Fwd: PRESS RELEASE: South African Animal Organisations Unite and Call for Better Animal Protection Legislation and Enforcement

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Michele Pickover <Michele.Pickover

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Mon, Aug 17, 2009 12:47 am

PRESS RELEASE: South African Animal Organisations Unite and Call for Better Animal Protection Legislation and Enforcement

 

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASE: 17 August 2009

 

SOUTH AFRICAN ANIMAL ORGANISATIONS UNITE AND CALL FOR

BETTER ANIMAL PROTECTION LEGISLATION AND ENFORCEMENT

 

“Violence begets violenceâ€, delegates were told

at the ‘South African Law Review Consultation Workshop’ held at the

Chalsty Conference Centre, Law School, at the University of the Witwatersrand

on 13 August 2009.

 

Addressing an historic gathering of close on one hundred

animal protectionists from across South Africa, Cora Bailey, founder of Community

Led Animal Welfare (CLAW), explained how the link between violence to

animals and violence to fellow human beings were interlinked. She said that on

numerous occasions when her organization was called in to rescue animals who

had been violently abused in the disadvantaged communities served by CLAW, she

found that the abusers, often children as young as four years old, had been

directly exposed to horrific incidents of human-on-human violence in the

communities where they lived, even within their own family home.

 

Speaking on the same subject, human-animal interaction

specialist, Dr Magdie Van Heerden explained that throughout the world there was

recorded evidence of a definite link between violence to animals and violence

to people, and that the situation in South Africa was no different.

 

Bailey and Van Heerden were two of a number of speakers

presenting papers at the workshop which was organized by Animal Rights

Africa (ARA) for the purpose of initiating a transparent public process of

South African animal protection legislation review.

 

ARA conference organizer, Michele Pickover, said that this

was the first time in South Africa that animal protectionists ranging from

small, single issue animal care groups to large, nationally active animal

rights and animal welfare organizations had come together for a common

purpose. “We were united in our common goal to work towards social and

legislative reform that will see animals treated with the respect they deserve

and are entitled to. A key component in this process is the enactment of

legislation that will provide all animals with meaningful protection against

abuse and exploitation.â€

 

Pickover said that, “Prior to the workshop ARA sent

out a questionnaire to hundreds of individuals and organizations in South

Africa, all of whom have an interest in the welfare of animals. We wanted to

know what they thought of existing animal protection legislation, how it

affected their work for animals, and what they would want a revised package of

South African animal protection legislation to look like. We received over 70

organisational sponses and with only one exception they all expressed serious

dissatisfaction with the existing legislation as well as the implementation and

enforcement thereof.â€

 

Dr David Bilchitz, Director of the South African

Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International

Law, spoke on the ‘Conceptual foundations of statutes protecting

animals and the shift required by the Constitution’. He highlighted the

contradictions in existing South African animal protection legislation and said

that it was drafted during the Verwoerdian era and does not reflect the more

enlightened attitude that post-apartheid South Africans have regarding

animals. He suggested that there should be a complete redrafting of animal

protection legislation but warned that this should take into account that such

proposed legislation would not see the light of day if it was too radical.

 

Public and Development Management Consultant, Dugan Fraser,

advised the workshop on ‘strategic and other issues to consider when

seeking to achieve law reform in South Africa’.

 

International perspective was added to the workshop by

Mariann Sullivan of the American Bar Association, Animal Law Committee, whose

presentation was titled, ‘The USA Experience: Lessons learnt’.

 

Lawyers from Johannesburg-based Bowman Gilfillan Attorneys

did an enormous amount of research in putting together a presentation titled,

‘International Comparisons and Best Practices’ which clearly showed

that whilst not having the worst animal protection legislation in the world,

South Africa certainly does not compare with the best!

 

Environmental legal expert, Cormac Cullinan, explored the

links between environmental legislation and animal welfare, showing that the

former in no way protects individual animals for their inherent value, but

merely affords them protection relative to their value in the bigger

environmental and poorly defined biodiversity context.

 

“The workshop was a huge success and a major step

towards legislative reform that will see animal rights become an ever growing

consideration in all areas of human-animal interactions and

relationships,†said Pickover. “A task team was appointed to

formulate a draft strategy for ongoing action in order to ensure that the

enthusiasm, energy and vision expressed during the workshop by all delegates

and speakers manifests in tangible benefits for animals through the drafting,

implementation and enforcement of effective and ethically-based animal protection

legislation in South Africa.â€

 

All papers presented at the workshop, together with extracts

of ensuing discussions, will be posted on the ARA website, www.animalrightsafrica.org . Any

queries and/or comments can be directed to info

 

ARA Mobile Contacts:

Michele Pickover 082 253 2124

Steve Smit 082 659 4711

 

Ends.