By ANEEKA SIMONIS
COWS on the moooove will cause udder heartbreak for their owners who face heavier fines for livestock found wandering on Cardinia roads.
Council laws made effective on Monday 15 June will see the owners of wandering livestock slapped with $500 on-the-spot fine – a steep increase on the previous $200 infringement.
The council’s co-ordinator for Compliance Services Shannon Maynard said the previous local laws were beefed up to better address the issue and mitigate the risks of animals causing injury to others.
“Under (the previous) Local Law 10, livestock owners were only able to be fined if fencing was deemed to be inadequate.
“Having inadequate fencing is still an offence under Local Law 17, however owners can now be fined no matter what the cause of their livestock wandering may be,” he said.
“This modification to the local law enables council to make livestock owners responsible for their stock in the same way that dog owners are responsible for their dogs wandering under any circumstances.”
Mr Maynard said the council is not intending to milk livestock owners with the new laws, instead highlight the serious consequences wandering livestock can pose, particularly to road users.
“Livestock wandering, particularly on roads, have the ability to cause accidents, which can be fatal to both humans and the animals themselves,” he said.
“Livestock wandering on other properties can also be a nuisance to neighbours and can cause damage and injury to others.”
Though the overall stakes have been raised, the $500 fine will apply to livestock found wandering individually or in groups unlike the previous law which enforced fines per head.
Cows are the biggest wanderers according to Mr Maynard who explained that the laws applied to other animals including horses, pigs, donkeys, alpacas, llamas or animals used in primary production.
