As a result of a Nov. 8 hearing before a Senate subcommittee, legislators are expected to clarify language and add important provisions to pending legislation that would amend the Animal Welfare Act.

Two panels of witnesses, including Mike Maddox, legislative director for the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (Washington), testified before the Subcommittee on Research, Nutrition and General Legislation about the Pet Animal Welfare Statute of 2005, known as PAWS. The legislation is intended to regulate high-volume animal breeders who sell directly to the public—not just wholesalers currently covered under the Animal Welfare Act.

As introduced, however, PAWS contained several provisions that also would have brought traditional pet stores, historically exempt from the AWA, under federal oversight, according to PIJAC.

For example, PAWS would expand the existing definition of “pet dealer” to include anyone selling imported dogs. “One significant objective of this legislation is to ensure regulation of those who import dogs for resale in the United States,” Maddox testified. “However, by regulating retailers selling imported dogs, this provision of the bill would not distinguish between those who import and sell dogs themselves—for example, persons importing dogs and selling them directly over the Internet—and bona fide pet stores who buy puppies from a Class B licensed dealer who may obtain dogs from domestic breeders as well as importing them from abroad. In such a case, the person importing the animals should be required to obtain licensure, not the pet store that doesn’t even know the dogs were imported.”

Additionally, PAWS would modify the retail pet store exemption to require licensure for anyone breeding animals for sale as pets to the public. That exclusion “is intended to capture those who breed and sell dogs and cats directly to the public, not pet stores who happen to carry hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, rabbits, mice, rats or other small animals that are not deliberately bred by the pet store,” Maddox said in his testimony before the subcommittee.

Another exclusion would require licensure for anyone selling “wild animals,” defined as any species that lives in the wild—even if the individual animals were captive-bred.

Lawmakers will eliminate both exclusions, Maddox said in early December.

In addition, pet stores that do not import dogs directly will not be covered by the PAWS amendments, he said.

Maddox also testified that if PAWS were to include a source record requirement, it would be more effective to require pet stores to keep records of the USDA license numbers suppliers rather than records indicating whether the source is required to be licensed as a dealer under the AWA. Maddox expects the bill to be amended to reflect that change in language.

According to the American Kennel Club (New York), other changes to PAWS will exempt all who breed or sell more than the threshold—six litters or less annually, or 25 dogs or less annually—if they are inspected by a nonprofit organization that is certified by the Secretary of Agriculture. This new provision will permit the USDA to focus its inspection activities on unregulated high-volume breeders and brokers without imposing federal regulation on hobby and show breeders already in compliance with equivalent or higher standards, according to the AKC. It also said the new draft will explicitly exempt all shelter and rescue organizations and individuals who do not import for resale or operate for profit.

Despite these anticipated amendments, hundreds of breed clubs, associations and registries continue to oppose the bill, believing it would subject them to federal regulation never intended for home-based breeders and deprive the public of a good source of pets. The Cat Fanciers’ Association (Manansquan, N.J.) and the Sportsmen’s and Animal Owners’ Voting Alliance took out anti-PAWS ads in the Capitol Hill political newspaper Roll Call to protest the exclusion of bill opponents from what they termed a one-sided, closed hearing.

In addition, groups such as the North Carolina Coalition of Animal Owners and the Texas-based Responsible Pet Owners Alliance supported a broad-based demonstration on the Hill as part of an ongoing NO PAWS campaign.

Escaping controversy are enforcement provisions that give the Secretary authority to temporarily suspend dealers’ licenses for up to 60 days for violations that place an animal in imminent danger and to seek injunctions against unlicensed dog and cat dealers.

For more information, contact PIJAC’s Michael Maddox or Marshall Meyers at (202) 452-1525. [January 2006 PET AGE]