An 11-year-old poodle named Oscar was the inspiration behind a campaign that helped Victoria become the first state in Australia to ban puppy farms and promote adoption in pet stores!
The history-making Puppy Farm and Pet Shop bill was officially passed by the Victorian Parliament on Friday, December 15, 2017. As a result, as of July 2018, it will be illegal to sell puppies and kittens in pet shops, and for the first time, puppy mills will have a cap on them.
“It’s going to smash their business model and help end cruelty in the state,” noted a statement from Oscar’s Law, a non-profit organization dedicated to abolishing puppy factories in Australia that was named after Oscar, a puppy mill survivor. “These landmark laws are an Australian first and end the suffering of thousands of dogs. And we won’t stop until they’re implemented everywhere.”
Debra Tranter, the founder of Oscar’s Law who has been campaigning against companion animal factory farming for more than two decades, fell for Oscar when she discovered him years ago while searching for evidence of the abhorrent cruelty taking place at a puppy factory in central Victoria.
Terrified, severely matted, with rotten teeth, and in need of immediate veterinarian care, Oscar was among numerous dogs that Tranter helped rescue that day by sneaking him out.
