Monster
It's all about- me.
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 | | Purred: Mon Jul 16, '12 12:24pm PST |  | |  | | To be specific, the bill is aimed at breeders who do not open their premises to the public, but sell only on the Internet, thus dodging the USDA APHIS inspection, licensing, and animal welfare requirements. This loophole has allowed hundreds of puppy mills to continue to operate outside the law. Breeders who do allow potential buyers to come on to their property and see their animals are classified as "retail pet stores" and are thus exempt from these licensing and inspection regulations.
From the actual document:
Summary of Major Provisions
``Retail pet stores'' are not required to obtain a license under
the AWA or comply with the AWA regulations and standards. Currently,
anyone selling, at retail, the following animals for use as pets are
considered retail pet stores: Dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs,
hamsters, gerbils, rats, mice, gophers, chinchilla, domestic ferrets,
domestic farm animals, birds, and cold-blooded species.
This proposed rule would rescind the ``retail pet store'' status of
anyone selling, at retail for use as pets, the animals listed above to
buyers who do not physically enter his or her place of business or
residence in order to personally observe the animals available for sale
prior to purchase and/or to take custody of the animals after purchase.
Unless otherwise exempt under the regulations, these entities would be
required to obtain a license from APHIS and would become subject to the
requirements of the AWA, which include identification of animals and
recordkeeping requirements, as well as the following standards:
Facilities and operations (including space, structure and construction,
waste disposal, heating, ventilation, lighting, and interior surface
requirements for indoor and outdoor primary enclosures and housing
facilities); animal health and husbandry (including requirements for
veterinary care, sanitation and feeding, watering, and separation of
animals); and transportation (including specifications for primary
enclosures, primary conveyances, terminal facilities, and feeding,
watering, care, and handling of animals in transit).
In addition to retail pet stores, the proposed rule would exempt
from regulation anyone who sells or negotiates the sale or purchase of
any animal, except wild or exotic animals, dogs, or cats, and who
derives no more than $500 gross income from the sale of such animals.
In addition, the proposed rule would increase from three to four the
number of breeding female dogs, cats, and/or small exotic or wild
mammals that a person may maintain on his or her premises and be exempt
from licensing and inspection if he or she sells only the offspring of
those animals born and raised on his or her premises for use as pets or
exhibition, regardless of whether those animals are sold at retail or
wholesale. |  |  | |  |
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