Animal welfare groups rally against Kellyville Pets breeding facility
THE BATTLE against puppy farms took to the streets on Saturday as protesters rallied outside Kellyville Pets in Beaumont Hills.
Hills Shire
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THE BATTLE against puppy farms took to the streets on Saturday as protesters rallied outside Kellyville Pets in Beaumont Hills.
Animal Justice Party representative Lisa Ryan co-ordinated the peaceful protest outside the store to coincides with a development application for a breeding facility by Kellyville Pets before Bathurst Council this week.
“We rolled out our puppy factory campaign this week, the first stage of the campaign was outside Kellyville Pets on Saturday and the second stage will be with Bathurst Council,” Ms Ryan said.
“I am going to represent the Animal Justice Party alongside another regional animal rights group in the Central West region when council meets this week.”
Ms Ryan said more than 50 volunteers turned out to join the protest on Saturday.
“We have been working in the background with a whole lot of groups communicating about this DA since day one,” she said.
“The atmosphere was very positive, people feel very empowered when they can commit to direct action and that is what we did on Saturday.
“There was a lot of support from the community, people are concerned about puppy factories, the parents of these dog and their future behind bars.”
Kellyville Pets manager John Grima said the store repeated its call for an end to puppy farms during the protest outside the Beaumont Hills store.
“The establishment would help replace hidden, cruel and unregulated puppy farms with the first fully transparent luxury breeding facility manned by specialist staff to raise the standards of dog breeding and set a new benchmark for the pet industry not seen in Australia before,” Mr Grima said.
“We have serious concerns about the unregulated nature of puppy farms in NSW and the lack of welfare enforcement which can lead to terrible conditions for breeding dogs and their puppies.
“But while adoption of rescue dogs should always be the first option, where breeding does occur it should be brought into the open so both the expectations of the community and the physical, psychological and social wellbeing of dogs can be met.”
Mr Grima said between 120,000 and 132,000 puppies or dogs are needed to meet demand in NSW each year.
“Even if every dog in an animal shelter was rehomed today, there would still not be enough dogs to supply the current demand,” he said.
Bathurst Council staff will recommend the 60-dog breeding facility be approved on Wednesday night.
The council also recommended a complaints management plan to be established to record complaints and conduct investigations and testing.
The breeding facility would include large grassed yards and a socialisation and training area, 15 kennels and a dog run, 20 whelping kennels and an outdoor fenced space, eight mating kennels and activity areas.
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