Minute by the Lord Mayor
To Council:
For decades I have advocated for changes to
improve the welfare of companion animals and the rights of pet owners,
including for people renting and living in apartments.
In September 2023, Council unanimously
supported my Lord Mayoral Minute calling for the NSW Government to allow pets on public transport. Minister Haylen has
confirmed she will investigate these changes in consultation with interested
stakeholders including transport workers and people with disability.
And just last month, Virgin Australia
announced their intention to trial people travelling with their pets in the
cabin on domestic flights, if they are in a secure pet carrier. This too will
require regulatory approval. There is growing demand in the community for
people to be allowed to bring their pets as they travel locally or interstate,
to local cafes, and increasingly people want to bring their dogs to work too.
In 2013, the Food Standards Code was amended
to allow dogs in outdoor food service areas at cafes and pubs, but not indoors.
Many people want to bring their pets to cafes and pubs and increasingly,
operators want to allow it. But the current laws and standards are not keeping
pace with community expectations, and prohibit dogs in indoor food service
areas, even when the business owner agrees. The laws and regulations also
oblige the City’s health and building team to enforce this ban.
In February, I was invited to launch Amazon’s
newest dog playground at its corporate offices on Park Street in Sydney. This
space is the latest addition to their Amazon Dogs at Work program which was
developed in response to research they commissioned which found that 69 per
cent of dog owners who would love to bring their dogs to work.
As more people adopt pets and density
increases, it is more important than ever that people are fully aware of their
responsibilities to pick up after their dogs and control their behaviour around
other dogs and people when in public.
Our rangers and companion animal officers
promote responsible pet ownership by educating people about animal behaviour
and safety through regular patrols of parks and open spaces, and through a
range of community events. At the annual Pet Days in Waterloo and Surry Hills,
social housing residents can access free pet health checks, microchipping, flea
and worming treatments, and book free desexing.
Responsible pet ownership is also promoted
through pop-up events at Harold Park and Kings Cross, and the Muddy Paws
Festival. The City also encourages people to register their pets online by
offering free collars and tags, subsidising desexing fees and offering free
microchipping for pensioners and people on low incomes.
We do this because we know how important pets
are to peoples’ lives and wellbeing and we want to limit the number of pets
that are abandoned.
Rehoming
facilities
Due to the high cost of land in the inner
city, the cost of building and operating our own animal shelter and rehoming
facility with appropriate space for exercise is prohibitive for the City of
Sydney.
So, since 2009, the City has partnered with
and contributed to the Sutherland Animal Shelter, which cares for the City’s
lost and abandoned pets. The shelter has one of the lowest euthanasia rates in
Australia, provides a high level of care and aims to rehabilitate and rehome
every animal. Volunteers also walk and help care for these pets.
Recently, I was invited by the Mayor of
Blacktown, Tony Bleasdale, to visit the Blacktown Animal Rehoming Centre (BARC)
in Glendenning. It provides shelter for 135 dogs and 230 cats for Blacktown
City Council and several other Sydney councils. The Centre is also a place for
the community to visit and adopt animals.
Opened in May 2023, BARC is the first
state-of-the-art, custom-built animal rehoming centre in Australia and has been
designed to improve animal assessment efficiency, reduce holding times,
increase adoption rates and decrease euthanasia rates by providing each animal
the maximum opportunity to rehabilitate and be adopted back out to the
community.
Designed by Sam Crawford Architects, the
centre has a handful of six finger-like buildings that connect to nature to
create a safe and welcoming animal shelter that promotes pet adoption. Each
building houses a different function - kennels, a cattery, vet facilities, back
of the house.
The finger-like design allows the animals to
have a direct connection to the surrounding landscape, increasing their
interaction with nature and people. This layout minimises the animal’s
attention fatigue, discomfort from sound and supports comfortable temperatures
with passive thermal ventilation maximizing cross ventilation. The design
features minimise animal distress and help their rehabilitation and rehoming
prospects. Large exercise spaces overlook the adjoining parklands. It is also
safer for staff.
The multipurpose function area provides
public education programs in animal training and pre-adoption courses for
humans, aiming to maximise animal retention rates by adopters.
This is an excellent facility, which shows
the model of larger shared facilities works well for metropolitan councils.
When located on the fringes of metropolitan areas, they are more economical to
build and operate. But already BARC is over capacity.
According to submissions to the NSW Senate
Inquiry into pounds in NSW, rehoming facilities and organisations are in
crisis. Submissions, including the City of Sydney’s submission, explained that
the increase in pet ownership during the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by the
current cost of living and rental affordability crisis combined with the
continued restrictions on pets in rentals, together with the declining rates of
volunteers means most shelters and rehoming organisations are over capacity.
On 22 March 2024, the Sydney Morning Herald
reported aspiring tenants were abandoning high value pets to improve their
chances of securing a new home. Pet rescue organisations say they are
increasingly left to rehome high value cats such as ragdolls and British blues,
as well as canine crosses like Labradoodles.
The RSPCA in NSW said it had seen a 66 per
cent increase in people surrendering their animals because they could not find
a pet-friendly rental. Over the last three years in the City of Sydney, we have
seen a marked increase in the number of impounded animals and a decrease in the
number of animals being collected by their owners, up from 44 dogs and 37 cats
in 2021, to 84 dogs and 63 cats in 2023.
Action needed
In August 2023, the NSW Government consulted
on proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 to make it easier for
renters to have pets, which the City’s submission supported. However, we are
yet to see those changes implemented. This crisis demands the NSW Government
take urgent action to update these laws to limit the number of pets being
abandoned.
We must also consider what else the City can
do to prevent people being forced to give up their pets because they cannot
afford necessary veterinary care for their companion animals.
COUNCILLOR
CLOVER MOORE AO
Lord Mayor
Moved by
the Lord Mayor, seconded by Councillor Worling –
It is resolved that:
(A)
the
Chief Executive Officer be requested to:
(i)
investigate
expanding access to subsided veterinary services beyond Pet Day for people on
low-incomes and experiencing financial hardship;
(ii)
continue
to educate people about responsible pet ownership; and
(iii)
investigate
how the City can further promote responsible pet ownership through the City's
communication channels; and
(B)
the
Lord Mayor be requested to write to:
(i)
the NSW
Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading asking the NSW Government to
accelerate their review of the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 to make it easier
for renters to have pets and limit the number of pets being abandoned;
(ii)
the NSW
Minister for Transport requesting an update on progress with implementing the
necessary regulatory changes to allow pets on public transport, following
Council's resolution in September 2023; and
(iii)
the NSW
Minister for Agriculture and the NSW Minister for Local Government, asking the
NSW Government to amend the NSW Food Act 2003 and NSW Companion Animals Act
1998, to allow dogs in indoor as well as outdoor food service areas, provided
they are kept away from areas where food is prepared or stored, and the owner
of the business agrees.
Carried
unanimously.
S051491