Purpose:

The purpose of this Act is to prevent cruelty to animals and to promote their welfare.

Objectives:

• To prevent cruelty to animals.
• To promote the welfare of animals by requiring a person in charge of an animal to provide care for the animal.
• To promote the welfare of animals by requiring a person in charge of an animal to treat the animal in a humane manner.
• To promote the welfare of animals by requiring a person in charge of an animal to ensure the welfare of the animal.
• To promote the welfare of dogs and cats by requiring information about them to be provided when they are advertised for sale.

Key Provisions:

• Prohibits cruelty and aggravated cruelty to animals.
• Regulates the carriage, conveyance, tethering, and confinement of animals to prevent unnecessary pain and injury.
• Mandates that persons in charge of animals provide them with proper and sufficient food, drink, and shelter, as well as adequate exercise for confined animals.
• Prohibits specific procedures on animals, including tail docking, ear cropping, devocalisation, cat declawing, sheep teeth grinding/trimming/clipping, greyhound clitoridectomy, and firing or hot iron branding of an animal’s face, with certain exceptions for veterinary practitioners.
• Requires specific identification information for dogs and cats to be included in advertisements for their sale or transfer.
• Establishes a maximum limit of 20 female adult dogs on dog breeding premises, with provisions for exemptions under specified conditions.
• Grants powers to appointed officers and inspectors to enter land, inspect animals, examine advertisements, seize evidence, and issue compliance notices for offences under the Act.
• Authorises the Secretary of the Department to issue official warnings and subsequently order the seizure and disposal of stock animals suffering from distress due to lack of care.
• Enables courts to make various orders, including destruction of animals, payment of care and maintenance costs by accused persons, interim disqualification from animal care, and further disqualification orders following findings of guilt for animal cruelty offences.
• Imposes prohibitions on persons convicted of animal cruelty offences, preventing them from breeding animals or managing businesses related to animal breeding, with exceptions for commercial stock or working dog breeding.

Evidence of Compliance Requirements For Agricultural Organisations:

• Provision of Proper and Sufficient Food, Drink, and Shelter (Section 8):
  • Action Needed: Persons in charge of an animal must ensure the animal is provided with food, drink, or shelter that is proper and sufficient and reasonably practicable to provide.
  • Measurement Standards: Evidence of an animal not being provided with clean water for 24 hours is evidence of failure to provide sufficient drink. Evidence of an animal not being provided with food or shelter for 24 hours (or a prescribed period for certain classes of animals) is evidence of failure to provide sufficient food or shelter.
  • Reporting Requirements: Before commencing proceedings for an offence against this provision in respect of a stock animal depastured on rateable land, the prosecution must obtain advice from Local Land Services about the state of the animal and appropriate care for it.
• Provision of Adequate Exercise for Confined Animals (Section 9):
  • Action Needed: Persons in charge of a confined animal (excluding stock animals other than horses, and caged species) must provide adequate exercise.
  • Measurement Standards: Evidence of an animal not being released from confinement for 24 hours is evidence of failure to provide adequate exercise.
  • Compliance: For animals other than stock animals, confinement cages must have sufficient height, length, or breadth to allow a reasonable opportunity for adequate exercise. A defence exists if confinement is for carriage/conveyance or public exhibition, inflicts no unnecessary pain, and does not exceed 24 hours.
• Carriage and Conveyance of Animals (Section 7):
  • Action Needed: Do not carry or convey a horse on a multi-deck vehicle.
  • Action Needed: Do not carry or convey a dog (other than a working dog) on the open back of a moving vehicle on a public street unless the dog is restrained or enclosed to prevent it from falling.
• Tethering of Animals (Section 10):
  • Action Needed: Do not tether an animal for an unreasonable length of time or by means of an unreasonably heavy or short tether.
  • Action Needed: Do not tether a sow in a piggery.
  • Action Needed: Do not confine a bird by means of a tether, unless it is a raptor tethered to its handler solely by a jess.
• Prohibited Procedures on Animals (Section 12 and 12A):
  • Action Needed: Do not perform procedures such as tail docking certain animals (horses, bulls, oxen, bullocks, steers, cows, heifers, calves, dogs), cropping dog ears, devocalising dogs, removing cat claws, grinding, trimming, or clipping sheep teeth, performing clitoridectomies on greyhounds, or firing or hot iron branding the face of an animal.
  • Documentation/Action for Exceptions:
    • Calf tail docking is permitted if the calf is less than 6 months old and the procedure inflicts no unnecessary pain.
    • Other specified procedures (e.g., cow/heifer/female calf tail docking, sheep teeth procedures) are permitted if performed by a veterinary practitioner in prescribed circumstances and in accordance with any conditions specified in the regulations.
    • Dog tail docking is permitted if performed by a veterinary practitioner and in the interests of the dog’s welfare.
  • Record-keeping (Veterinary Practitioners): A veterinary practitioner carrying out certain procedures must enter the prescribed particulars into a register kept in the prescribed form.
    • Timeframe: Entries must be made not later than 7 days after carrying out the procedure.
    • Record Retention: The register must be kept for a period of not less than 2 years after the procedure is carried out.
    • Inspection: The register must be made available for inspection by an officer upon request.
• Sale of Severely Injured Animals (Section 22):
  • Action Needed: Do not purchase, acquire, keep, or sell (or offer or expose for sale) an animal that is so severely injured, diseased, or in such a condition that it is cruel to keep it alive. A defence applies if the animal is purchased/acquired for the purpose of prompt destruction, in which case it must be destroyed quickly and without unnecessary pain.
• Trap Setting (Section 23):
  • Action Needed: Do not set a trap of a prescribed type in a prescribed part of New South Wales.
  • Action Needed: Do not set a steel-jawed trap in any part of New South Wales.
  • Action Needed: Do not possess a steel-jawed trap with the intention of using it to trap an animal. (Note: Soft-jawed traps with offset and padded jaws are excluded from the definition of steel-jawed traps).
• Dog Breeding – Maximum Number of Female Adult Dogs (Section 23D, 23N, 23Q):
  • Action Needed: An occupier of dog premises must not keep more than 20 female adult dogs on the premises. Exemptions apply for approved charitable organisations (if not BIN allocated), rehoming organisations (if not BIN allocated), premises for temporary dog care (no breeding), government agencies, assistance animal breeders (members of International Guide Dog Federation or accredited members of Assistance Dogs International), and permanently infertile dogs.
  • Exemption Application (Section 23N): A person who kept more than 20 female adult dogs on 24 October 2024 may apply for an exemption.
    • Documentation: Application must specify the dog premises, the maximum number of female adult dogs to be kept, be in the form approved by the Departmental Chief Executive, and be accompanied by the prescribed application fee and all information or evidence reasonably required.
  • Exemption Conditions (Section 23Q):
    • Compliance: The exemption holder must not allow a person known, or reasonably ought to have been known, to have been convicted of an animal cruelty offence to be a relevant person for the dog premises.
    • Reporting: If the exemption holder or a relevant person for the dog premises is convicted of an animal cruelty offence, written notice of the conviction must be given to the Departmental Chief Executive within 28 days.
    • Inspection/Audit: The exemption holder must permit an audit and inspection of the dog premises to be conducted at least once every 2 years, in accordance with the regulations.
    • Reporting: The exemption holder must submit an annual report to the Departmental Chief Executive by 31 January following the end of each reporting period (ending 30 November). The report must be in the approved format and include prescribed matters and other matters required by the Departmental Chief Executive and published in the Gazette.
    • Compliance: The exemption holder must not keep more female adult dogs on the dog premises than the number specified in the exemption notice.
    • Measurement Standards/Timeframes: If the exemption holder keeps 50 or more female adult dogs, they must ensure no more than 50 female adult dogs are kept on the dog premises on or after 1 December 2026.
    • Compliance: The exemption holder must comply with a code of practice prescribed by the regulations (or relevant provisions if the premises are under construction).
• Prohibitions for Persons Convicted of Animal Cruelty Offences (Section 31AD):
  • Action Needed: A person convicted of an animal cruelty offence (on or after the commencement of this section) must not breed animals, manage or control a business relating to breeding animals, or work with or care for animals in a business relating to breeding animals.
  • Exceptions: This prohibition does not apply to stock animals or working dogs being bred for commercial purposes, or businesses relating to breeding stock animals or working dogs for commercial purposes.
• Inspector Powers for Compliance (Part 2A and 2B):
  • Inspection/Audit: Inspectors may enter land (with consent or search warrant for dwellings) used for sale-yards, animal trades, or where greyhounds are kept, trialled, trained, or raced, to inspect and examine the land, animals, accommodation, shelters, and any advertisements or means of publishing them (Sections 24E, 24G).
  • Documentation Production: Inspectors may require any person on such land to produce any register kept under the Act or regulations and may take copies or notes (Section 24G).
  • Information Provision: Inspectors may require persons with knowledge of relevant matters to answer questions or produce documents. Failure to comply or providing false/misleading information is an offence (Section 24NA).
  • Compliance Notices: If an inspector is satisfied a person is contravening a provision, they may issue a written notice requiring specified action to avoid further contravention. Failure to comply is an offence (Section 24N).
  • Seizure of Evidence: An inspector investigating an offence may seize anything that will afford evidence of the offence and must provide a receipt to the occupier if practicable (Section 24K).
  • Seizure and Disposal of Stock Animals (Secretary’s Authority) (Part 2B):
    • Warning Process: The Secretary may issue an official warning (written notice to owner/person in charge) if a stock animal is suspected to be in distress. A Stock Welfare Panel must assess the animal’s state before the warning is issued and monitor compliance afterwards.
    • Inspection: An inspector may enter land where the animal is kept to assist the Stock Welfare Panel.
    • Disposal Action: If the official warning is not complied with and the animal remains in distress, the Secretary may authorise an inspector to seize and dispose of the animal (e.g., by sale).
    • Documentation: The inspector must produce a copy of the order and provide a receipt for the seized animal upon request.
    • Cost Recovery: Certified costs and expenses incurred in seizure, keeping, and disposal are recoverable as a debt from the animal’s owner.

Metadata Keywords:

Animal Cruelty, Animal Welfare, NSW Legislation, Agriculture, Livestock, Dog Breeding, Animal Management, Farm Animals, Veterinary Standards, Compliance

Publication Information:

Current version for 21 November 2024 to date

Agricultural Industry Alignment:

Beef & Veal, Chicken, Dairy, Goats, Horse, Pig, Sheep Meat, Eggs, Working Dogs

Date Added to database:

This document was parsed and added to the database on 25-07-2025

URL:

https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/whole/pdf/inforce/2025-04-22/act-1979-200 →