In NSW, stabbing dogs is declared legal!
Announcement posted by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Australia 24 Apr 2020
The Editor,
Dear Editor,
The NSW Supreme Court has found that an act of violence in which a man stabbed a dog several times with a pitchfork, hung him on a tree with the pitchfork still impaled in his body, and then killed him some time later with a mallet, is not against the law. The RSPCA Chief Inspector called the act "shocking and inexcusable", and a witness described the man "laughing and joking" during the attack. The perpetrator of this outrageous and vicious offence, a Minto "petting zoo" owner, was initially sentenced last year to three years and four months in prison, but the Supreme Court has now quashed the conviction on appeal. The judge called the attack "particularly abhorrent and, ultimately, cruel", but stated that a person wasn't guilty of animal cruelty if the conduct occurred during "the extermination of pest animals".
If this isn’t a wakeup call that animal protection legislation is woefully lacking, I don’t know what is. We must urgently bring our laws up to modern standards, with acts of cruelty given the harsh penalties they deserve, including a lifetime ban on offenders ever keeping other animals.
Desmond Bellamy
Special Projects Coordinator
PETA Australia
PO Box 2352
Byron Bay NSW 2481
0411 577 416
DesmondB@PETA.org.au
Dear Editor,
The NSW Supreme Court has found that an act of violence in which a man stabbed a dog several times with a pitchfork, hung him on a tree with the pitchfork still impaled in his body, and then killed him some time later with a mallet, is not against the law. The RSPCA Chief Inspector called the act "shocking and inexcusable", and a witness described the man "laughing and joking" during the attack. The perpetrator of this outrageous and vicious offence, a Minto "petting zoo" owner, was initially sentenced last year to three years and four months in prison, but the Supreme Court has now quashed the conviction on appeal. The judge called the attack "particularly abhorrent and, ultimately, cruel", but stated that a person wasn't guilty of animal cruelty if the conduct occurred during "the extermination of pest animals".
If this isn’t a wakeup call that animal protection legislation is woefully lacking, I don’t know what is. We must urgently bring our laws up to modern standards, with acts of cruelty given the harsh penalties they deserve, including a lifetime ban on offenders ever keeping other animals.
Desmond Bellamy
Special Projects Coordinator
PETA Australia
PO Box 2352
Byron Bay NSW 2481
0411 577 416
DesmondB@PETA.org.au