Labradoodle ‘puppy farm’: 250 dogs given up amid push to curb breeding practice

Animal welfare advocates are calling for an end to “puppy farms” after the surrender of hundreds of labradoodles.

The move to bring dog breeders in Tasmania to heel follows other attempts around the nation, some further advanced than others.

RSPCA Tasmania reached an out-of-court agreement after alleging over-breeding at one of the state’s largest dog breeders, requiring the owners to close its operation and surrender more than 250 dogs in July.

Independent MP David O’Byrne said Tasmanians were outraged.

“It’s appalling behaviour, it’s completely unacceptable,” he told reporters on Sunday.

“There are reputable breeders across Tasmania who are doing the right thing and they’re being undermined by the proliferation of puppy farms,” Mr O’Byrne said.

He is sponsoring a petition calling for laws to ban puppy farms, which collected more than 1000 signatures in less than four hours on Sunday.

RSPCA Tasmania chief executive Andrea Dawkins said it took about three years to force the puppy farm’s closure during a drawn-out legal battle.

New laws should consider caps and age limits on breeding bitches and litter numbers, Ms Dawkins said.

The RSPCA also wants a mandatory code of practice for breeders.

“And we want to make sure that if the RSPCA is to deliver oversight of that code of practice that we’re adequately funded to do so,” she told reporters.

More funding would allow the RSPCA to take a proactive role, rather than simply reacting to reports of cruelty, she said.

The state’s Primary Industries minister Jane Howlett has said the government is reviewing regulations to prevent over-breeding, stamp out puppy farms and improve welfare for dogs.

“We never want to see this situation happen again in Tasmania,” she told parliament in July.

NSW Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hurst recently introduced another bill to ban puppy farms in that state, after an earlier attempt was not passed before its March 2023 election.

“Ending puppy farming is pretty obvious and easy reform,” she said.

“You would think, given other states have already banned it, that we would also be there by now,” Ms Hurst said when re-introducing a slightly tweaked bill in May.

She said the problem became worse in NSW after Victoria effectively banned puppy farms in 2017.

One council near the border reported a 500 per cent increase in development applications for intensive dog breeding facilities, Ms Hurst said.

WA has passed laws to better regulate dog breeding, with a contract for the development of a state-wide registration system for cats and dogs awarded earlier in August ahead of its introduction in 2025.

The system is hoped to identify and prevent potential puppy farming by collecting better data on pet registrations and breeders.

South Australia is reviewing public consultation after plans to match Victoria as the strictest jurisdiction for breeding were announced in May.

Queensland increased penalties for serious breaches of the duty of care in 2022, after earlier introducing a code of practice for dog breeders.