Harry Corbett

Ernie: I want owners who have had their pets desexed by Frankston and am also keen to get in touch with people whose pet is currently impounded and the council is demanding they have it desexed before release. Longcoat: The Domestic (Feral & Nuisance) Animals Act does not use the word “sterilised” only “desexed” but the word is not defined. Vasectomy in the male and tying off the “tubes” in the female will render the animals sterile and I have heard anecdotally of at least one council allowing the use of a drug that temporarily renders male dogs infertile. I would grant the point is arguable, especially when there is no definition within the DAA. However dogs wandering for sexual purposes is not influenced by vasectomies etc and this is one of the things councils are concerned about. I think they will hang their hat on a definition of desexing that encompasses the removal of those organs that produce the hormones.

Thanks Ernie. We really only need a half a dozen cases where councils have been forced to release pets without desexing to prove that the law is not as cut and dried as councils (Frankston and Kingston in particular) make out. They are probably desexing 2 or 3 pets each week at the Cranbourne pound which acts for several councils.

I am trying to round up as many cases as I can of people who have had their dogs forcibly desexed by councils; Frankston and Kingston being the most serious offenders but all cases welcome. Especially interested in cases where an entire animal is currently impounded and the owners are being hassled to have it desexed before they can get it released from the pound. Affected owners can write to me at 330 Canterbury Road, Bayswater, 3153 or if they are able to E-mail (much better for speed) contact me at [email protected]

Jed, a bit on the statistics of smoking. If you have a group of 100,000 randomly selected smokers 150 of them will get lung cancer. If you have a group of 100,000 randomly selected non-smokers 6 of them will get lung cancer. So, the Relative Risk carried by a smoker is 25. The RR associated with ETS is 1.19 which is so low as to be ludicrous. Normally it is best to disregard anything where the RR is below 3. Lilli, Am aware of the GabFest. Whenever the word "responsible" is used I reach for the rifle!! Vasectomies will not stop a male dog wandering for sexual purposes so, does not qualify as "desexing" Victorian councils have on-line access to microchip data associated with their municipal district so they can quickly check the list and, if the pet is not registered, they can call around and check to see if it has been desexed. If not, they can impound it in those municipalities where MDLs operate. You do not get it back until some unknown veterinarian desexes it.

No Lilli, just fine with me. Veterinary practitioners do not support what is going on in Frankston; far from it. The AVA does not listen to them.

I have noted certain scurrilous and ill-informed statements made about the opinions I have expressed on the subject of Victoria’s mandatory desexing Laws (MDLs). My introduction to this subject (4 years ago) related to a client who was being forced by her local council to have her 9 week old puppy desexed. A superficial glance at the data produced by advocates of MDLs was something of a revelation: the arguments advanced did not make sense and most of the statistics were simply made up. These factors were amalgamated with a constant stream of vilification of the usual suspects: irresponsible owners, backyard breeders and pet shops. On a day to day basis I see all of these people and my observations could not be reconciled with the vitriolic rantings of the apparatchiks of the animal welfare politburo. Time has proven me correct. There is now a solid momentum behind groups questioning the integrity of those running establishments that kill tens of thousands of animals each year whilst hiding behind the mantra that “there are not enough homes”. Australia has a declining pet population and it is in no small part due to the Wonks who have been misleading the public for decades. Under Victoria’s MDLs a council official can knock on your door and impound your 13 week old pet if it is not desexed. You will not get it back unless you agree to it being desexed by a veterinarian you do not know and may never meet. Under some circumstances these laws enforce the desexing of 4 and 5 week old pets. If you want MDLs this is what you get. You get council officials who advise owners “he just need to be desexed or be put down”; officials who believe an undesexed animal is such a threat to the fabric of society that “he” has to be killed. Unfortunately Jed, it is all “legal” though there are exemptions available to those who bother to read the laws and understand them. Government and Council officials do not. I anticipate a robust debate on the issue. Everyone has to pull together on this.