NSW Labor would ban the sale of puppies from pet stores if elected to government in March.
Labor leader Luke Foley will announce the policy on Saturday, along with a ban on large-scale puppy farms that would limit the amount of breeding dogs to 10 per farm. In January, the RSPCA raided a farm in Copeton in northern NSW and found up to 375 dogs living at the property.
Mr Foley said that if elected, Labor would end cruelty and exploitation in commercial dog breeding by tightening regulations for the whole industry.
"Labor will crack down on breeders rearing puppies in terrible conditions just to make a buck," he said.
The "no puppies in pet stores policy" would be implemented over a five-year period, with pet shops being forced to become adoption or dog rescue centres.
The announcement comes after Fairfax Media and animal rights group, Oscar's Law, revealed a string of puppy farms were keeping dogs in conditions described as "inhumane" and "abhorrent," with the puppies being sold on popular dog trading sites.
Vet reports from one of the farms raided in October described a "barely conscious" female terrier being attacked and dragged around by a pack of dogs. "She had an abdominal wound from which her intestines had eviscerated."
At another farm raided in northern NSW in January, Oscar's Law founder Debra Tranter found a "dog had been placed inside a dog food bag and left there to rot", she said.
Labor's animal welfare policy would also limit the amount of litters in a breeding dog's lifetime to five, support a special commission of inquiry into the greyhound industry after the recent live baiting scandals and make CCTV mandatory in abattoirs.
Ms Tranter said Labor was listening to calls from an outraged public. "People will just not tolerate this level of animal cruelty any longer," she said.
How the policy would be funded remains unclear, with RSPCA NSW admitting it is unable to effectively regulate the state's puppy farms under funding arrangements. There are only 30 inspectors available to respond to thousands of cruelty complaints each year.
There have been murmurs within the Coalition of establishing a dedicated animal welfare office. In January, Nationals MP Adam Marshall lobbied the Minister for Primary Industries, Katrina Hodgkinson "for her urgent attention" to consider cases of animal cruelty and funding a task force to investigate cases of puppy farming.
Animal rights group have been demanding the government establish a separate regulatory body to the Department of Primary industries since February. They said that would eliminate the conflict of interest of having the department look after both the interests of animals and industry.
Ms Hodgkinson has reiterated her commitment to animal welfare. "Animal welfare is a concern to everyone in the community and an issue the NSW government takes very seriously," she told Fairfax Media.
