A warning, this story contains details and images that some viewers may find distressing. Animal welfare advocates are calling on the Tasmanian Government to toughen laws to protect animals following reports that workers at a now-closed puppy farm near Launceston were asked to put live puppies into a freezer and saw dogs being hit and shaken. Experts say if Tasmania’s animal warfare laws are not strengthened, further cases on animal abuse are inevitable.
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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.