By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
THE founder of Oscar’s Law – who planted hidden cameras in a Blind Bight farm – now plans to use the “torturous” footage to push for the chaining of dogs to be made illegal.
Debra Tranter said what she witnessed at the Wild Duck Way acreage farm was “absolutely barbaric”.
“The dogs are chained to poles and some trees all day, on short leads of around two metres,” the animal activist said.
“I am going to write to Minister for Agriculture, Jaala Pulford and use this case to highlight that we need to change the legislation around chaining dogs.”
A detailed report with photos and video of the 20 plus chained and flea ridden American bulldogs, pitbulls and Staffordshire bull terriers was sent by Oscar’s Law to the RSPCA on Thursday 14 April.
Police, RSPCA and a Casey Council by-laws officer searched the family farm the following day, slapping a compliance notice on the male owner to rectify the welfare concerns.
The RSPCA did not seize any of the dogs on the day but will continue to monitor the case.
Ms Tranter and her team of two scanned the animals and found that majority of the hidden dogs were “not microchipped and therefore not registered”.
“We are urging the Casey Council to lay charges for unregistered dogs and the number of dogs on the property,” she said.
Under Section 11 of the City of Casey Community Local Law, it states a person who owns or occupies land of 4000 square metres or more must not, except with a permit, keep more than four dogs or cats.
However two weeks after the raid the Casey Council has not charged the man with holding more than four unregistered dogs on his land.
Ms Tranter said some of the dogs were underweight and spent their days tied up and scratching at their infected skin.
“They are very friendly, there are no signs of wounds or scars from fighting but the dogs are in bad condition,” she said.
“One has a few open wounds that look like pressure sores and a lot have broken and bleeding skin from a flea allergy – they’re absolutely swarming with fleas.”
Ms Tranter said the situation has pushed her to take serious action to make the chaining of dogs illegal.
“Unfortunately it’s not illegal to chain dogs, so just by chaining a dog is not a violation of the law,” she said.
“The code of practice isn’t mandatory, it doesn’t even matter what the code of practice says, it’s not mandatory it just a guide.”
Ms Tranter was tipped off by an anonymous source to inspect the farm close to six weeks ago and entered the property up to eight times over the month of March to gain evidence.
The owner fired shots at adjacent properties on Friday 15 April after discovering his property had been raided.
He was arrested at the scene and released pending further investigations.
