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From: iayork@panix.com (Ian A. York)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.pets.dogs.misc
Subject: Seeing eye dog theft: Slight reprise
Date: 10 Oct 1996 19:52:20 -0400

This is a followup to the thread entitled "Seeing Eye Dog Theft?" that raged on rec.pets.dogs.misc and alt.folklore.urban seven Usenet years (in human years, mid-July 1996) ago. If anyone wants to followup further to this post, may I suggest you take a few minutes to review that thread on DejaNews; many good points were made there, and I think the gist of this article is in line with the conclusions of the thread. There were 170-odd articles in the thread; I'm not going to reprint them all here.

Followups are set to alt.folklore.urban only.

From Nature Medicine Vol 2 Number 9 September 1996, pp. 957-958:

Necessary legislation or stupid pet trick?

Recent US Congressional hearings on pet protection, prompted by the threat of pet thieves abducting Fido and selling him to the local research laboratory, have resulted in proposed legislation that would eliminate the specialized animal dealers that supply larger dogs used in orthopedic and cardiovascular research. "All of us have been troubled by allegations that some class B dealers (licensed intermediate animal handlers) may be stealing animals, adopting them through 'free to a good home' ads, or turning a blind eye to the animal's original source," says Michael V. Dunn, a representative of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the government agency responsible for overseeing the treatment of animals used in research. Such practices are serious violations of the Animal Welfare Act, but appear to be fairly common for some dealers, according to testimony given at the congressional hearing. In response to the reports, US Representatives Charles Canady (Republican, Florida) and John Fox (Republican, Pennsylvania) each put forth pet protection bills that would eliminate class B dealers.
"The only thing this legislation will do is prevent research facilities from receiving any animals from pounds of USDA dealers," says Jorge Galante of the department of Orthopedic Surgery at Rush Medical College in Chicago. In 1995, class B dealers supplied approximately 22,000 dogs to researchers.
Dogs considered "class B" are generally older, larger, and more genetically diverse than dogs purposely bred for research. These characteristics make class B dogs essential for such things as developing hip and knee joint prosthetics, as well as some cardiovascular surgical techniques, according to researchers. The USDA already requires class B dealers to keep extensive records on each dog in order to prevent a private citizen's pet from ending up in a research laboratory. However, recent inspections conducted by the USDA disclosed frequent instances of fraudulent record keeping. Frankie Trull, president of the National Association for BIomedical Research, says, "We'd like to see the USDA enforce the 'regs' already on the books and get the bad dealers out of the business." But pet protection advocated feel the proposed new legislation is necessary. "The class B dealer system has created an incentive for dealers to steal animals instead of getting them by legitimate means," claims Tony Swanick, spokesman for Rep. Fox. In additions to eliminating B dealers, both Fox's and Canady's bill would let the states decide whether animal pounds could sell directly to research facilities. If either bill is ultimately approved, researchers like Galante will be hard-pressed to find new dog sources. The same animals rights agenda that has rallied support for the new pet protection bills has already succeeded in lobbying fourteen states to prohibit pounds and shelters from selling animals to research facilities. "Specific new breeding colonies would have to be established to provide adequate numbers for our use and that of other investigators around the country," says Galante. Establishing such breeding colonies would likely take several years and increase the cost for one dog from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

                                                          Barbara Nasto
                                                     New York, New York