Joe Helper Ignored Me :(

Victoria is the only state to set a maximum time an animal selected for sale can be held by a shelter. Our shelters oppose the ‘28 Day Rule‘ because it doesn’t take the circumstances of each individual animal into account. It results in the unnecessary destruction of cats and dogs who they would otherwise find homes for.

The Minister for Agriculture, Joe Helper,  has the final say over changes to the Code of Practice so I wrote to him a letter asking that this unprecedented and unwarranted rule be removed. No response. I followed up by email. Still no response.

Joe Helper Ignores a Lot of People :|

I felt a bit better to hear I wasn’t the only one being ignored.

In Victoria, a similar situation exists with all animal welfare issues being referred to the Premier for his decision, thus by-passing the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (AWAC) which was established to provide community advice on the welfare of animals to the government.

The members of the AWAC are all highly motivated, talented professionals, yet the achievements of the committee remain negligible because the committee agenda and all debate are firmly controlled by the department.

Hey Joe, Ignore This :-)

A couple of weeks ago I decided to go public with this and was amazed at the response! In just two days every Melbourne shelter got behind the campaign and within a week it had over 2500 supporters. In it’s second week we’ve had radio and press interviews. The story in the Geelong Advertiser story generated a lot of interest.

StopTheClock Campaign Calls for End to '28 Day Rule'

Our politicians need to realise that not only do we see our own cats and dogs as family members, but our care also extends to animals we don’t personally own. We need to stand up and make our voices heard about these issues. As taxpayers we should expect our public servants to listen.