S. 668 A bill to amend the Animal Welfare Act to ensure that all dogs and cats used by research facilities are obtained legally.
Remarks made by Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) introducing this proposed amendment to the Animal Welfare Act. Reprinted from the Congressional Record, Senate, March 30, 2001, p. S3218.
Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Pet Safety and Protection Act of 2001. Senator Bob Smith joins me in sponsoring this bill that will close a serious loophole in the Animal Welfare Act. [Editor’s Note: Senator Carl Levine is also a co-sponsor.]
Over 30 years ago, Congress passed the Animal Welfare Act to stop the mistreatment of animals and to prevent the unintentional sale of family pets for laboratory experiments. Despite the well-meaning intentions of the Animal Welfare Act and the enforceme nt efforts of the Department of Agriculture, the Act routinely fails to provide pets and pet owners with reliable protection against the actions of some unethical dealers.
Medical research is an invaluable weapon in the battle against disease. New drugs and surgical techniques offer promise in the fight against AIDS, cancer, and a host of life-threatening diseases. I am not here to argue whether animals should or should no t be used in research. Animal research has been, and continues to be, fundamental to advancements in medicine. However, I am concerned with the sale of stolen pets and stray animals to research facilities.
There are less than 40 “random source” animal dealers operating throughout the country who acquire tens of thousands of dogs and cats. “Random source” dealers are USDA licensed Class B dealers that provide animals for research. Many o f these animals are family pets, acquired by so-called “bunchers” who sometimes resort to theft and deception as they collect animals to sell them to Class B dealers. “Bunchers,” posing as someone interested in adopting a dog or cat, u sually respond to advertisements such as “free pet to a good home,” and trick animal owners into giving them their pets. Some random source dealers are known to keep hundreds of animals at a time in squalid conditions, providing them with little food or water. The mistreated animals often pass through several hands and across state lines before they are eventually sold by a random source dealer to a research laboratory.
While I am not suggesting that laboratories intentionally seek out stolen or fraudulently obtained dogs and cats as research subjects, the fact remains that many of these animals end up in research laboratories, and little is being done to stop it. It is clear to most observers, including animal welfare organizations around the country, that this problem persists because of random source animal dealers.
The Pet Safety and Protection Act strengthens the Animal Welfare Act by prohibiting the use of random source animal dealers as suppliers of dogs and cats to research laboratories. At the same time, the Pet Safety and Protection Act preserves the integrit y of animal research by encouraging research laboratories to obtain animals from legitimate sources that comply with the Animal Welfare Act. Legitimate sources are USDA-licensed Class A dealers or breeders, municipal pounds that choose to release dogs and cats for research purposes, legitimate pet owners who want to donate their animals to research, and private and federal facilities that breed their own animals. These four sources are capable of supplying millions of animals for research, far more cats and dogs than are required by current laboratory demand. Furthermore, at least in the case of using municipal pounds, research laboratories could sa ve money since pound animals cost only a few dollars compared to the high fees charged by random source animal dealers. The National Institutes of Health, in an effort to curb abuse and deception, has already adopted policies against the acquisition of dogs and cats from random source dealers.
The Pet Safety and Protection Act also reduces the Department of Agriculture’s regulatory burden by allowing the Department to use its resources more efficiently and effectively. Each year, hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent on regulating 40 random source dealers. To combat any future violation of the Animal Welfare Act, the Pet Safety and Protection Act increases the penalties under the Act to a minimum of $1,000 per violation.
As I stated before, this bill in no way impairs or impedes research, but will end the fraudulent practices of some Class B dealers. The history of disregard for the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act by some animal dealers makes the Pet Safety and Prot ection Act necessary and I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
S. 668 - Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Pet Safety and Protection Act of 2001.”
SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF PETS.
(a) RESEARCH FACILITIES.—Section 7 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2137) is amended to read as follows:
SEC. 7. SOURCES OF DOGS AND CATS FOR RESEARCH FACILITIES.
(a) DEFINITION OF PERSON.—In this section, the term ‘person’ means any individual, partnership, firm, joint stock company, corporation, association, trust, estate, pound, shelter, or other legal entity.
(b) USE OF DOGS AND CATS.—No research facility or Federal research facility may use a dog or cat for research or educational purposes if the dog or cat was obtained from a person other than a person described in subsection (d).
(c) SELLING, DONATING, OR OFFERING DOGS AND CATS.—No person, other than a person described in subsection (d), may sell, donate, or offer a dog or cat to any research facility or Federal research facility.
(d) PERMISSIBLE SOURCES.—A person from whom a research facility or a Federal research facility may obtain a dog or cat for research or educational purposes under subsection (b), and a person who may sell, donate, or offer a dog or cat to a research
facility or a Federal research facility under subsection (c), shall be—
(1) a dealer licensed under section 3 that has bred and raised the dog or cat;
(2) a publicly owned and operated pound or shelter that—
(A) is registered with the Department of Agriculture;
(B) is in compliance with section 28(a)(1) and with the requirements for dealers in subsections (b) and (c) of section 28; and
(C) obtained the dog or cat from its legal owner, other than a pound or shelter;
(3) a person that is donating the dog or cat and that—(A) bred and raised the dog or cat; or (B) owned the dog or cat for not less than 1 year immediately preceding the donation;
(4) a research facility licensed by the Department of Agriculture; and
(5) a Federal research facility licensed by the Department of Agriculture.
(e) PENALTIES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—A person that violates this section shall pay $1000 for each violation.
(2) ADDITIONAL PENALTY.—A penalty under this subsection shall be in addition to any other applicable penalty and shall be imposed whether or not the Secretary imposes any other penalty.
(f) NO REQUIRED SALE OR DONATION.—Nothing in this section requires a pound or shelter to sell, donate, or offer a dog or cat to a research facility or Federal research facility.”
(b) FEDERAL RESEARCH FACILITIES.—Section 8 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2138) is amended—
(1) by striking “No department” and inserting “Except as provided in section 7, no department”;
(2) by striking “research or experimentation or”; and
(3) by striking “such purposes” and inserting “that purpose”.
(c) CERTIFICATION.—Section 28(b)(1) of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2158(b)(1)) is amended by striking “individual or entity” and inserting “research facility or Federal research facility.”
SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by section 2 take effect 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
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