Animal welfare bill begins first reading

A bill aimed at significantly raising penalties for cruelty to animals began its first reading in Parliament last night.
Agriculture Minister David Carter said the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill is intended to send a clear message that serious offending against animals is unacceptable to our society.
The bill proposes increasing the maximum sentence for wilful ill-treatment of an animal from three years to five years. In addition the maximum fine will double to $100,000 for an individual and $500,000 for a body corporate.
“Curbing animal cruelty is a priority for this Government,” said Mr Carter. “People who are capable of cruelty to animals are also capable of violence to their families and others.”
The bill seeks to change the way some offences are described. It intends to expand the threshold for the offence of wilful ill-treatment – the most serious welfare offence – and it adds a new offence of reckless ill-treatment to the Animal Welfare Act.
This will apply where it can be proved that a person knew or appreciated that serious harm to an animal could occur, and unreasonably ran the risk anyway.
Penalties will also increase for a range of other neglect and ill-treatment offences in the Act and changes are proposed to the laws relating to forfeiture of animals and disqualification from having custody of animals.
“Most New Zealanders expect the animals in people’s care to be healthy, comfortable and properly fed. We expect animals to receive a reasonable standard of humane treatment and not to suffer unnecessarily,” said Mr Carter.
“The amendments will strengthen the Animal Welfare Act’s provisions and enable serious offending against animals to be dealt with more effectively.”