New Dog and Cat Management Reforms – Tougher Penalties, Increased Expiation Fees, and More!

The Dog and Cat Management (Breeder Reforms) Amendment Bill 2024 (the Bill) has recently been tabled in Parliament. The Bill proposes significant changes to the Dog and Cat Management Act 1995 (SA) (the Act) including tougher penalties, stricter compliance requirements and giving additional powers to authorised persons.

Whilst there are several amendments proposed, the following major changes are particularly relevant to Councils:

• It will be a criminal offence in accordance with section 20AA of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 (SA) to cause harm to an authorised person. This change now means that the penalty can be up to and including 15 years imprisonment, which is a significant increase from the existing penalty of $10 000 or imprisonment for 2 years.
• There are tougher penalties for dogs wandering at large, whereby if the dog is dangerous or of a prescribed breed, the maximum penalty increases $10,000 or in any other case $5,000. This is a substantial increase of the existing maximum penalty of $5000 for a first offence and $2,500 for any other case. There are also increases in expiation fees to $1,000 for a dangerous dog and $315 in any other case.
• Tougher penalties will also apply to a person who sets on or urges a dog to harass or chase a person, animal or bird owned by or in the charge of another person whereby the maximum penalty increases to $50,000 for a dangerous dog or dog of a prescribed breed, or $25,000 in any other case. Equally, the expiation notices have been increased such that if an offence results in death or serious injury to an animal or person, the expiation fee will be $1,500 for a dangerous dog, or in any other case $1,000.
• A Council or the Board may also make Control (Wandering Dog) Orders in circumstances where a dog is persistently wandering at large, or is subject to an order made under a law of another jurisdiction that corresponds with such an order.
• There will be new provisions permitting the Board or a council to make an application to the relevant Minister to recognise interstate orders. Accordingly, these provisions intend to further provide the Board and councils the power to control and stop illegal breeding programs occurring across jurisdictions.
• It is proposed that authorised persons will be empowered to seize or detain dogs at the request of members of an emergency service or in any other circumstances provided by the regulations (which are yet to be drafted).
• When a dog is seized, the person causing it to be detained may, as an alternate to displaying a notice at the office of the council area the dog was seized, instead publish on the official website of the council area the dog was seized:
  
  - a general description of the dog; and
  - the day and time it was seized; and
  - contact details of a person to whom further enquires can be made.

The Bill also increases the penalties for contraventions of various other provisions of the Act, in an effort to increase deterrence and ultimately reduce contraventions.

Take Home Messages

Councils and authorised officers should be aware of these changes being on the horizon. While there may be changes to the Bill as it travels through Parliament, these proposed amendments are generally welcomed and some long overdue. We will keep you updated as to the Bill’s progress.

Should you wish to discuss any of the matters raised in this article, or require specific advice as to any aspect of these proposed reforms, please contact Paul Kelly on +61 8 8210 1248 or pkelly@normans.com.au, Dale Mazzachi on +61 8 8210 1223 or dmazzachi@normans.com.au or Michael Woon on +61 8 8210 1249 or mwoon@normans.com.au.