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Earlier this year the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Pet Safety and Protection Act as part of the Farm, Nutrition and Bioenergy Act of 2007, the 2007 Farm bill, H.R. 2419.  

Now the Senate has also passed the Farm bill with the Pet Safety and Protection Act except that the Senate version somewhat vaguely describes that the USDA has 5 years to "phase out" use of animals from "random sources' by research facilities. Under the House version the bill is effective within 90 days.   

The bill now goes to a conference committee to resolve differences in the language. Contact your U.S. senators and urge them to support the House version of the Pet Safety and Protection Act.

Click here to find your U.S. Senator.

Click here to find the House version of the bill. (Click here to read the Senate version.)

This landmark legislation would ban the sale or supply of "random source" dogs and cats by Class B dealers to research laboratories.

Class B dealers are basically those who buy, sell and transport animals. Some have been accused of taking pets which are stolen or obtained from "random sources", keeping them in horrific conditions and then selling them for medical research. For example, unscrupulous Class B dealers often answer ads in the newspaper that offer animals "free to a good home". They will steal pets off the streets. Laboratories will pay $250-$350 per animal.

Under this bill the only places research facilities would be able to acquire animals would be from a Class A dealers (USDA licensed breeders), other research facilities, a donor who has bred the animal or owned it for at least a year, or a registered publicly owned and operated shelter that obtained the animal from its legal owner.

The Pet Safety and Protection Act would provide for a $1000 fine for each violation in addition to any other applicable penalty.

Animal Law Coalition opposes the use of any animals for research, and though this Act does not go far enough, it is at least a start to end that practice. Animal research labs and facilities will be barred from aiding in the widespread theft of pets. It will also help stop the theft of animals intended as pets such as those advertised in newspapers. These animals can no longer be used for research.

One of the most notorious Class B dealers was Chester C. "C.C." Baird. Baird was the largest USDA licensed Class "B" animal dealer. He was also the operator of what was the largest known pet theft ring. Baird kept hundreds of animals in deplorable conditions and reportedly sold them for research. Thanks to an undercover investigation by Last Chance for Animals, www.lcanimals.org, Baird pleaded guilty to felony charges of conspiracy to launder money in an operation involving the sale of dogs and cats to research laboratories. He and his wife, Patsy were sentenced last year. (For his horrific crimes, though, Baird received only 3 years probation and 6 months home detention. Patsy, was sentenced to 2 years probation for misprision of felony mail fraud. Their fines together totaled $10,000.)

An HBO documentary which aired in February, 2006, Dealing Dogs, follows the case of Baird, a Church of Christ minister, who allegedly made millions as a licensed Class B dealer selling animals for research.