banning the sale of companion animals through retail and internet commerce.This Bill would define the difference between Responsible Breed Specific Breeders, Shelter adoptions requiring adoption fees, Retailers, and Obvious Breeder Facilities! (AKA-Puppy Mills / Back Yard Breeders) The last two are obvious as they will list multiple Breeds and "unusually small breed" for sale, and may also refer to their dogs as "Designer" breeds.

Overpopulation of companion animals is no secret! Thousands of homeless animals in shelters are killed daily throughout this country. Puppy Mills are out of control! Puppies are being illegally smuggled into the U.S. Commercial breeders are importing and exporting at alarming rates. It is conceivable that this also contributes to animal abuse and neglect due to the lack of background checks on perspective buyers.

We ask that a bill be written to ban the sale of live animals through retail and internet commerce. People that sell on the internet are, in fact, commercial breeders, including Puppy Millers or at the very least, Backyard breeders! Included in this commercial industry are people advertising stud service, which in most cases, are those looking to breed “fighting” dogs. A responsible breeder would never consider breeding for this purpose! It includes Puppy Mill brokers who are contracted by pet retail stores. They buy from these mills and sell to the retailer.





Aside from the above mentioned offensive act, this only allows for massive scamming, and false advertising, as these mills portray themselves as loving caring breeders and post totally bogus photos of their facilities. Some of these websites are so deceiving, that people are “scammed” into believing they are buying a quality purebred when in fact, they are unknowingly buying from a callous, uncaring money monger. Again, no responsible breeder would consider selling their animals through the internet ora reatile store as there is no way to monitor the perspective buyer.



While the Animal Welfare Act instructs the Secretary of the USDA to regulate any entity that purchases or transports live animals in interstate commerce, we realize this is not a viable option, nor a practical one to protect animals.



We, the undersigned ask that a Bill banning the sale of companion animals through retail or internet commerce, be created and presented to Congress.





Respectfully,



