of financial penalties."
Mr. Linke says about ten percent of the complaints related to deliberate animal abuse.
Recent acts of animal cruelty
When the pet owners were asked whether they had seen or heard about any recent acts of animal cruelty, 4 out of the 6 interviewees had heard of several cases each.
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Margaret Russell said she saw the case with "Snowy" the cat on the RSPCA Rescue Show on TV. (On July 3, 2010 Snowy had his legs tied up, and his ears were mutilated. He was then set alight and left to die.) This is the link to the NSW RSPCA website featuring Snowy's story: http://www.rspcansw.org.au/snowy.
This is Snowy before July 3.
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This is Snowy after July 3 at RSPCA shelter.
However Mrs. Russell had a story closer to home to tell.
"I know people at Sunlands, they moved out of their house and someone asked, "What about your cats?" And they said, "They're alright." She asked, "Well have you been fed today?" They replied, "Yeah why what's that got to do with it?" She said, "Well these cats are hungry." They said, "They'll be 'right." Well you don't just leave your animals, that's cruel. You should be responsible for what you've got. It's sad when you see cats starving hungry, that's why they catch the birds, small frogs and other animals."
"It really irks me; it really makes me so mad to see anybody being so cruel to a helpless, defenceless animal. It's shocking."
Another pet owner had heard of a "Cat in the garbage bin saga", where a woman threw a cat into a bin and it was left there for hours. She had also heard of many animal cruelty cases occurring in foreign countries, such as dancing bears and was also aware of hoarders; "... people taking large amounts of animals into their homes in appalling conditions with little food, water and protection."
Lyn Crowhurst had heard of the following animal cruelty acts: starvation of horses, maiming of cats, neglect of dogs and again the bears in India/Overseas were mentioned. (In Pakistan people are still bear baiting, despite it being illegal in most areas of the country. There are also dancing bears in India still. There are ongoing efforts to eradicate both of these practises permanently.)
Jeanie Walker, animal activist and last remaining Democrat candidate in Australia had this to say in February this year," It has been extensively researched and proven that cruelty to animals is a precursor to violence and cruelty against humans. If perpetrators of animal cruelty keep escaping punishment then we are promoting a more violent society and this is totally unacceptable to the Democrats and the Australian public."
Several local pet owners/animal lovers agreed recently that harsher penalties for animal cruelty offenders would be a good idea to seriously consider. Ramco resident Margaret Russell suggested that the offenders should do some community work.
(Ramco is about 15 mins from Waikerie. If you want to know where Waikerie is, please Google it :D)
"I'd put them to work in animal shelters, make them clean them out, make them look at pets and animals and I tell you what, they'd stop and think about what they've done. What punishment do they get? Growled at or a smack on the fingers or just spoken to? They're not punished. By not punishing them are they learning anything? Why not let them do something, let them think about what they've done."
One pet owner said she wasn't aware of the current animal cruelty punishments. However she had heard of fines and jail terms being possible punishments but suggested that most get waived or reduced to an extent.
She added, "I believe that animals should be treated to the same protection from cruelty as humans, and people that perform acts of cruelty on animals should receive the same punishment for it, as if they had abused a person."
An article posted on the ABC's website on Saturday August 14, 2010 stated that Tasmania's RSPCA organisation has renewed calls for magistrates to impose harsher penalties for animal cruelty, reporting a 37 percent increase in complaints over the past year.
The Acting CEO Michael Linke says most of the complaints involved the treatment of domestic animals.
"One of the worst was a cat with broken hips being left in a person's backyard for five days," he said.
Mr. Linke is calling for tougher penalties.
"More jail terms, higher levels of financial penalties."
Mr. Linke says about ten percent of the complaints related to deliberate animal abuse.
Recent acts of animal cruelty
When the pet owners were asked whether they had seen or heard about any recent acts of animal cruelty, 4 out of the 6 interviewees had heard of several cases each.
.jpg)
Margaret Russell said she saw the case with "Snowy" the cat on the RSPCA Rescue Show on TV. (On July 3, 2010 Snowy had his legs tied up, and his ears were mutilated. He was then set alight and left to die.) This is the link to the NSW RSPCA website featuring Snowy's story: http://www.rspcansw.org.au/snowy.
This is Snowy before July 3.
.jpg)
This is Snowy after July 3 at RSPCA shelter.
However Mrs. Russell had a story closer to home to tell.
"I know people at Sunlands, they moved out of their house and someone asked, "What about your cats?" And they said, "They're alright." She asked, "Well have you been fed today?" They replied, "Yeah why what's that got to do with it?" She said, "Well these cats are hungry." They said, "They'll be 'right." Well you don't just leave your animals, that's cruel. You should be responsible for what you've got. It's sad when you see cats starving hungry, that's why they catch the birds, small frogs and other animals."
"It really irks me; it really makes me so mad to see anybody being so cruel to a helpless, defenceless animal. It's shocking."
Another pet owner had heard of a "Cat in the garbage bin saga", where a woman threw a cat into a bin and it was left there for hours. She had also heard of many animal cruelty cases occurring in foreign countries, such as dancing bears and was also aware of hoarders; "... people taking large amounts of animals into their homes in appalling conditions with little food, water and protection."
Lyn Crowhurst had heard of the following animal cruelty acts: starvation of horses, maiming of cats, neglect of dogs and again the bears in India/Overseas were mentioned. (In Pakistan people are still bear baiting, despite it being illegal in most areas of the country. There are also dancing bears in India still. There are ongoing efforts to eradicate both of these practises permanently.)
Jeanie Walker, animal activist and last remaining Democrat candidate in Australia had this to say in February this year," It has been extensively researched and proven that cruelty to animals is a precursor to violence and cruelty against humans. If perpetrators of animal cruelty keep escaping punishment then we are promoting a more violent society and this is totally unacceptable to the Democrats and the Australian public."
When asked if the general public should be made more aware about animal cruelty, some interviewees commented that the public is already aware of it through TV and the media. However, 2 interviewees both thought that the consequences of animal cruelty should be made more conspicuous in an attempt to dissuade people from committing such horrible acts.
In Australia penalties for animal cruelty offences vary in each jurisdiction. Each state and territory has their own jail terms and fines as follows:
State Maximum jail term Maximum fine
ACT, 12 months (2 yrs for aggravated cruelty), $10,000 ($20,000 for
aggravated cruelty)
NSW, 6 months (5 yrs for aggravated cruelty), $5,500($22,000 for
aggravated cruelty)
NT, 12 months, $13,000 (regardless of
deliberate or negligent)
QLD, 2 yrs, $100,000 (regardless of
deliberate or negligent)
SA, 2 yrs (4 yrs for aggravated cruelty), $20,000 ($50,000 for
aggravated cruelty)
TAS, 12 months (18 months for aggravated cruelty), $12,000 ($24,000 for
aggravated cruelty)
VIC, 12 months (2 yrs for aggravated cruelty), $12,000 ($24,000 for
aggravated cruelty)
WA, 5 yrs, $50,000 (regardless of
deliberate or negligent)
These penalties came from the following article on the Australian RSPCA website which was last updated on Jan 14, 2010: http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-are-the-penalties-for-animal-cruelty-offences_271.html
Animal cruelty needs to be seen as a more prominent issue. More often than not animal cruelty articles are made the sub story in the news and are ignored or considered unworthy of our time. I hope this article has made some sort of an impact into some people's minds about how horrible it can be and has informed more people that there are serious consequences for anyone who commits cruel acts towards animals.
References
http://www.rspcansw.org.au/snowy
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/14/2982885.htm
http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/animal-cruelty-and-the-case-for-harsher-punishment/
http://sj.farmonline.com.au/news/state/agribusiness-and-general/general/last-democrat-targets-rspca-in-animal-rights-fight/1738717.aspx
http://www.dogslife.com.au/dogs_life_articles?cid=12561&pid=6698179
http://www.wspa.typepad.com/compassionateplanet/
http://www.grantanimalwishes.com/some-of-my-projects.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear-baiting
http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-are-the-penalties-for-animal-cruelty-offences_271.html
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