Australian council slaughtered 15 dogs over covid safety

In August, Bourke Shire Council in Australia slaughtered 15 dogs at a regional New South Wales animal shelter in a cruel interpretation of Covid rules.

The Bourke Shire Council killed 15 dogs in August to prevent volunteers 'risking infection' by travelling from a shelter in Cobar, in central western NSW, to pick them up. 

At the time there were next to no Covid cases in the area, and the innocent animals including a mother and her puppies. 

The shootings prompted intervention from the council's watchdog, the NSW Office of Local Government, which is investigating whether the state's 'companion dog or cruelty prevention laws' were broken.  

Despite public backlash, Australia remains under archaic animal cruelty laws, with the live export industry only increasing, puppy farms remaining legal throughout most of the country and a lack of punishment for people who abuse.