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107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1478

To amend the Animal Welfare Act to improve the treatment of certain

animals, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 1, 2001

Mr. SANTORUM (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. WARNER, Mr. SMITH of New

Hampshire, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. MILLER, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. BREAUX, and

Mr. KENNEDY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To amend the Animal Welfare Act to improve the treatment

of certain animals, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Puppy Protection Act

5 of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) puppies in the United States are mass-pro9 duced at breeding facilities known as ‘‘puppy mills’’;
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1 (2) those puppies are typically sold at 8 weeks

2 of age to retail operations or to live animal brokers

3 that subsequently sell the puppies to retail oper4 ations;

5 (3) there are more than 3,000 commercial dog

6 breeding operations in the United States;

7 (4) problems documented at puppy mills

8 include—

9 (A) overcrowding in cages;

10 (B) lack of protection from the elements;

11 (C) infestation of food by rodents or in12 sects;

13 (D) overbreeding;

14 (E) inbreeding;

15 (F) lack of proper veterinary care;

16 (G) lack of socialization with humans; and

17 (H) the killing of unwanted animals;

18 (5) lack of early socialization seriously affects a

19 dog’s ability to function as part of a human family

20 and contributes to behavior problems such as ag21 gression;

22 (6) factors contributing to the declining health

23 of female dogs and litters include—
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1 (A) the breeding of female dogs during the

2 first estrus cycle when the female dogs are not

3 fully mature; and

4 (B) the breeding of female dogs each

5 estrus cycle without sufficient rest between lit6 ters;

7 (7) the Department of Agriculture is respon8 sible for inspecting those facilities using a set of reg9 ulations for care and treatment of the puppies and

10 dogs promulgated under the Animal Welfare Act (7

11 U.S.C. 2131 et seq.);

12 (8) those facilities continue to operate despite

13 repeated violations of the regulations cited by De14 partment of Agriculture inspectors; and

15 (9) consumers purchase from retail operations

16 puppies that are believed to be healthy and geneti17 cally sound, but that—

18 (A) suffer from an array of physical and

19 behavioral problems after purchase; or

20 (B) harbor genetic diseases and defi21 ciencies that may not surface until several years

22 later.

23 SEC. 3. SOCIALIZATION PLAN; BREEDING RESTRICTIONS.

24 Section 13(a)(2) of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C.

25 2143(a)(2)) is amended—
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1 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ at

2 the end;

3 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period

4 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and

5 (3) by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘(C) for the development of an engineering

7 standard, including a written plan of activities,

8 based on the recommendations of animal wel9 fare and behavior experts, for the socialization

10 of dogs to facilitate contact with other dogs and

11 people; and

12 ‘‘(D) for addressing the initiation and fre13 quency of breeding female dogs so that a female

14 dog is not bred—

15 ‘‘(i) before the female dog has reached

16 at least 1 year of age; and

17 ‘‘(ii) more frequently than 3 times in

18 any 24-month period.’’.

19 SEC. 4. REVOCATION OF LICENSE.

20 Section 19 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C.

21 2149) is amended—

22 (1) by striking ‘‘SEC. 19. (a) If the Secretary’’

23 and inserting the following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 19. SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF LICENSE, CIVIL

2 PENALTIES, JUDICIAL REVIEW, AND CRIMI3 NAL PENALTIES.

4 ‘‘(a) SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF LICENSE.—

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary’’;

6 (2) in subsection (a)—

7 (A) in paragraph (1) (as designated by

8 paragraph (1)), by striking ‘‘if such violation’’

9 and all that follows and inserting ‘‘if the Sec10 retary determines that 1 or more violations

11 have occurred.’’; and

12 (B) by adding at the end the following:

13 ‘‘(2) MANDATORY REVOCATION.—If any person

14 licensed as a dealer, exhibitor, or operator of an auc15 tion sale subject to section 12, is found, after notice

16 and opportunity for hearing, to have violated any of

17 the rules, regulations, or standards governing the

18 humane handling, transportation, veterinary care,

19 housing, breeding, socialization, feeding, watering, or

20 other humane treatment of animals under section 12

21 or 13 on 3 or more separate occasions within any 8-

22 year period, the Secretary, on finding a third viola23 tion, shall revoke the license of the person unless the

24 Secretary makes a written finding that the violations

25 were minor and inadvertent, that the violations did
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1 not pose a threat to the animals, or that revocation

2 is inappropriate for other good cause.’’;

3 (3) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘(b) Any deal4 er’’ and inserting ‘‘(b) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Any

5 dealer’’;

6 (4) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘(c) Any deal7 er’’ and inserting ‘‘(c) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Any

8 dealer’’; and

9 (5) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘(d) Any deal10 er’’ and inserting ‘‘(d) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Any

11 dealer’’.

12 SEC. 5. REGULATIONS.

13 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment

14 of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall promulgate

15 such regulations as are necessary to carry out the amend16 ments made by this Act, including development of the

17 standards required by the amendment made by section 3.

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