Animal Interests United: APHIS Animal Welfare; Retail Pet Stores and Licensing Exemptions Bill and How it Effects Livestock Production

Animal Rights and Environmental extremists continue their assault on Agriculture on a daily basis.  Many believe these issues involve differences in ideology, politics, or moral standards.  However, I personally believe the majority of this conflict has everything to do with greed and power.   

As our population expands and becomes increasingly wealthy globally, there will be an ever increasing need for food.  As we witness conflicts over the control of oil reserves and the recovery and distribution of energy, it should begin to make us recognize how vital it is to continue our ability to feed ourselves as a nation.  That said, many have recognized this and are determined to gain influence over the control of food, many times leaving ethics and morality behind. 

As livestock producers, often we have a very narrow vision of what “dangers” we are facing.   Perhaps a cattle producer has little care or knowledge of what is happening in the poultry industry, or a Midwestern hog producer is not well versed on how environmental extremists are damaging western ranchers.  After all, we each have enough on our plate already.  When Animal Rights Radicals attack an interest we consider to be outside agriculture we often choose to ignore the issue altogether. 

This is a mistake, and let me tell you why.

The buzz in every agriculture circle right now is the need to “tell your story”.  It is now being said that the public does not trust farmers and ranchers and that somehow we must gain back our credibility as the moral and ethical business people we are. 

Similarly, the Animal Rights extremists have a long ways to go before they become credible in the eyes of the majority.  We may feel some days that everyone is “on their side”, but this certainly isn’t the attitude of those that live outside the bubble of the animal world. 

For these Animal Rights Extremists to enter a rural state with a strong agriculture economy and insist upon control over farms and ranches would indeed be a very hard sell.  The majority of the population that does not know of these groups would instantly see them as the radicals they are.  But all they really need is a foot in the door;   a chance to gain much needed credibility before their full attack on agriculture begins.  Thus, they begin their campaign to gain credibility with animals the general population is more familiar with. 

Perhaps those of us in Agriculture should realize that attacking more widely understood animals, such as dogs and cats, is nothing more than these groups’ own recruitment tool to gain acceptance.  Once a person, who may be greatly disconnected with Agriculture, hears the extremists’ tales regarding pets they may deem them a credible source in discussions regarding Animal Agriculture as well. 

Everyone knows and loves dogs, but the care of dogs in a breeding scenario takes special ability and knowledge.  If you asked one hundred people who own a dog as a pet how they care for them, you would get one hundred widely different stories.  These various groups make only generic suggestions as to proper pet ownership, so as not to alienate a potential subscriber to their beliefs.

However, when it comes to discussions about pet breeding, these extremist groups do make statements about the proper care of breeding animals.  Most of these groups have no past experience or education in pet breeding.  This is why many of the things they propose for pet breeders, just as in Animal Agriculture, make little sense when it comes to improving the lives of animals. 

So what exactly is my point?  Those involved in production agriculture, which represents only 2% of the population, often feel alone in “battle” with these groups.  But the truth is the number of “troops” dealing with issues from these same anti-agriculture groups is huge.  Think tens of millions of individuals who are impacted, and many of whom are now beginning to express an interest in speaking up. 

Animal Agriculture producers may feel like they are at the front lines based on what we may feel the agenda of these groups are.  We may feel they intend to control our food supply, or eliminate meat, dairy, and eggs from the diet worldwide.  Those assumptions may be correct, but anti-agriculture groups are far from any of those goals, and along the way are leaving many animal lovers with a bad taste in their mouths. 

To recognize how these extremist groups are attempting to gain credibility in the eyes of the public is the goal.  For these reasons, it is highly advantageous for all animal interests to unite and stand together against these groups……..and it is just the right thing to do. 

Recently there has been some proposed "rule changes" that at first glance appears to effect only pet breeders.  However, these proposed changes entitled the “Animal Welfare; Retail Pet Stores and Licensing Exemptions”, contains some interesting language that should be quite alarming to livestock producers. 

According to APHIS, the intentions of these changes were to close a “loophole” that allowed some pet breeders to continue to operate while not being licensed and inspected by the USDA.  With Sarah L. Conant (former attorney for the HSUS) serving as the chief enforcer for APHIS, it is quite rational to be a bit skeptical of their true intentions.

The stated intentions of these changes is to include those that sell pets over the internet “sight- unseen” from operating without a government license and on-going inspection. Those with a “traditional” Pet Store allowing the potential buyer to view the animal prior to purchase are exempt.  Pet providers which deliver an animal away from the premises the animal was housed in would also be under the umbrella of this legislation.  This is where it gets interesting from a livestock standpoint. 

The proposed rule also includes Domestic farm animals.  From the APHIS Factsheet:

“The proposal will restore the definition to its original intent so that it limits the retail pet store exemption to only business and residences:• where buyers physically enter to observe the animals available for sale prior to purchasing them, 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, chinchilla, domestic ferrets, domestic farm animals, birds, and coldblooded species.”

I feel what constitutes a “pet” is dangerously open to interpretation. 

Have you ever sold a group of calves via an on-line video auction?  Ever purchased breeding stock “sight-unseen” without inspecting every animal in the facilities they were housed in?  Do you have a website listing for sale show animals used in fairs and other FFA and 4-H events? 

Do you want to turn your farm and ranch into a “pet store”? 

Necessitating USDA inspection would mean such things as a cobweb in the corner of your barn could mean an “infraction” of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), leading to this infraction being made public, a simple way for the extremists to paint a picture of “cruelty”.  This scenario has already occurred for years in the pet breeding community. 

Please examine the documents below and see for yourself how this could potentially damage your own agricultural enterprise. 

At the very least, stand beside those animal interests outside of your comfort zone.  Now is not the time for increased government and more bureaucracy.

APHIS FAQs: Questions and Answers: Proposed Rule – Retail Pet Sales

Docket No. APHIS-2011-0003]: Animal Welfare; Retail Pet Stores and Licensing Exemptions