Hume City Council is reminding our community of their responsibilities in pet ownership and animal safety following the recent prosecution of an illegal puppy farm operator in Mickleham.
In November 2024, following a community tip about online pet sales at a Mickleham property, council officers visited an address where a total of 84 dogs were being held, nine of which required veterinary treatment once being removed.
The owners of the residence did not have a permit to operate a commercial dog breeding business, which is a legal requirement.
Animal safety and responsible pet ownership are expectations we encourage our residents to uphold, and these responsibilities do not begin or end with picking up a new puppy.
This prosecution is evidence that investigation and detection processes for animal cruelty in Hume are successful, and anyone putting animals at risk can and will be caught.
Hume City Council partners with the Lost Dogs Home as a means to ensure animals are protected from this type of abuse, providing a place where they can be monitored, registered, and surrendered if needed. We encourage residents to consider the benefits of adopting from services such as these to avoid the harm that puppy farms cause.
When purchasing a pet, if at any time you have concerns regarding the conditions they are being kept in, you should contact council immediately. Illegal operations are not safe for animals, and restrictions are in place for their protection.
In addition to the work done by council officers in partnership with the Lost Dogs home, Hume City Council is also a proud partner of the RSPCA - whose officers assisted in this prosecution. We work closely with them to regularly share intelligence and data, refer detected cruelty instances, and ensure coordinated compliance.
The diligence of Council's City Laws team around animal safety means it is more likely that we will uncover incidences of offending, and we thank the community for their cooperation.
We take animal care seriously, and we expect any person looking to bring a pet into their home to not accept the illegal breeding and housing of dogs on any level, let alone on the scale found in Mickleham. Even one animal kept in harmful conditions is too many.
