Jump to navigation. Further, the Animal Welfare Act reflects advances in both the scope and punishment for animal cruelty. There are few laws that can be said to be completely satisfactory in every respect. Quite the contrary, it is often the case that a law is found wanting, be it with regards to substance, application or enforcement. Hence insufficiencies were bound to come to light in the course of an examination of our legislation relating to companion animals. The first problem encountered amongst the applicable norms was the licence requirement under the Dogs Act.
This particular law is not observed and the fact that no attempt at enforcement is made only serves to sustain the status quo. But even if it were to be enforced it would still present some problems in terms of substance. The badge that is given to be worn by the dog upon the issue of a licence can easily be removed or lost, meaning that it may not be possible to link a lost or abandoned animal to its owner for the purpose of returning the animal to him or prosecuting him.
An electronic transponder would be a much more suitable alternative, ensuring identification and allowing the State to monitor the health status of dogs within its jurisdiction. These two advantages cannot effectively be achieved with a badge and furthermore it does not appear that the legislator was concerned with accomplishing the same when the licencing provisions were drafted. A proposition could be to replace the badge with an obligation to implant the dog with an electronic transponder which would provide a permanent record of identity and health status.
The transponder number would be registered and the corresponding details available to the government. In any case the provisions concerning the dog licence ought to be repealed for they have no discernible purpose. The Dogs Act also provides for stray dogs and not necessarily in the best manner. Upon being found, a stray dog ought to be returned to its owner or if this person is unknown it must be taken to the nearest police station.
If the dog remains unclaimed for seven days it will be destroyed or otherwise disposed of. The fact that this procedure is not ordinarily followed is good but it is still unacceptable in this day and age for us to have legislation that condones the killing of a healthy companion animal.
