ANIMAL
DEFENDERS
OFFICE
NEED HELP?
Contact us:
Tel: 0428 416 857
Email: contact@ado.org.au
Or use the online contact form on this page.
We are usually available online between 11am-9pm during the week.
Find us:
Canberra:
The Griffin Centre
20 Genge Street
Civic ACT 2601
Open:
By appointment. If dropping in, please check beforehand.
GPO Box 2259
Canberra ACT 2601
Getting in contact
If you need information about how the law affects animals or those wishing to protect animals, or you want to get in contact with us for any other reason, send us an email using the online form below.
-
Please include your first and last names in the form below.
-
Please include your phone number so that we can contact you if necessary.
-
Please include your State/Territory so we know what laws apply to your situation and/or roughly where you are located.
-
Your date of birth is mandatory if you require legal advice or assistance.
Or you can call us on the phone number listed on this website.
Or you can visit us in our Office in Canberra's CBD by appointment. It's wise to give us a call before you come, to make sure we're in the office, especially during the current pandemic.
Please note that we are a small, unfunded, volunteer-based organisation. We have one full-time volunteer solicitor, and rely on ad-hoc assistance from other volunteer lawyers and interns on a pro-bono (ie free) basis. However, despite our very limited human and financial resources, we do our best to assist people who need legal help to protect animals.
To determine whether your issue is something that our non-profit community legal centre can help you with, we have developed guidelines for our Advice Service. You can find our Advice Guidelines here.
Please note that we are unable to assist animal breeders or people with veterinary malpractice claims unless they fall within our Advice Guidelines.
All our legal advice and case management activities are subject to strict standards of confidentiality. See our Privacy Policy here.
Feedback
The Animal Defenders Office provides free legal advice and services to people and community groups wanting to protect animals. The Animal Defenders Office is run entirely by volunteers who donate their spare time to helping people and animals. We don’t receive any government funding.
At the Animal Defenders Office we aim to provide a high-quality service despite the constraints on our centre. Our Client Service Charter is available here. To help us to keep improving our service we appreciate your feedback.
You can use our online contact form:
-
If you would like to make a suggestion for service improvement;
-
If you would like to make a compliment because you have received a great service from the ADO; or
-
If you would like to make a formal complaint. In this case, please read the information provided below.
Complaints
We welcome complaints because it helps us identify areas requiring improvement in our free service to you and other clients or people we deal with.
You can make a complaint verbally or in writing (to contact@ado.org.au or via our online form). Your complaint will be investigated and responded to within 28 days.
Please refer to our Complaints Policy for more information about how to make a complaint. The policy is available here.
We value your feedback on how we have handled complaints and communicated the outcomes to you.
You can also contact the ACT Law Society if you feel an ADO legal officer has engaged in:
-
professional misconduct, or
-
unsatisfactory professional conduct.
Details about making a complaint to the ACT Law Society are found on their website: https://www.actlawsociety.asn.au/for-the-public/making-a-complaint.