ANIMAL welfare advocates still concerned about plans to build an $841,000 dog breeding facility at Fosters Valley, south of Bathurst, should take some comfort from one line out of the interview with owner John Grima published in today’s Western Advocate.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
“I would have to be pretty stupid to stand up in front of everyone and say ‘I’m going to do this’ and then not do it,” Mr Grima said during an interview after Bathurst Regional Council this week gave the green light to the facility going ahead.
And he’s right.
There is no question there are plenty of dodgy dog breeders out there and plenty of dodgy puppy farms where animals are kept in squalid conditions where their welfare is given little regard.
We have all seen pictures of raids on these premises by animal welfare groups and have been sickened by the state of some of the poor animals that have been rescued.
But those puppy farms have operated outside of the law from day one.
They have not been developed in accordance with their local council’s planning rules and they have not invited the RSPCA and Animal Welfare League to provide input to their plans before they started building.
It’s unlikely those puppy farms have an in-house veterinarian to fully examine females to ensure they are fit to breed before another litter is demanded; nor would they have a bed set up in the kennels in case a staff member has to sleep overnight beside a dog whose health is a concern.
John Grima’s breeding facility at Fosters Valley will.
Mr Grima knew there would be opposition to his development from the usual quarters but appears to have gone above and beyond to ease those concerns.
“Puppy farm” has become an epithet used to denigrate all breeding operations but if there was ever a case where it was being wrongly applied, then this must be it.
The Animal Welfare Party is right that the facility will exist to produce puppies to be sold for profit through Mr Grima’s Sydney pet store, but if there is a demand for pets then surely it is better for that demand to be met through a transparent and registered facility than through an illegal network of backyard operations.
Mr Grima has set himself a high benchmark to meet and knows plenty will be watching and hoping he fails.
That’s exactly the reason we should be confident he won’t.