New, South Australian dog and cat laws are in full effect this week, implemented in hopes of making pet ownership a whole lot easier, and to see that no cats nor dogs are mistreated.
Now that the new laws have been officially implemented, all cats and dogs are to be micro-chipped by three months of age. Cats and dogs born after July 1st should be desexed by six months of age as well as there being adjusted rules for breeders who sell cats and dogs. An introduction of a statewide database, Cats and Dogs Online (DACO) has also been set into place.
These refined laws will simply make the dog registration process rather straightforward, it’ll be made easier to reunite lost dogs and cats with their owners and will help to both identify and put a stop to puppy farms, reducing the number of unplanned litters.
In celebration of these new laws, RSPCA will be giving all South Australian pet owners the chance to have animals desexed and micro-chipped free of charge, all by entering an online lottery!
The team at Lonsdale shelter will desex twenty cats and twenty dogs, with the opportunity for winners to also have their animals microchipped!
Lottery winners will be drawn next Wednesday, July 4 so go ahead and enter the draw before it’s too late!
To ensure all is well and that the animals are in healthy condition, winning owners will be required to book their animals for a health check-up prior to surgery.
RSPCA South Australia’s Head of Animal Operations, Tim Charles, has said the lottery celebrates a significant legal win for animal welfare.
“We’re really happy that these new laws are in effect,” Tim Charles says, “The introduction of mandatory desexing has the potential to make a huge dent in the number of unwanted animals ended up in our animal shelters or being dumped. In particular, we’re hoping to see less unwanted cats – currently we have more than 300 in our care.”
Most dogs are generally microchipped yet only 2% out of the 4,200 cats cared for by RSPCA South Australia last year were microchipped, making it basically impossible to contact owners of these stray cats. “Mandatory microchipping should mean we can reunite more cats with their owners,” says Charles.
So check with the local council and ensure that your animals’ microchip contact details are up to date, making sure that if your pet were ever to be lost, it’d be easily brought back to you!
To enter the lottery click here.
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