Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) Legislative
Alert
The “Pet Animal Welfare Statute of 2005” (PAWS)
Senate Bill 1139/House Bill 2669
May 29, 2005
Appropriate forwarding is appreciated.
Please post to breed lists and
Regional lists and/or refer to the CFA Website for this and future
updates.
http://www.cfainc.org/exhibitors/index.html
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 an attached PDF file.
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
http://www.cfainc.org/exhibitors/index.html
Read the press release posted by AKC 5/26/05
www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=2513
Read what Senator Santorum has to say - click
on "Press Releases" 5/26/05
http://santorum.senate.gov/public/
Keep up with articles and press releases from
HSUS, DDAL posted on 5/26/05
http://www.ddal.org/puppymills/
http://www.hsus.org/
http://www.fund.org/home.html
Contact Senator Rick Santorum – 202-224-6324
Or by email through his website –
http://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
