March 2009

Cruella, a shepherd chow mix who wore a purple collar, was found, lost in a small town in Michigan. She may have thought that she was being rescued when workers from the county pound picked her up, but instead it was the start of a year-long nightmare, one in which she was handed over to an animal dealer who later sold her to a university for use in painful veterinary medical training exercises.

Cruella was the victim of a practice called pound seizure, the sale of cats and dogs from a shelter to a research or education facility, oftentimes through random-source animal brokers called Class B dealers. While it may be difficult to imagine animals who once lived in loving homes being confined within a laboratory cage, it is the harsh reality for thousands of cats and dogs, like Cruella, every year. Worse yet, three states - Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Utah - legally require publicly-funded shelters and pounds to provide dogs and cats for research, such as experimentation and terminal education exercises, and others allow it.

Pound seizure presents a unique ethical disconnect that goes beyond the suffering of the individual animal because it erodes the very core of a shelter’s purpose: to protect animals in need from harm. Purchased by random-source Class B dealers, these animals find themselves confined and socially isolated in unfamiliar environments. While only 10 of these dealers are currently operating in the country, many of whom have been cited for animal cruelty, they fetch huge profits, selling dogs and cats to research and education institutions, where they are subject to painful and distressful procedures and eventual death.

As controversial today as in the late 1800s, pound seizure was the impetus of the establishment of the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS). AAVS has been successful in advocating against pound seizure in Pennsylvania, as well as other states.

The practice of pound seizure could be significantly limited if random source Class B dealers were outlawed. However, this will take an act of Congress.

What you can do!
Please contact your federal legislators and urge them to introduce legislation to prohibit random source Class B dealers. Tell them that these class B dealers are shrouded by animal mistreatment and cruelty, yet they profit from the sale of animals to research and education facilities. Only Congress can put them out of business. To contact your legislators and view a sample letter, please visit www.aavs.org/ClassB.

To learn more about pound seizure and Class B dealers, please visit www.BanPoundSeizure.org.

© Photo credited to AAVS