love me love my pet

Australia has one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world according to the Australian Veterinary Association:
“In 2016, it was estimated that there were more than 24 million pets in Australia. At 62%, Australia continues to have one of the highest household rates of pet ownership in the world with around 5.7 million of Australia’s 9.2 million households being home to a pet.
Dogs remain the most popular type of pet with almost two in five households (3.6 million) owning a dog. There was an estimated dog population of 4.8 million in 2016; 20 dogs for every 100 people. The dog population rose slightly from 2013 to 2016 by approximately 600,000.
Cats were the next most common type of pet with nearly three in 10 households owning a cat (2.7 million). While cat ownership remained stable from 2013 to 2016, the cat population increased from 3.3 million to 3.9 million during that period; 16 cats per 100 people.”

Sadly, when it comes to buying a property in a strata scheme or renting a property, it is common to find an extremely high incidence of discrimination among body corporations (executive committees), leasing agencies, and landlords. The discrimination is not only against pets, but also against people with physical and psychological disabilities, or both, whose health would benefit greatly from having a companion animal for assistance and support.
According to the Australian Human Rights Commission:
“Assistance animals can provide a variety of support to alleviate the barriers people with disability experience in daily activities.  In addition to animals that assist people who are blind or have low vision, assistance animals can also provide support to people who are deaf or hard of hearing; for people who require physical support for mobility or other functional tasks; people who experience episodic and serious medical crises (e.g. epilepsy, changes in blood pressure, or blood sugar); and people who experience psychiatric disorders such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, hallucinations, panic attacks, or suicidal ideation.”

So I have to ask: what’s next for these discriminating parties of individuals? Banning human children because they’re noisy and like to draw on walls? Where does discrimination end? And if you’re a parent, how would you like to be told you cannot lease a certain property because of your kids? It’s ridiculous, right?
For those “non-animal” people out there, I would like to inform you that true “animal people" usually see no difference between animals and children. We care about our fur babies as much as we care about our kids. They are all part of the family.

Only in the US do you see this. Australia is way behind and still living in the dark ages!

In the majority of agency listings for the sale of properties animals are never mentioned, and in rental listings most ads list: “pets not permitted”, “pets will not be considered”, “no pets”, or worse still, the agency does not put anything about pets on their ad but wastes the potential tenant’s time by having them ring to enquire about the property, only to be told that “no pets are allowed”. I rang a number of these agencies just to try them out and the usual response was simply “no pets”.
It seems that many body corporations, real estate agencies, and landlords don’t really care about people with pets or those with special needs, not even if these people have the money to buy a property, or in the case of leasing, provide excellent references as tenants. As an aside, I have to laugh at one agency that listed a property for rent in Sydney recently, and stated in their ad that pets were permitted for an extra $10 per week. Very enterprising of them if it weren’t so horribly grabbing.
So here is my message to body corporations, real estate agencies, and landlords who choose to keep on discriminating against those who either wish to have a pet in their family or are in need of a pet for companionship, support and/or assistance:
Please be advised that under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, by-laws cannot prevent an Assistance or Support Animal from living with their owner in a rental property. Further, under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, Section 9, as long as medical evidence is presented a leasing agency or landlord cannot discriminate against a disabled person as a complaint may be lodged with the Human Rights Commission for discrimination on the grounds of disability. Therefore, next time you advertise: No pets permitted or no pets considered, or if you don’t specify this in your ad but you still tell a potential tenant over the phone that no pets are allowed, you should take care that you know what you are doing and at the same time advise the landlord concerned that they may be in breach of the Act.
And please don’t “pooh, pooh” and dismiss what I say. It may be that one day, if life deals you a bad turn, it could be you who may need to reach out for a pet because you are in need of genuine and loving company or worse still, you might be disabled and in need of a rental for you and your support animal, only to be told "sorry, no pets permitted".

A picture of true unconditional love!

Let's not forget that unconditional love comes in other forms too. Check out these wonderful animal beings that grace our planet.

Pony on a plane

Turkey on a plane--and he's not for dinner. So hands off!