Dear Ministry for Primary Industries,

the following was published in the latest Kennel club minutes

"PROPOSED MOU WITH SPCA
Report by Steven Thompson, Director Secretary
1. Recent Meetings with SPCA Inspectorate Team
On October 6th Rhea Hurly and I meet with the Auckland Inspectorate Team and on October 26th I meet with
the new National Inspectorate Manager. Both meetings were extremely positive and they are impressed that
we made the investment in employing a full time qualified vet as our Canine Health & Welfare Officer.
They have signed a number of recent MOU’s with key animal welfare partners and see a MOU with Dogs NZ
as offering benefits for both parties. There is increasing society and media attention on companion animal
breeding practices and we need to be on the front foot to deal with any animal welfare issues involving our members.
Having a formal working relationship with the SPCA Inspectorate team is one of the most effective way of dealing with societal concern and keeping our members from court prosecution. It complements the work we have started with Breeders Code of Conduct and will be well received by a number of our other strategic
partners.
2. Outline of Proposed MOU
We discussed the guiding principles of a MOU which are collaborative and incremental:
 Dogs NZ want to be involved at the early stage of any inspectorate action regarding our breeder members.
 Dogs NZ are prepared to volunteer our CH&W Officer to accompany any Inspectorate team that has a court order to remove animals from the property of Dogs NZ members.
 Dogs NZ are prepared to use its club network to help with rehoming any pedigree dogs that are subject to court removal orders.
 Dogs NZ are willing to work with the SPCA to develop a guideline on what a “good breeding”operation / setup looks like.
 SPCA would like in the future to have our involvement with improving standards of cross-breed breeders. This could be a source of future membership and registry growth.

3. Next Steps
I have provided Alan Wilson with a draft MOU template based on our Massey University MOU. We would like to bring a full draft MOU for Executive Council feedback and/or approval to sign at the February 2023 meeting. Subjecting to signing approval the MOU would start in March 2023 with annual reviews.Executive Council discussed the MOU report and emphasized the importance of member support to make
the MOU work and communication to members on the benefit of a MOU with the SPCA Inspectorate Team."

Please advise if the MPI have been consulted on this and how it will impact on the status of the RNZSPCA as an approved organisation and having access to information which the kennel club would not have.

we are particularly concerned that pedigree dogs can be targeted by the RNZSPCA thorugh such an agreement and breeders become vulnerable to raids such as in Australia and here as addressed by senator Malcolm Roberts
https://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/is-... JUNE 27, 2021

https://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/is-... 3 June 2021

https://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/de-... JULY 19, 2021

The RNZSPCA is a private organisation and MOU with the kennel club will impact on the privacy and security of dog owners

Has the RNZSPCA consulted discussed the implications of such a MOU and is there a requirement for approved organisations to declare thrid party agreements with the MPI

the proposed agreement could be abused in a competative market for breeders to accuire valuable stock from their competition by use of the enforcemtn measures of the RNZSPCA

Yours faithfully,

Grace Haden