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| Friday, 15 October 2004 |
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The Law Commission of Sri Lanka has released a new draft Animal Welfare Act, which seeks to replace the antiquated Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance No. 13 of 1907 and bring the law governing animal welfare in line with modern legislation. This draft Act is now available for public comment. The secretary of the Law Commission in a press release states the draft Act will be sent to all parties who had previously made representations to the Law Commission calling for law reform in the area of animal welfare, while any other member of the public will be provided with a copy on request. It is the Law Commission's aim to have a wide public consultation on this piece of draft legislation before making its final recommendations to the relevant Ministries. Key features of the Draft Animal Welfare Act are the establishment of a separate Authority i.e. National Animal Welfare Authority, to administer the Act, in which body veterinarians, ayurvedic medical practitioners experienced in treating animals and members of animal welfare societies will play a role. The Act promotes the responsible care and use of animals through the adoption of the legal principle of duty of care and protects all animals. 'Animal' has been defined to include any living creature other than a human being and includes domestic animals, farm animals, animals in captivity and wild animals. The Act creates two general offences of "cruelty to animals" and "prohibited conduct" designed to prevent the types of treatment of animals and animal-related activities that the vast majority of Sri Lankan people are likely to find unacceptable. Penalties have been greatly enhanced in the draft Act when compared to the existing legislation. The maximum penalty for cruelty in the draft Act is Rs. 50,000 or two years in prison. The Act provides for the appointment of Animal Welfare Inspectors who will be empowered to investigate offences and conduct prosecutions under the Act and also issue "animal welfare directions" to alleviate the suffering of animals that are being ill-treated. Members of the public wishing to obtain a copy of the draft Animal Welfare Act are requested to contact Lakshmi Gunasekera, Secretary of the Law Commission on (011) 2586002 or write to the Secretary, Law Commission, 93 Isipathana Mawatha, Colombo 5. In acknowledgement of the growing public interest in animal welfare and the perception that existing animal welfare laws were too limited in their scope and antiquated in regard to penalties, the Law Commission resolved to review the existing legislation on this subject. As part of this endeavour, the Commission invited representations from the public and conducted hearings. Altogether there were over 70 submissions, both oral and written, from private individuals, public officials and Animal Welfare societies. In the preparation of this draft, careful consideration was given to all these submissions. In addition, the Commission examined legislation governing Animal Welfare in a number of foreign jurisdictions including the USA, UK and other European countries, India, Japan and Australia. |
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