New South Wales Consolidated Acts

PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ACT 1979 - SECT 24

24 Certain defences

(1) In any proceedings for an offence against this Part or the regulations in respect of an animal, the person accused of the offence is not guilty of the offence if the person satisfies the court that the act or omission in respect of which the proceedings are being taken was done, authorised to be done or omitted to be done by that person:

(a) where, at the time when the offence is alleged to have been committed, the animal was:

(i) a stock animal-in the course of, and for the purpose of, ear-marking or ear-tagging the animal or branding, other than firing or hot iron branding of the face of, the animal,

(ii) a pig of less than 2 months of age or a stock animal of less than 6 months of age which belongs to a class of animals comprising cattle, sheep or goats-in the course of, and for the purpose of, castrating the animal,

(iii) a goat of less than 1 month of age or a stock animal of less than 12 months of age which belongs to the class of animal comprising cattle-in the course of, and for the purpose of, dehorning the animal,

(iv) a sheep of less than 6 months of age-in the course of, and for the purpose of, tailing the animal, or

(v) a sheep of less than 12 months of age-in the course of, and for the purpose of, performing the Mules operation upon the animal,

in a manner that inflicted no unnecessary pain upon the animal,

(b) in the course of, and for the purpose of:

(i) hunting, shooting, snaring, trapping, catching or capturing the animal, or

(ii) destroying the animal, or preparing the animal for destruction, for the purpose of producing food for human consumption,

in a manner that inflicted no unnecessary pain upon the animal,

(c) in the course of, and for the purpose of, destroying the animal, or preparing the animal for destruction:

(i) in accordance with the precepts of the Jewish religion or of any other religion prescribed for the purposes of this subparagraph, or

(ii) in compliance with any duty imposed upon that person by or under this or any other Act,

(e) in the course of, and for the purpose of:

(i) carrying out animal research, or

(ii) supplying animals for use in connection with animal research,

in accordance with the provisions of the Animal Research Act 1985 , or

(f) for the purpose of feeding a predatory animal lawfully kept by the person if:

(i) the act concerned was the release of live prey for the predatory animal, and

(ii) the diet of the predatory animal included animals of the kind released, and

(iii) the person believed on reasonable grounds that the feeding of live prey to the predatory animal was necessary for the predatory animal’s survival because the predatory animal would not eat a dead animal or meat from a dead animal.

(2) Subsection (1) (b) does not apply to a person accused of an offence against section 19A.