Last year, a microchip scan revealed that a dog slated for use in a University of Minnesota research laboratory was actually someone's pet. Echo, stolen from a backyard in Arkansas, was sold two months later to the university by a Class B Dealer from Michigan.
The supply of dogs and cats to research laboratories from shady "Class B Dealers" has inspired controversy since LIFE magazine published its expose, "Concentration Camps for Dogs," in February 1966. The magazine's photos of neglected animals in appalling conditions sparked public outrage that helped propel passage of the federal Animal Welfare Act, one of our country's cornerstone animal protection laws. But the battle to shut down the Class B Dealer pipeline still rages four decades later.
The Pet Safety and Protection Act (S. 451/H.R. 5229), introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI), and in the U.S. House by Representatives Phil English (R-PA) and Mike Doyle (D-PA), would prohibit Class B Dealers from selling dogs and cats to laboratories. These dealers acquire dogs and cats from "random sources" — often by stealing pets or responding to "free to a good home" ads.
The bill would make it legally impossible for facilities to buy dogs and cats from any "random source" dealer. This would effectively prevent lost or stolen family pets, and those acquired through deception, from being sold to research laboratories.
Class B Dealers are already a dying breed. In 1993 there were 100 Class B Dealers selling to research, but now there are only 15, six of whom are currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But due to their inherent cruelty toward the animals they pawn off to research for a quick buck, and repetitive and countless violations of the law, there ought to be none.
The random source "system" makes it nearly impossible for the USDA to enforce existing regulations regarding the true source of each animal. The interstate nature of this dirty traffic in stolen pets requires a federal response.
It's time to stop these shady dealings once and for all. Please urge your members of Congress to support the Pet Safety and Protection Act.
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