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CFA Legislative ALERT

The "Pet Animal Welfare Statute of 2005" (PAWS)

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The "Pet Animal Welfare Statute of 2005" (PAWS)
Senate Bill 1139/House Resolution 2669
May 29, 2005

Fanciers;

The Pet Animal Welfare Statute, PAWS, will negatively impact breeders of pedigreed cats with small/moderate sized catteries and breeding programs. It will stretch the limited resources of the U. S. Department of Agriculture by requiring licensing/inspection of breeders who are not commercial businesses. CFA has serious concerns with this federal legislation.

PAWS is a recently introduced bill sponsored by Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) and cosponsored by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), which would dramatically change the concept of the Animal Welfare Act as established by Congress. The AWA has historically required licensing only of commercial dealers who sell dogs/cats at wholesale, brokers and transporters of animals. PAWS would expand the USDA regulation of pet dealers to now include breeders who sell directly, at retail, to the buyers of cats and dogs.

This bill, we understand, was intended to address an alleged rise in large commercial breeders who sell at retail, including those who sell through the use of the Internet and/or import dogs from outside the U.S. Press releases circulated over the last few days indicate that the American Kennel Club, the Humane Society of the United States and the Doris Day Animal League are all organizations who support this legislation and the purported need. The bill is viewed as an alternative to the defeated "Puppy Protection Act," which applied only to dogs. This bill includes cat breeders; however, the Cat Fanciers' Association was neither made aware of pending legislation affecting us nor given the opportunity to provide input.

CONCERNS

The threshold established by this bill will require USDA licensing for dog and cat breeders who produce MORE THAN SIX litters of kittens/puppies per year. This number threshold was established because AKC considers 7 or more litters whelped to be a "high volume" breeder. This is not the case for cat breeders. Responsible cat breeding requires mating according to heat cycles to maintain the health of the cat and therefore, in many breeds, females will produce more than one litter per year. Fanciers with as few as 4 or 5 females would all have to be USDA licensed. A good breeding program with genetic diversity requires at least this many females if breeders have more than one breed or color.

Federal regulation of numerous hobby/private breeders of pedigreed cats with small or moderate catteries, excellent home environments and dedicated breeding programs is not necessary. In addition, AKC, in their press release announcing support of PAWS, suggests the legislation will bring under federal legislation individuals who sell through the Internet. DDAL in their press release says the bill will stop selling with newspaper ads. We fail to see how use of the Internet or cattery websites to communicate with potential buyers or placing newspaper ads have any inherent relationship with commercialism or substandard conditions. If regulations are established to require intrusive federal regulation and inspection of private homes, commercial standards of care that may be inappropriate, possible prohibition on selling through the Internet - we question how the cat fancy can continue to preserve our breeds or attract any newcomers.

Other provisions in this bill are not entirely clear to us at this time, such as the meaning of the exemption for persons who annually sell not more than 25 dogs or cats at wholesale "or to the public". It seems that, possibly unintentionally, breed rescuers as well as breeders would be affected by PAWS if they sell 25 animals. The requirement for licensing of those importing dogs from out of the U.S. for resale does not affect cat fanciers.

Sharon Coleman, CFA Legislative Legal Analyst, is currently working on a legal analysis of this bill. She has already prepared a 22 page integrated document that weaves the new provisions into the existing Animal Welfare Act which helps to understand the bill. Contact Legislation@cfa.org for a PDF file (sent as an attachment).

BACKGROUND

CFA has always supported increased and improved enforcement of the AWA to assure that commercial dealers selling at wholesale, who are required to be licensed, do comply and that their animals are humanely cared for. These are true businesses and regulation is a valid use of government resources for the benefit of animals. CFA's own Minimum Cattery Standards are based on those of the USDA (modified for a home setting) and we support quality care of cats no matter what the environment. There are some provisions in the PAWS that will better enable the agency to bring those who are currently required to be USDA licensed into compliance and will allow the USDA to seek injunctions against dealers who are currently required to be licensed but are not. These sections deserve our support.

We fought alongside AKC and the dog fanciers for over three years to maintain the concept of wholesale selling of dogs and cats as the characterization of "commercial" in the AWA. This legislation would now completely change this. It removes the exemption for breeders who sell directly to the public through a redefinition of "retail pet store". Fanciers will remember the U.S. Court of Appeals decision in 2003 that resulted in overturning the Doris Day Animal League's law suits against the USDA when they tried to change this definition. We question why we should now completely discard the sound rationale used before to reject this change.

WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW

PAWS has not yet been assigned to committees in the Senate or House. Watch for CFA Legislative Alerts and Action Updates online. These will be posted on the CFA list and CFA website.

• Read the press release posted by AKC 5/26/05

• Read what Senator Santorum has to say - click on "Press Releases" 5/26/05

• Keep up with articles and press releases from HSUS, DDAL posted on 5/26/05
  • www.ddal.org/puppymills/
  • www.hsus.org/
  • www.fund.org/home.html

• Contact Senator Rick Santorum - 202-224-6324
  Or by email through his website - santorum.senate.gov/

  Tell him in your own words that you have concerns about this bill - some suggestions are:

  • Licensing of cat breeders who sell at retail to the public is not necessary and is contrary to the intent of the Animal Welfare Act, which was created by Congress to regulate commercial wholesale breeders.

  • The threshold of no more than 6 litters produced is not indicative of large commercial sellers of pedigreed cats. CFA requires inspection of what is considered a "high volume" breeding cattery, those who produce 75 kittens per year, and there were only 66 in the United States, Canada, Japan or elsewhere in 2004. Cat breeding is not a viable commercial business requiring federal regulation. It is a private home activity by individuals who want to provide kittens of high quality, good health and temperament for a desiring public. This bill is detrimental to CFA's mission to preserve our historic and valued cat breeds.

  • It is not possible for a cat breeder to predict each year whether 6 or 7 or 8 litters will be born or even how many kittens may result from matings. Cat litters generally vary between 1 to 4 live kittens (3.3 average). Why should the USDA inspect the bedrooms of fanciers who are not commercial businesses and may fall above or below the threshold in any given year? Are litters with kittens who may be born premature and don't survive counted?

  • Extending the regulation requirements to thousands of dog and cat breeders by the USDA will substantially increase their work load so that more animals may suffer in substandard commercial facilities.

• Keep your club members informed. Your help is very appreciated.

Joan Miller
CFA Legislative Coordinator
JMillerArt@aol.com