skyblu
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Texas
Posts: 4324 |
NEW APHIS/USDA Rules
SYNOPSIS
APHIS published the Final Rule September 10, 2013 which revises the definition of "retail pet store" to bring more pet animals sold at retail under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) licensing and regulations. The new definition of retail pet store means a place of business or residence where the seller, buyer, and animal are physically present in the same location. The transaction does not have to take place at the seller’s home. Previously, APHIS did not regulate any pet sales made directly to the retail consumer.
Of concern is the interpretive definition of a breeding female. APHIS states it must be assumed that any female capable of breeding may be bred. It is ultimately an APHIS inspector’s responsibility to decide whether an animal is a breeding female, and this decision must rely on a variety of factors. Inspectors currently rely on factors such as the animal’s age, health, and fitness for breeding in deciding whether an animal is a breeding female.
Small scale breeders who are not operating as pet businesses may now be regulated. Breeders working away from home could be subjected to fines by APHIS if they are not home for unannounced inspections.
Additional concerns exist that small breeders be may be the subject of activist harassment and Freedom of Information Act requests.
WHO MUST BE LICENSED?
A USDA License is required for a Dealer, defined as any person who buys, or sells, or negotiates the purchase or sale of animals for pets for one of the following 6 uses:
Research, teaching, testing, experimentation, exhibition*, use as a pet. A Dealer is also anyone who buys or sells dogs at the wholesale level for hunting, security, or breeding purposes.
* Exhbition means any person (public or private) exhibiting any animals to the public for compensation (carnivals, circuses, animal acts, zoos, and educational exhibits, etc.)
SIGHT UNSEEN SALES. All breeders who sell animals sight unseen and who maintain more than 4 breeding females must be licensed by the USDA. This includes the following list of pets: Dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, rats, mice, gophers, chinchilla, domestic ferrets.
NOTE The final rule has raised many additional questions for breeders since most breeding programs do not fall into neat categories but encompass multiple levels of competition and types of sales; hunting dog kennels have variations as well with dogs used for more than one purpose. We are working to provide additional clarification and will post when information becomes available. PLEASE do not panic and start spaying bitches, giving dogs away, or reducing your kennels. Do not do anything that cannot be undone.
EXEMPTIONS
Any person who sells dogs at retail for breeding, hunting, security, or as working dogs. A person who sells and ships animals at retail for breeding purposes is not considered a dealer and is not subject to licensing. Such persons could continue selling at retail and shipping animals sight unseen as long as the animal is used ONLY for breeding purposes and not for any of the 6 purposes listed under the definition of Dealer.
Any person 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.
Any person who meets the definition of Retail Pet Store.
Retail pet store means a place of business or residence at which the seller, buyer, and the animal available for sale are physically present so that every buyer may personally observe the animal prior to purchasing and/or taking custody of that animal after purchase, and where only the following animals are sold or offered for sale, at retail, for use as pets: Dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, rats, mice, gophers, chinchillas, domestic ferrets, domestic farm animals, birds, and coldblooded species. In addition to persons that meet these criteria, retail pet store also includes any person who meets the criteria in § 2.1(a)(3)(vii) of this subchapter.
ADDING NEW LICENSEES
The Rule is effective 60 days from publication. APHIS will begin to identify potential licensees by reviewing breeder marketing and websites and via public complaints.
FILES FOR RULE CHANGE
Docket No. 2011-003
Animal Welfare Act Integrated
Comments from Cat Fanciers Association
AKC. USDA/APHIS Finalizes Rule Impacting Pet Breeders
Transcription of the APHIS Conference Call September 10, 2013 announcing final rule
RULE IMPACTS
APHIS continues to maintain that the benefits from this rule will outweigh any costs. We disagree and believe that AHPIS has continually underestimated the numbers of breeders who will be impacted by this rule as well as cost to both breeders and the agency for implementation.
In the original 2012 analysis APHIS suggested 1,500 dog breeders would be newly licensed. This final rule summary notes, “There is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the number of facilities that will be affected by this rule, as we acknowledged in the proposed rule, and as evidenced in the public comments.” According to the new APHIS estimate, there could be as many as 15,000 online breeders who would likely be affected by this rule. APHIS maintains that only 75% of the pet breeders would sell some pets sight unseen and estimate the final number of new licensees would drop to approximately 4,640. However this still doubles the current workload.
In 2012 APHIS also stated that increasing the number of breeding females from 3 to 4 would possibly reduce current license holders by 31%. The final rule summary states that APHIS expects the number of current licensees that will fall below the new exemption threshold will be very small.
APHIS also acknowledges that neither the number of entities that will need to make changes nor the extent of those changes is known. Therefore, the overall cost of structural and operational changes that will be incurred due to this rule is also unknown.
In the final rule summary APHIS maintains their plan to incorporate newly affected entities into the existing regulatory system using a phased implementation for conducting initial prelicensing inspections and compliance inspections eliminates the need for additional personnel.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS
For the past several years, the APHIS budget has been shrinking; since 2010 the budget has decreased by approximately $87 million, or roughly 10 percent. In a recent February meeting, APHIS administrators discussed agency changes in response to reduced funding and how the agency plans to preserve core functions while challenged by annually decreasing budgets. The FY 2012 federal Budget contained appropriation for APHIS programs of $837 million, which was 8.3% or $76 million lower than the amount appropriated for APHIS in FY 2011.
Budget cuts are likely to continue into the foreseeable future. The President's 2013 budget request submitted in February to Congress calls for a decrease in APHIS funding by an additional $54 million, or 6.6 percent.
FY 2014 USDA Budget has been released and again there is little revision to the current budget. The APHIS 2014 budget request of $798 million is an overall reduction of $24 million from 2013. Money requested specifically for Animal Welfare activities and enforcement is $29 million, a requested increase of only $1 million which is split between Animal Welfare and Horse Protection. Increase for Horse Protection requested to $893,000 from current $500,000; therefore leaving virtually no additional funds to enact or enforce increased regulation.
SAOVA remains opposed to this costly expansion of regulation that invades the privacy of American homes in order to establish standards for pet care that are not compatible with residential environments.
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SKY
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Author of the novel "Follow Jennifer"
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09-13-2013 02:05 PM
