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Donations in honor of a dear friend..
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Public Law 89-544 went into effect on August 24, 1966. Later this law became known as the Animal Welfare Act and is in place to ensure that animals sold in commerce are treated humanely. I feel that this law is not being followed and animals are suffering because of lack of enforcement. The area of concern that I am writing to you about is the weekly dog auctions held (mostly in the Midwest) and the obvious disregard for the law by those licensed under the Animal Welfare Act, and the USDA which is charged with enforcing the Act. Humane Handling As an example, dogs sold at auction are routinely held high into the air for the bidders to see. In addition, dogs are routinely dragged, pulled, poked and prodded into and out of cages at auctions, at least one dog auction documented a dog leaping off the auction table and shattering its leg. Section 12 of the Animal Welfare Act states: The Secretary is authorized to promulgate humane standards and recordkeeping requirements governing the purchase, handling, or sale of dogs or cats by dealers or research facilities at auction sales. The regulations used to enforce the Animal Welfare Act state: Sec. 2.131 Handling of animals. (a)(1) Handling of all animals shall be done as expeditiously and Ask yourself if this picture, taken at a June 2004 dog auction in which USDA was present, violates the regulations. Imagine holding your own pet eight feet in the air. Do you think this would cause trauma, behavioral stress, physical harm, and discomfort? This is not an isolated incident, this is routinely done to thousands of dogs auctioned each year.
Adequate Veterinary Care
This dog sold at a dog auction in 2004. She is just one of many examples of the lack of veterinary care given to the auctioned dogs. A prompt veterinary exam after the auction by a qualified veterinarian revealed that this dog suffered from conjunctivitis, dry eye, severe dental decay and infection, hookworms, heartworms, and ehrlichia, a serious tick-borne bacteria transmittable to humans and monitored by the Center for Disease Control. Ironically, this dog was sold by USDA licensed dog dealer/auctioneer, who also holds a valid veterinary license in the state of Missouri. The Animal Welfare Act rules and regulations stipulate that adequate veterinary care must be provided to animals in licensed facilities. Sec. 2.40 Attending veterinarian and adequate veterinary care (b) Each dealer or exhibitor shall establish and maintain programs Underage Puppies Sec. 2.130 Minimum age requirements. Dogs and their newborn puppies are routinely sold at dog auctions. Despite the rules clearly stating otherwise, USDA allows exceptions to this rule, as is demonstrated in the 2004 auction picture. This dog and her puppies await sale at an auction and are just a few of the many underage and unweaned puppies that sell at dog auctions each year. Letters of exception granted by USDA are often posted in the auction catalogs. Aside from the violation of Section 2.130, this cruel practice also violates several other regulations, including humane handling, veterinary care, and often cage requirements. In this picture a cat litter box is used to "house" the puppies while awaiting sale. Auctions are attended by hundreds of people and loud speakers blare out the bids. Can you imagine the terror of this dog and her concern for her newborn puppies? No dog should ever be subjected to this cruelty. Following the sale, she and her newborn puppies are loaded into a strange vehicle and transported to a strange place, and housed with strange dogs. This unauthorized leniency of the law needs to stop!
Interference with Inspetions Sec. 2.4 Non-interference with APHIS officials. In a June 2004 inspection of one auction house, the inspectors were thrown out by the auctioneer and verbally abused by the auctioneer. All of this was caught on video tape. You can view that segment at http://www.awawatchdog.org/movies/index.htm. After the inspectors were thrown out, they were verbally accosted by an auction patron and both inspectors were put at risk by this loud, unruly and dangerous behavior on the part of the auctioneer and the crowd. While USDA did write the auctioneer up for the violation, further action has not been taken. At another dog auction on December 4th, 2004, USDA attempted to inspect the transport vehicle of one licensed broker from Iowa. The vehicle had been used to transport large breed dogs from extreme Southeast Iowa to the auction in extreme Southwest Missouri. When the USDA official approached the vehicle, she was verbally threatened by the dog broker who refused to allow her to conduct an inspection. The broker was written up for this violation, but his dogs were allowed to sell. These dogs were documented by auction patrons to have large tumors hanging nearly to the ground, and suffering from various other ailments. Interfering with an official inspection is a very serious violation not only of the regulations designed to enforce the Animal Welfare Act, but also of the Act itself. The Animal Welfare Act has very few criminal acts defined. Because the law is enforced through rules and regulations, violations are normally administrative, not criminal. But lawmakers did incorporate criminal provisions into the Act which provide for both fines and imprisonment when a licensee interferes with the duties of an inspector. Section 16 (b) Any person who forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, impedes, intimidates, or interferes with any person while engaged in or on account of the performance of his official duties under this Act shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than 3 years, or both. Because of the enormous pressures put on USDA officials when conducting an inspection at an auction house, their inspections are often unobtrusive and ineffective. Noting just the violations mentioned above, it is easy to see how an inspector properly conducting an inspection of an auction house would in effect have to stop the auction dozens of times because of blatant violations. Safeguards need to be in place to allow complete inspections prior to an auction and without interference with licensees and/or auction patrons. I feel that USDA needs to seriously look into methods which would allow pre-inspections which would allow for animals to be pulled if they did not meet all the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act. This is quite possibly one of the most serious of infractions seen at auctions and it needs immediate attention. The above mentioned are just a few of the many concerns I have about dog auctions and how they are not being properly regulated. The practice of auctioning off dogs like livestock, in my opinion, is barbaric, but as long as it is legal, I encourage you to become pro-active in stopping the violations seen at these auctions and encouraging USDA to properly enforce the very law that they are charged with enforcing.
Sincerely, |
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