00:00Christy Algar has been campaigning for Tasmania's animal welfare legislation to be changed for
00:08eight years.
00:10She says the community is being let down by the state's inadequate laws.
00:15Animal welfare legislation is just so riddled with holes.
00:18It needs to become stronger.
00:20It needs to be applicable to everybody, whether they're working in a commercial setting or
00:25whether they're in a suburban backyard, whether it's a paddock out in the middle of nowhere.
00:31Ms Algar says the case of Tasmanian Labradoodles is just the latest example of animal welfare
00:37standards being breached.
00:39Former workers at the puppy farm have told the ABC they were asked to put live puppies
00:44in a freezer and saw dogs hit with PVC pipe and shaken to the point of being stunned so
00:51photos could be taken for the website.
00:54It feels ridiculous in 2024 to need to say out loud that putting puppies who are alive
01:01into a freezer with the intention of killing them is not acceptable.
01:06Animal welfare experts say Tasmania's laws lag behind other states like Victoria.
01:12I would argue they've probably got the strongest laws against puppy farming.
01:16So what they do in their legislation is cap the number of breeding females that are a
01:23dog breeder essentially can have and the number of litters that they can have.
01:28Independent member for Clark, Christy Johnston, says the laws need to be reviewed.
01:34Animal welfare legislation in this state is woefully inadequate.
01:37It hasn't been, for a start, reviewed in 31 years properly.
01:41It is an old piece of legislation.
01:43Fundamentally, the legislation isn't based on a principle of sentience.
01:47If workers are reporting that they're being told to put puppies into freezers and they're
01:53reporting it to the relevant authorities and nothing's happening, that tells you that something
01:57drastic needs to change.
01:59RSPCA Tasmania says it's eagerly awaiting a draft dog regulations discussion paper which
02:05the state government says will be released in the coming weeks.
02:08Tasmanian Labradoodles has also been contacted for comment.
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