If you were in court how would you prove that transporting animals in 35 degrees C is cruel given you need to demonstrate what cruelty is and consequently how the animals suffered.
The Animal Welfare Act 2002 DOES lay out what is considered to be cruel, (which I showed in the highlighted section) but what I wanted to weed out of
DAFWA was the off-the-cuff admittance that they were not willing to look at the Legislation in an Interpretive Manner, or, more precisely - that they were only interested in THEIR interpretation of it. As I quoted in response to
DAFWA, using the Code of Practice as an excuse NOT to investigate is not a sufficient reason as far as I am concerned.
Unfortunately,
The Animal Welfare Act is SO open to interpretation that it gave the likes of the
RSPCA WA every excuse to palm off a complaint, but a government department should show at least an inkling of concern when you present them with a legal interpretation that is just as valid as their own interpretation.
They interpret that the Code is an excuse NOT to investigate the validity of the complaint, but the wording of it in the Act itself states it is for a defendant to use, that is another ACCURATE INTERPRETATION.
By pushing this issue to
DAFWA & proving that they are not seeing to the Welfare of the Animals, which they are in charge of, by being given
The Animal Welfare Act, I would hope that, at some point the loopholes in the law that allow for a government department to dismiss a serious allegation of Animal Cruelty are seen to & amended.As I stated in the initial complaint, there is no 'cut off temperature' for transporting the animals in the heat, though there are remarks about wind chill for freshly shorn sheep.
An example of reforming this would be to state what temperature/weather is an absolute no-go for animal trucking, a specific that would easily wipe out any kind of complaint like the one I lodged. Instead the law states the animal should not be transported or not given shade/shelter or adequate protection from the elements... TOO VAGUE, which of course is why the complaint would not be pursued: so reform the law.
Proving that the animals on the trucks are suffering in the scorching heat is not difficult, I have oodles of video & photo proof of this, on the roads & at the docks. The Cruelty Complaint that I put in is an example of what I see as something that should be reformed. The Code of Practice for the Transportation of Sheep gives an outline of Model Ideas & rough guidelines, with the occasional specification, but it is just TOO VAGUE.
A Law that can be used to charge an individual & bring them to court absolutely should not refer to Codes of Practice that aren't Legal Protocols of which breaching them is an offense against the law. You are spot on about the law only being taken into account when it is too late & the cruelty has killed or is still killing a lot of animals in an inhumane way. It is BECAUSE the law is SO OPEN to interpretation that this is happening. There needs to be a legislative reform of
The Animal Welfare Act so that Complaints can be categorized & considered by strict regulations & protocols, not loose defenses of Codes of Practice which amount to ZERO in a court situation.