The very first questions most of us will ask when reading or viewing allegations of a puppy farm operating on the northern tablelands is: Who is investigating this? Is anyone? Or what are the authorities doing about it?
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They seem the very initial reactions you might have given the graphic nature of the allegations, the disturbing vision shown, and the apparent background to a breeding regime that is pitched in squalor and sordid commercialism.
That a puppy factory can be found, criminal charges of neglect and aggravated cruelty levelled against the owner for a start, and then less than 12 months later, more allegations surface of the same conditions, beggars some belief.
The reporting this weekend by Fairfax Media of what they suggested were inhumane and abhorrent practices at a puppy farm, a factory no less, by an animal activist is at the very least grotesque, no matter the intent behind it, or any suspicions of something grossly overrated or taken out of context.
Surely the simple facts of this case warrant questions, but more importantly, they deserve answers.
The reports now suggest that the dog breeder involved, a Wandsworth woman, has been allowed to continue running the factory, despite being convicted, despite being fined, despite being outed – and looking like it’s being run pretty much like it used to run.
Obviously animal activists are outraged. So are many of the rest of us.
When it comes to humanity and humankind’s propensity to feel and show emotion, anything where we see animals mistreated strikes a strong chord within most of us.
Dogs, being man’s best friend, elicit a huge swathe of our love.
The allegations against the breeder this time around – and the undercover images of the puppy farm – have initially seen at least one RSPCA inspector suggest that, while the conditions don’t comply with a code of practice for breeding, there’s actually no prima facie breaches of animal cruelty.
Many of us would beg to disagree.
Many will ask why the breeder has not been under rigorous monitoring? Why some conditions can be revealed by people sneaking around in the dark, but apparently not visible to official inspections?
Make your own mind up on that one.
The breeder’s factory farm, when the case went to court last year, was exposed by the RSPCA veterinary report as a place where a number of animals had to be put down.
Despite that, the puppy farm has been allowed to operate.
Why?
