Landsborough puppy facility makes international waves

The public submission phase for a new Landsborough-based dog breeding and boarding kennel facility development application has been completed, with Sunshine Coast Council staff now assessing the application.

Along with facilities for 60 breeding dogs, the plans are to build 100 boarding kennels (housing up to 200 dogs at any one time) and space for a cattery with an unspecified capacity.

The proposed development is located between the end of Amigh Road and Steve Irwin Way (adjacent to the Big Kart Track).

There were 221 separate public submissions received, which in itself isn’t an unusually large number for what many have viewed as a contentious proposal.

However, what is unusual is that two of these submissions represent almost 25,000 people who oppose the development.

A petition was tabled as one submission with 1,746 signatures strongly voicing opposition to the proposed kennel development. This petition was organised by locals volunteering their time and without a sophisticated marketing campaign. It included 1,111 local residents signing against the kennels being approved.

A second, much larger submission was made by the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which included a petition of more than 15,000 signatures against the proposal as well as more than 7,700 people who emailed the council via a PETA campaign website to strongly protest against the dog breeding facility.

The PETA campaign captured enormous domestic and international attention, resulting in the actual submission document running to 1,041 pages of names and details of people objecting. Of the remaining individual submissions, the overwhelming majority called on the council to refuse the application.

However, the development wasn’t without its supporters, with some saying that the development will benefit the area and create jobs.

The proponents, Diamond Valley Kennels, have an established dog breeding facility at Mooloolah and want to relocate and expand to the new site.

Since being announced in 2018, the dog breeding facility has caused a storm of controversy and protest, with a Facebook page (No Puppy Farms in Queensland) created, two petitions generated, an online email campaign and specific questions being asked of all candidates prior to the recent local government elections.

The dog breeding facility was originally planned to house 100 breeding females but has been scaled back to a total of 60 breeders.

The next phase of the application process involves the council evaluating the submissions and assessing the application against the planning scheme. Due to the number of public submissions, the council has extended its timeframe to August 6.

To find out more about the development application, go to https://developmenti.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/ and search for MCU18/0311.

One page of the 67 page local community petition