Help protect dogs and cats from Class B dealers

Last year, a microchip scan revealed that a dog slated for use in a University of Minnesota research laboratory was actually someone's pet. Echo, stolen from a backyard in Arkansas, was sold two months later to the university by a Class B Dealer from Michigan.

The supply of dogs and cats to research laboratories from shady "Class B Dealers" has inspired controversy since LIFE magazine published its expose, "Concentration Camps for Dogs," in February 1966. The magazine's photos of neglected animals in appalling conditions sparked public outrage that helped propel passage of the federal Animal Welfare Act, one of our country's cornerstone animal protection laws. But the battle to shut down the Class B Dealer pipeline still rages four decades later.

The Pet Safety and Protection Act (S. 451/H.R. 5229), introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI), and in the U.S. House by Representatives Phil English (R-PA) and Mike Doyle (D-PA), would prohibit Class B Dealers from selling dogs and cats to laboratories. These dealers acquire dogs and cats from "random sources" -- often by stealing pets or responding to "free to a good home" ads.

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