Purpose: To amend the Animal Welfare Act to ensure that all dogs and cats used by research facilities are obtained legally. The bill would require that research facilities acquire dogs and cats only from certain sources — a licensed dealer who bred the animal, an animal shelter or animal control facility [but it does not require pound seizure], a person who bred and raised the animal, a person who has owned the animal for at least a year, or another licensed research facility.
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Status: Referred to Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.
Action: SUPPORT. Please contact your U.S. Senators and urge them to support S. 451. Tell your Senator that thousands of companion animals are stolen and sold into research annually, but this legislation will help to address this serious problem.
Talking Points for your letter:
- S. 451, the Pet Safety and Protection Act, would amend the Animal Welfare Act to ensure that all dogs and cats used by research facilities are obtained legally.
- The commercial demand for cats and dogs used in research has led to the acquisition of these animals through sometimes illegal (and immoral) ways. Because some research facilities are willing to pay relatively high prices for these animals, there is a financial incentive for some class B dealers — those who obtain dogs and/or cats from random sources for resale for experimentation — to steal these animals or to conduct business with individuals who steal them.
- In February 1966, Life Magazine exposed the dirty business of companion animal theft for use in research. The Life Magazine article resulted in a great public outcry, which triggered Congress to enact the law that was later renamed the “Animal Welfare Act.” The intent of this federal law was to “… protect the owners of animals from the theft of their animals, to prevent the sale or use of animals which have been stolen, and to insure that certain animals intended for use in research facilities or for exhibition purposes or for use as pets are provided humane care and treatment.”
- In spite of the Animal Welfare Act, thousands of stolen and fraudulently obtained animals continue to be sold into research each year. As long as animal dealers can acquire dogs and cats from random sources and then sell them for cash, the financial motive will exist for the dealers to obtain and sell stolen pets.
- The Pet Safety and Protection Act would require that research facilities acquire dogs and cats only from certain sources and it would thereby eliminate the ability of research facilities to obtain these animals through “random” sources. This legislation would help to assure Americans that their household pets cannot be used in research.