troubling news in the USDA oversight of Licensed Breeders

Kflowers

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from Dogington Post --

Before you take the USDA’s word for how good a licensed breeder is, you might want to do your own research into the breeder. Scary stuff, disappointing stuff. Wicked, just wicked. I would love to be proved wrong.


ASPCA Sues USDA for Non-Enforcement of Animal Welfare Act Violations by Breeders - The Dogington Post


Undercover Footage Reveals Grim Reality for Dogs at USDA-Licensed Breeders that Sell to Pet Stores

Undercover Footage Reveals Grim Reality for Dogs at USDA-Licensed Breeders that Sell to Pet Stores - The Dogington Post
 

Willowy

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Generally speaking, in the US, if a breeder is USDA licensed, they are a mill and you don't want to buy a pet from them. Yes, it sounds counterintuitive---"licensed" should be better, right?---but that means they're large-scale and therefore probably don't care about the animals as individuals. A small hobby breeder is best.
 
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Kflowers

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Thank you, Willowy , I never much thought about breeders until I joined this site. I would never have guessed that and I'm really glad you explained it.
 

LTS3

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Here's some info on the two USDA breeder licenses that relate to commercial selling of pets: USDA APHIS | Regulated Businesses (Licensing and Registration)

Individuals or businesses who sell or offer to sell or transport or offer for transportation, in commerce, warm-blooded animals for use in research, exhibition, or as pets must be licensed as a dealer. In addition, individuals or businesses who buy, sell, offer to buy or sell, or transport or offer to transport, in commerce, warm-blooded animals to or from another dealer or exhibitor must be licensed as a dealer. A Class A license is issued to dealers who sell animals that are bred and raised at their facility in a closed or stable colony. A Class B license is issued to other dealers whose business includes the purchase and/or resale of warm-blooded animals Examples of dealers include commercial dog-breeding facilities, animal brokers, and operators of auction sales.

There are exemptions to the dealer licensing requirements. In summary, the exemptions include but are not limited to, retail pet stores, breeders with four or fewer breeding females of dogs, cats, and/or small exotic or wild mammals, sales of less than 25 dogs or cats per year to research facilities, purchases and sales of animals used only for the purposes of food or fiber (including fur), and any person who buys animals solely for his or her own use or enjoyment.
 
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Kflowers

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This conversation has made me very concerned with the USDA in general and all their practices. I can't help but feel their 'okays' on anything are worthless.
 
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Kflowers

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from Dogington Post --
ASPCA Sues USDA for Non-Enforcement of Animal Welfare Act Violations by Breeders

The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®), represented by Cooley LLP, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for abandoning its responsibility to enforce the Animal Welfare Act (AWA)—a federal law passed more than 50 years ago to ensure the humane treatment and care of commercially bred dogs.

More at link

 

Whenallhellbreakslose

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from Dogington Post --
ASPCA Sues USDA for Non-Enforcement of Animal Welfare Act Violations by Breeders

The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®), represented by Cooley LLP, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for abandoning its responsibility to enforce the Animal Welfare Act (AWA)—a federal law passed more than 50 years ago to ensure the humane treatment and care of commercially bred dogs.

More at link

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Good on the ASPCA for bringing this lawsuit against the USDA. They need to be held responsible! I have been saying it for months with animal welfare issues-- we are sadly regressing as a society. I take care of feral cats, but am aware of states reversing or trying to reverse TNR policies and are going back to trap and euthanize policies. This just boils my blood.😡 We can do better than this!

Thanks for putting up this thread!
 

muffy

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Good on the ASPCA for bringing this lawsuit against the USDA. They need to be held responsible! I have been saying it for months with animal welfare issues-- we are sadly regressing as a society. I take care of feral cats, but am aware of states reversing or trying to reverse TNR policies and are going back to trap and euthanize policies. This just boils my blood.😡 We can do better than this!
I agree. Any kind of animal cruelty makes my blood boil. I have no use for the USDA.
 
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Kflowers

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For some reason, a large portion of the population in the US doesn't seem to be able to learn from other countries experiences. None the less, when someone mentions just killing the ferals, you can point out not just the decreased number of ferals since the 1980s, but the plague of mice that Australia has suffered since their kill the feral program. It won't help, but it's better than grinding your teeth.
 

Whenallhellbreakslose

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For some reason, a large portion of the population in the US doesn't seem to be able to learn from other countries experiences. None the less, when someone mentions just killing the ferals, you can point out not just the decreased number of ferals since the 1980s, but the plague of mice that Australia has suffered since their kill the feral program. It won't help, but it's better than grinding your teeth.
There are foolish people out there that never learn. They keep embracing stupid policies (like supporting trapping and euthanizing ferals, or other policies that is a blow to animal welfare) and never ever think of the ramifications of such stupid policies. They apply no logic to there decisions and have next to no foresight. It is all based on emotion and quick fixes. Australia's war on feral cats that you pointed out is a perfect example. They will say that feral cats are an evasive species, not native to Austrailia and are killing birds and small mammals at an alarming rate. Was TNR ever on the table? I think if it was, it was quickly dismissed. I know Aussie's are lovely people, but by allowing your Government to okay policies like this is regressive and not a true solution. 🙁

muffy muffy It's a darn shame!!! I hope the ASPCA wins their case and gives the USDA a major wake up call. We need a major win here to end this animal abuse.
 

Whenallhellbreakslose

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Even within the US, the Audubon Society takes a pretty dim view of feral cats as well and wants all cats, one way or another, indoors.
I know. They don't like feral cats and looks at them as mass murders. 😬 There are many in that organization that support euthanizing ferals, but thankfully, there are also reasonable people in the organization who do not support that. Outside the Auburn society, one of the largest Animal Rights Advocacy Groups who I won't name here, adamantly believes that all ferals should be euthanized and that tnr is a failed policy that does more to harm feral cats than help them.😕 I don't like their fringe philosophy that believed it was okay to kill 90% of the animals in there care.😡 And had members state that dog ownership is animal cruelty. It appears that this erroneous belief that trap and euthanization works goes wide and far. It is a pity that anyone thinks that is a solution.
 
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Kflowers

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Any one who blames cats for the rate of bird deaths is not paying attention. There are fewer cats then ever before. What there is more of is insecticides that kill off insects birds eat either taking the birds with them or letting them starve. It's much easier to hunt cats than face down corporations that are the true cause. Killing cats gets more donations to 'bird charities' or 'bird societies' than telling the truth about pesticide corporations or trying to bring them to heel.

It's all about appearing macho and not bothering to fight the good fight, because that would be too much trouble.

In the past the Audubon Society has been pro steel jaw traps. I haven't heard that that has changed.
 

Whenallhellbreakslose

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Any one who blames cats for the rate of bird deaths is not paying attention. There are fewer cats then ever before. What there is more of is insecticides that kill off insects birds eat either taking the birds with them or letting them starve. It's much easier to hunt cats than face down corporations that are the true cause. Killing cats gets more donations to 'bird charities' or 'bird societies' than telling the truth about pesticide corporations or trying to bring them to heel.

It's all about appearing macho and not bothering to fight the good fight, because that would be too much
I completely agree with you.🙂
 

fionasmom

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Very true that it is easier to kill ferals than to fight the big companies on pesticides. I often wonder how they "prove" these numbers. Every bird that flew into a window was actually counted? Everyone who saw a feral with a bird hanging out of its mouth called the hotline and reported it? For the entire USA?
 
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Kflowers

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Update on USDA ignoring condition of dogs at Envigo


Exclusive: U.S. probe of beagle breeder Envigo scrutinizes top animal welfare officials' inaction
WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - Top animal welfare officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) were subpoenaed last year by a federal grand jury seeking to establish why they took no action against animal research breeder Envigo (NOTV.O), despite repeatedly documenting the mistreatment of thousands of beagles, according to several people familiar with the matter.

A deputy administrator of the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Dr. Elizabeth Goldentyer, and its animal welfare operations director, Dr. Robert Gibbens, were ordered to appear before a grand jury in the Western District of Virginia as part of a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) into Envigo, the sources said.

The Justice Department’s decision to subpoena government witnesses who would normally testify voluntarily to help build the government’s criminal case was highly unusual, according to a half-dozen legal and animal welfare experts.

Exclusive: US probe of dog breeder scrutinizes why USDA left thousands of beagles to suffer
 
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