[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18146-18148]
[From the U.S. 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

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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 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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