[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 27, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9148-S9149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON PAWS
Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, on May 26, 2005, I introduced with my
colleague Senator Durbin the Pet Animal Welfare Statute of 2005, or
PAWS. PAWS amends the Animal Welfare Act to strengthen the Secretary of
Agriculture's authority to deal with the problems of substandard animal
dealers.
I want to make clear to our colleagues and the public that we believe
the vast majority of animal dealers are conscientious persons who make
every effort to treat their animals humanely and to comply with the
law. But, unfortunately, there are some animal dealers who do not care
properly for their animals and who seek to profit at the expense of the
animals and the public. They exploit the weaknesses and loopholes in
the current law to evade or ignore basic standards for the care and
condition of animals. These substandard dealers give the entire pet
industry a black eye, all the while preying upon the public. It is
these unscrupulous animal dealers at which PAWS is targeted.
PAWS strengthens the Secretary of Agriculture's authority to deal
with substandard animal dealers by making four important improvements
to the Animal Welfare Act. First, it will bring under coverage of the
Animal Welfare Act high volume dealers who are in every respect like
those dealers currently regulated, but are evading regulation because
they sell animals exclusively at retail. PAWS will continue to exempt
real retail pet stores, and will add a new exemption for small dealers
and hobby and show breeders. Second, PAWS will help the Secretary of
Agriculture identify persons not complying with the law by requiring
those who acquire animals for resale to keep records of the source from
whom the animals are acquired and make these records available to the
Secretary upon request. Third, PAWS will create an incentive for
dealers to quickly correct serious problems by giving the Secretary
authority to temporarily suspend dealers' licenses for up to 60 days if
a violation is placing the health of an animal in imminent danger.
Finally, PAWS will strengthen the authority of the Secretary to obtain
injunctions to shut down dealers who fail to comply with the law.
The marketplace for animals has changed dramatically since the 1970s
when the current animal dealer provisions of the act were written. At
that time only retail pet stores and small hobby and show breeders sold
pet animals, so regulating wholesale sellers and exempting persons who
sold animals at retail and were regulated by the market made some
sense. With the advent of the internet, mass national marketing
channels, and mass importation of puppies for resale, there are a large
number of unregulated dealers who are in every respect identical to the
dealers regulated by the act, except that they evade regulation by
selling exclusively at retail. By regulating these high volume retail
sellers, we will assure that they meet the same standards for the
humane care and treatment of animals that breeders and brokers selling
at wholesale have been meeting for 30 years.
PAWS defines the term ``retail pet store'' so that only real retail
pet stores are exempt, where customers can see the animals and the
conditions where they are kept. PAWS also adds a specific exemption for
small dealers and hobby and show breeders. Only persons who sell more
than 25 dogs per year would be regulated. In addition, breeders who
sell dogs and cats from fewer than 7 litters a year bred or raised on
their own premises, or fewer than 25 dogs and cats per year bred or
raised on their own premises, which ever is greater, would be exempt.
For example, if an irish setter breeder has 6 litters that average 6
puppies each for a total of 36 puppies, they can sell them without
being regulated. If a toy
[[Page S9149]]
breeder has 10 litters that average only 2 puppies each for a total of
20 puppies, they can sell them without being regulated. These breeders
could also sell 25 or fewer other dogs a year not bred or raised on
their own premises such as stud puppies or puppies from coownerships,
without being regulated. I firmly believe that the sport and hobby of
breeding and raising dogs and cats should not be a federally regulated
activity. PAWS will, for the first time, put an explicit exemption into
the Animal Welfare Act to protect small hobby and show breeders from
regulation.
Some persons who sell dogs for hunting purposes have expressed a
concern that PAWS will bring them under regulation. The current Animal
Welfare Act already covers persons who sell hunting dogs, and has for
almost 30 years. They are regulated on the same basis as those who sell
dogs for pets. PAWS will continue to regulate sellers of hunting dogs
on the same basis as those who sell dogs as pets. Only high volume
sellers who exceed the exemptions set forth in PAWS will be subject to
regulation.
Some rescue and shelter organizations have expressed concern that
because they often charge an adoption fee to those who adopt the dogs
they place, these organizations will fall within the definition of
``dealers'' in PAWS and be regulated. True rescue and shelter
organizations who do not sell dogs or cats in commerce, for profit,
will not be brought under regulation by PAWS, whether or not they are
formally incorporated as not for profit organizations.
Some high volume dealers in cats and dogs who will be brought under
coverage of the Animal Welfare Act by PAWS, but who are still small
enough that they breed and raise dogs or cats in essentially a
residential environment, have expressed concern that they will be
forced to build kennels and catteries and will no longer be able to
raise animals in a residential environment. There is nothing in PAWS,
or in the current Animal Welfare Act, that precludes persons from
breeding and raising animals in a residential setting, provided the
animals are properly housed and cared for. In implementing PAWS, the
Secretary of Agriculture will have to assure that the animal care
regulations take into account breeders and dealers who conduct their
operations in a residential setting.
I want to make clear that PAWS is a very different piece of
legislation than the bills that Senator Durbin and I have introduced in
previous Congresses. PAWS does not require or justify creating any new
animal care standards, like our previous legislation did. It focuses
only on bringing under regulation high volume commercial dealers
currently evading regulation and on strengthening the Secretary of
Agriculture's ability to identify and bring into compliance high volume
dealers who are not in compliance with existing law or, as a last
resort, shut them down.
Senator Durbin and I in the Senate, along with our colleagues
Representatives Gerlach and Farr who have introduced PAWS in the House
of Representatives, consulted with a broad array of animal interest and
animal welfare groups in creating PAWS. We believe that the enactment
of PAWS will be a major milestone in the history of animal protection
in the United States. We are delighted that it has brought together
animal interest groups and animal welfare groups that in the past have
often been on opposite sides of animal legislation, including our own
past bills. Having said that, no legislation is perfect when
introduced. As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee's
Subcommittee on Research, Nutrition and General Legislation, which has
jurisdiction over PAWS, I intend to convene a hearing and mark-up of
PAWS shortly after the August recess to make technical corrections, and
to clarify some of the bill's language to better reflect our intentions
as set forth in this statement.
PAWS is not intended to restrict breeding or impose a hardship on
rescue and shelter organizations. PAWS specifically recognizes the
importance of protecting small breeders and the noncommercial purebred
dog and cat fancy from Federal regulation. My family and I purchased
our beloved German shepherd dog Schatzie from a small breeder. We and
Schatzie raised a litter of puppies in our own home last year, and
fully understand the hard work and commitment that it requires. I also
know that most commercial breeders are dedicated to their profession
and to their animals. I believe that PAWS will protect small hobby and
show breeders and the vast majority of compliant commercial breeders as
well as the public from those breeders and brokers who evade or fail to
comply with the law. And, most importantly, it will protect the animals
themselves. I urge my colleagues and all those in the animal welfare
community to join us in this effort.
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