Purpose:

The purpose of this Act is to prevent cruelty to animals, encourage their considerate treatment, and improve community awareness about the prevention of cruelty to animals.

Objectives:

• To prevent cruelty to animals.
• To encourage the considerate treatment of animals.
• To improve the level of community awareness about the prevention of cruelty to animals.

Key Provisions:

• Prohibition and penalties for acts of cruelty and aggravated cruelty to animals.
• Regulation and prohibition of specific procedures, such as ear cropping, debarking, tail docking, teeth grinding/clipping/trimming of sheep, cat claw removal, reptile venom sac removal, thermocautery/firing of horses, and spaying, unless performed by a veterinary practitioner for therapeutic effect or in accordance with a Code of Practice.
• Prohibition on keeping, using, or managing premises for animal fighting, baiting, or maltreating animals, and prohibitions on allowing/encouraging animal fights, causing animals to be pursued/injured/killed by dogs, or using animals as lures for greyhounds or coursing dogs.
• Regulation of the sale, setting, and use of traps, with prohibitions on certain kinds of traps and restrictions on large leghold traps.
• Requirements for securing dogs on moving vehicles.
• Prohibition on intentionally or recklessly allowing animals with heritable defects to breed and requirements for disclosing such defects upon sale or disposal.
• Licensing requirements and conditions for operating rodeos and rodeo schools.
• Establishment of Codes of Practice specifying procedures for the care, use, husbandry, or management of animals and conditions for premises used in scientific procedures.
• Licensing and regulation of premises and activities for scientific procedures involving animals, including requirements for scientific procedures premises licences, scientific procedures field work licences, and specified animals breeding licences.
• Powers of POCTA inspectors and authorised officers to enforce the Act, including emergency powers to seize or destroy abandoned, distressed, or disabled animals, animals used for fighting or luring, and powers to enter premises, search, seize evidence, take samples, and obtain information.
• Provisions for court orders to disqualify persons from animal ownership or impose conditions, and for the monitoring of compliance with such orders.
• Establishment of the Animals in Research and Teaching Welfare Fund for purposes related to animal welfare in research and teaching.
• Authority for the Governor in Council to make regulations on various matters related to animal welfare, including detailed standards for animal keeping, facilities, and procedures.

Evidence of Compliance Requirements For Agricultural Organisations:

• Compliance with Codes of Practice: All activities related to the keeping, treatment, handling, transportation, sale, killing, hunting, shooting, catching, trapping, netting, marking, care, use, husbandry, or management of any animal or class of animals must be carried out in accordance with a relevant Code of Practice (Section 6(1)(b), ©, Section 7).
• Provision of Basic Animal Welfare: Owners or persons in charge of confined or otherwise unable-to-provide-for-themselves animals must provide proper and sufficient food, drink, or shelter (Section 9(1)(f)).
• Provision of Veterinary Attention: Owners or persons in charge of sick or injured animals must reasonably provide veterinary or other appropriate attention or treatment (Section 9(1)(i)).
• Prohibited Procedures:
  • Owners or persons in charge of an animal must not allow a prohibited procedure (e.g., ear cropping, debarking not in accordance with a Code, tail docking of a dog or horse, teeth grinding/clipping/trimming of sheep using an electrical or motorised device, cat claw removal, reptile venom sac removal, thermocautery or firing of a horse, spaying) to be carried out on the animal, unless done by a veterinary practitioner for a therapeutic effect (Section 11A(1)).
  • Owners or persons in charge must not show or exhibit an animal on which a prohibited procedure has been carried out, unless the procedure was carried out before 2007 or in another jurisdiction legally and the animal was not a resident of Victoria at the time of the procedure (Section 11A(2)).
• Breeding of Animals with Heritable Defects:
  • Persons must not, intentionally or recklessly, allow an animal with a heritable defect (e.g., Von Willebrand’s Disease in dogs, Polycystic Kidney Disease in cats) to breed (Section 15C(1)).
  • Persons selling or disposing of an animal with a heritable defect must advise the recipient of the defect before the sale or disposal, if they know or are reckless as to the defect (Section 15C(2)).
• Sale, Setting, and Use of Traps:
  • Persons must not sell a trap that is not of a kind prescribed by regulations (Section 15(1)).
  • Persons selling a prescribed trap must do so in accordance with regulations (Section 15(2)).
  • Persons must not set or use a trap that is not of a kind prescribed by regulations (Section 15AB(1)).
  • Persons setting or using a prescribed trap must do so in accordance with regulations (Section 15AB(2)).
  • Persons must not set or use a large leghold trap of a prescribed kind unless in an area declared by the Minister as permitted (Section 15AB(3)).
• Securing Dogs on Moving Vehicles: Persons driving on a highway must secure dogs on trays or trailers to prevent them from falling off/out or being injured by vehicle movement, unless the dog is assisting in the movement of livestock (Section 15A(2)).
• Rodeo Licences and Permits:
  • A person operating a rodeo must be the holder of a rodeo licence or a rodeo permit (Section 16(1)).
  • A person operating a rodeo school must be the holder of a rodeo school permit (Section 16(2)).
  • Applications for a rodeo licence, rodeo permit, or rodeo school permit must include prescribed particulars and be accompanied by the prescribed fee (Section 17C(2)).
  • Applicants must provide any further information requested by the Department Head (Section 17C(3)).
  • Applicants must agree to operate the rodeo or rodeo school in accordance with the proposed licence or permit conditions (Section 17D(g)).
  • The animals, facilities, and conditions provided for animals at the rodeo or rodeo school must conform to prescribed minimum requirements (Section 17D(h)).
  • Licence and permit holders must comply with conditions imposed by the Department Head and those prescribed by regulations (Section 17E(2), (3), (4)).
• Scientific Procedures Licences:
  • Occupiers of scientific premises must hold a scientific procedures premises licence to cause or allow scientific procedures (Section 26(1)).
  • Occupiers of premises where scientific procedures are carried out must nominate a natural person responsible for those procedures (Section 26(2)).
  • Persons carrying out scientific procedures outside scientific premises must hold a scientific procedures field work licence or a scientific procedures premises licence (Section 27(1)).
  • Holders of scientific procedures field work licences must nominate a natural person responsible for procedures carried out under the licence (Section 27(1A)).
  • Occupiers of premises breeding specified animals for scientific procedures must hold a specified animals breeding licence (Section 28(1)).
  • Occupiers breeding specified animals must nominate a natural person responsible for the breeding (Section 28(1A)).
  • Applications for scientific procedures premises, field work, or specified animals breeding licences must include prescribed particulars and be accompanied by the prescribed fee (Section 30(2), 32B(2), 32F(2)).
  • Applicants must provide any further information requested by the Department Head (Section 30(3), 32B(3), 32F(3)).
  • Licence holders and persons carrying out procedures under a licence must comply with all licence conditions (prescribed or imposed by Department Head) (Section 32(2),(3), 32D(2),(3), 32H(2),(3)).
  • Nominated responsible persons must take all reasonable steps to ensure compliance with licence conditions for scientific procedures or breeding activities (Section 32(4), 32D(4), 32H(4)).
  • Surgical operations on animals must be carried out with anaesthetic to render the animal insensible to pain and in accordance with any relevant Code of Practice (Section 36(2)).
  • If an animal is seriously injured during a scientific procedure and would suffer if alive, it must be painlessly destroyed (Section 36(3)).
  • Licence holders may be required by regulations to submit records, reports, or returns containing prescribed particulars at specified intervals to the Department Head (Section 42(1)(f)).
  • Premises to which a licence under Part 3 applies must comply with regulated standards for lighting, ventilation, air temperature, cleaning, drainage, water supply, maintenance, and management, as well as cleansing and maintenance of fixtures, appliances, instruments, and utensils (Section 42(1)(g)).
  • Persons in charge of premises with Part 3 licences must meet minimum requirements for training, experience, and academic qualifications, as may be prescribed by regulations (Section 42(1)(h)).
  • Animal ethics committees must comply with regulations regarding their membership and operation (Section 42(1)(k)).
• Compliance with Control Orders: Persons subject to a court-issued control order or a registered interstate control order must comply with the order (Section 12AF, 12A(8)).
• Monitoring and Enforcement Actions:
  • Owners or persons in charge of an animal may be required by a POCTA inspector to muster, yard, or secure that animal, and to provide adequate facilities and assistance for safe and efficient handling during seizure, examination, inspection, or sampling (Section 24ZQA).
  • Persons may be served a written notice by a POCTA inspector (with Department Head approval) requiring them to produce or make available for inspection a document relevant to an offence determination, with a compliance time of not less than 14 days (Section 24ZTA(1), (2)). Compliance is mandatory for bodies corporate; natural persons have a self-incrimination exception (Section 24ZTA(4)).
  • Persons must not assault, obstruct, hinder, threaten, abuse, insult, or intimidate a POCTA inspector or authorised officer in the discharge of their powers (Section 24ZR(1), 35A(1)).
  • Persons must not refuse admission to a POCTA inspector, authorised officer, or assisting person exercising a power of entry (Section 24ZR(2), 35A(3)).
  • Persons must comply with any direction or requirement of a POCTA inspector or authorised officer acting in the discharge of their powers, unless there is a reasonable excuse (Section 24ZR(3), 35A(4)).
  • Persons must provide their name and ordinary place of residence or business when requested by a POCTA inspector who believes on reasonable grounds an offence has been committed, and must provide evidence of correctness if requested, unless they have a reasonable excuse (Section 24ZT(1), (4), (5)).
  • Persons must comply with a notice from a POCTA inspector to cease or not commit an offence under Part 2 or regulations (Section 24ZP(2)).
  • Persons must comply with a notice from an authorised officer to cease or not commit an offence under Part 3 or regulations (Section 36G(2)).
  • Persons in charge of an animal on premises must comply with a notice from an authorised officer requiring the destruction, treatment, housing, or feeding of the animal (Section 36H(2)).
  • Persons must give information and produce things when required by an authorised officer exercising a power of entry who produces identification (Section 36Q(1)).
  • Persons must not refuse or fail to comply with such a requirement without reasonable excuse (Section 36Q(2)).
  • Persons must not give false or misleading information to an authorised officer (Section 36Q(3)).
  • Persons found guilty of certain offences under Part 3 (licence condition non-compliance) may be subject to an adverse publicity order requiring them to publicise the offence, its consequences, and penalties, and to notify specific persons or review procedures. Compliance with such an order is mandatory (Section 36K).
  • If an adverse publicity order is not complied with, the Department Head may take action to give effect to the order and publicise the failure; the person is liable for the reasonable costs incurred by the Department Head (Section 36L, 36M, 36N, 36P).
  • Holders of Part 3 licences are subject to compliance reports and must pay fees for their preparation within 60 days of the report being given to them (Section 36T, 36U(1), 36V(1)).

Metadata Keywords:

Animal welfare, cruelty prevention, scientific procedures, agricultural animals, Victoria, enforcement, licensing, Codes of Practice, animal ethics.

Publication Information:

Publication date: 6 April 2020 (Authorised Version) Version number: No. 096

Agricultural Industry Alignment:

Beef & Veal, Chicken, Dairy, Eggs, Fisheries, Pig, Sheep Meat, Wool.

Date Added to database:

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

URL:

https://content.legislation.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-04/86-46aa096%20authorised.pdf →