Bundaberg council denies Wallaville chihuahua farm application

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An application for a puppy farm at Wallaville has been rejected by Bundaberg Regional Council.

Kanche Kennels, based at Wallaville, had been breeding chihuahuas for sale before it applied for a material change of use application with the council.

At an ordinary council meeting on Tuesday, September 27, councillors unanimously voted against the farm’s development approval.

Bundaberg development manager Michael Ellery told councillors at a briefing meeting earlier in September that while the application was assessed in line with the planning scheme, the council had already received noise complaints from nearby residents.

“In this particular case, one of the main concerns of the application was generating noise, especially because (the) council had already been receiving complaints,” Mr Ellery said.

“In response to those concerns … officers did ask on two occasions for an acoustic report, however the applicant on both occasions declined to provide that information and requested that council assess the application based on the information available.”

Animal Liberation Queensland submitted an objection of the development to Bundaberg council before hundreds of other objections were made.

Bundaberg Council have voted against the operation of a puppy farm breeding chihuahua's at Wallaville.

The animal welfare group said it was pleased with the outcome.

“Animal Liberation Queensland launched a short campaign in June 2022 encouraging the public to lodge an objection to the approval of a 49 ‘breeding dog’ puppy farm in Wallaville,” a statement from ALQ said.

“As a result, over 3000 objections were sent to the council. We are extremely pleased that the Bundaberg Council voted unanimously to refuse the application, in line with community expectations,” the statement said.

“Our primary concern was for the adult dogs and their puppies.

“It was clear that animal welfare was not a priority for the applicant, with most of the dogs being kept in outdoor pens with limited shelter, in all weather conditions, and with little exercise or enrichment.

Kanche Kennels had been selling chihuahua puppies from its unapproved breeding facility at Wallaville.

“Large-scale breeding facilities, such as this, fail to meet dogs’ behavioural, social and/or physiological needs, and there is no justification for new puppy breeding facilities, especially at this scale.

“This puppy farm could potentially result in hundreds of puppies every year – each and every one of these puppies needing a home and to be cared for for the rest of their life (up to 15 years).

“Meanwhile, there is a huge oversupply of dogs with thousands killed every year after being surrendered to shelters, rescues and pounds.”

ALQ said the Western Australian and Victorian governments had prohibited puppy farming recently and it was asking Queensland to consider the same.

“We strongly urge the Queensland Government to follow suit, and outlaw puppy farming in our state,” ALQ said.

In July 2022, the owner of Kanche Kennels, who put forward the material change of use application for the puppy farm, Gerry Moran, told the NewsMail that objection to her proposal was “ridiculous”.

Kanche Kennels customer, Lea Wannenmacher told the NewsMail in July that she believed Animal Liberation Queensland was running a “smear campaign” against Ms Moran.

Kanche Kennels was approached for comment about the rejection of the material change of use application, but did not respond by the deadline.

Bundaberg Council said Kanche Kennels has the right to appeal the decision.

“Under the Planning Act the applicant has the right to appeal against Bundaberg Regional Council‘s decision to the Planning and Environment Court,” a Bundaberg Council spokesperson said.

There is a twenty-day working period after receiving Council’s decision to commence any appeal. At the conclusion of the appeal period, or if the Court upholds Council’s refusal, the Council will work with the owner of land to ensure that the number of dogs kept on site complies with local law.”