[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 28 (Thursday, February 16, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                     PET SAFETY AND PROTECTION ACT

                                  _____
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL F. DOYLE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 16, 2017

  Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I 
introduced legislation to put an end to an industry that's taken 
cruelty to animals to a whole new level.
  Animal dealers who operate under a USDA Class B license have been 
guilty of gross violations of the Animal Welfare Act's minimum 
standards for the decent treatment of animals.
  Class B dealers have routinely kept dogs in overcrowded cages, fed 
them rotten food and food contaminated with feces, ignored problems 
like frozen drinking water, failed to provide veterinary care for dogs 
with serious untreated injuries and diseases, and left live dogs caged 
up with the carcasses of dead dogs. And if that's not enough to turn 
your stomach, Class B dealers have beaten, strangled, and shot dogs.
  Now, all that would be bad enough, but this story gets even worse. 
There are two kinds of dealers who sell dogs to research facilities. 
Class A dealers raise the dogs they sell to researchers, and they are 
strictly regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Class B 
dealers, on the other hand, acquire the dogs they sell from so-called 
random sources. What this means is that Class B dealers buy animals, 
often with no questions asked, from an unregulated network of 
suppliers.
  Thanks to the work of animal rights groups and undercover 
investigators, we know that Class B dealers buy dogs that were family 
pets: pets that have in many cases been stolen or adopted under false 
pretenses. Class B dealers often acquire lost pets from local pounds or 
shelters and it's clear that they do it knowingly.
  Like millions of Americans, I've got a dog I love. He's a golden 
retriever named Brody. I get sick to my stomach when I think about 
someone treating him the way Class B dealers treat the dogs they buy 
and sell.
  The Animal Welfare Act has been in place for fifty years, but Class B 
dealers are still getting away with murder. The Class B trade in 
animals creates strong financial incentives for theft, inhumane 
treatment of animals, and other crime, as the record of this industry 
over the years has proven. It's time to shut this barbaric system down.
  With that end in mind, Congressman Chris Smith and I have introduced 
legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that we believe would 
ensure that all dogs and cats used by research facilities are obtained 
legally. This legislation, the Pet Safety and Protection Act, would 
effectively prohibit the use of animals purchased from Class B dealers 
by scientific and biomedical research institutions.
  Specifically, the Pet Safety and Protection Act would require 
research facilities to obtain dogs and cats from only five sources: 
Class A dealers, law-abiding publicly owned and operated pounds or 
shelters, properly licensed research facilities, federal research 
facilities, or people who have owned the dogs or cats in question for 
at least a year and who are donating these animals for research.
  This legislation would effectively ensure that lost or stolen pets 
would no longer be slipped into the supply chain for research animals.
  Ending the trade in random source dogs won't halt or harm much-needed 
research. Most researchers have stopped using animals from Class B 
dealers, and researchers will still be able to procure purpose-bred 
research animals from a number of more reliable, more humane, and more 
reputable sources. But, it will ensure that somebody's beloved pet 
doesn't end up in a Class B dealer's hands.
  The Animal Welfare Institute and the Humane Society strongly support 
this legislation. In fact, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Humane 
Society have been actively engaged in trying to end this abuse for 
years, and they know more about this problem than anyone else. I'm 
grateful to them for their efforts to raise public awareness about this 
problem, and to enact legislation to end it.
  Class B dealers across this country violate the provisions of the 
Animal Welfare Act every day and cause needless suffering for thousands 
of dogs and cats, many of which were once beloved family pets. Class B 
dealers starve, beat, and kill these animals, and they deserve to be 
shut down.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in enacting the Pet Safety and 
Protection Act so we can put an end to this unnecessary and abhorrent 
practice.

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