Such facilities may include local animal shelters. We would expect a person or facility approved to accept confiscated animals to house, care for, and try to locate permanent homes for the confiscated animals. The person or facility would also be authorized to euthanize, if necessary, any animals that were in severe distress, mortally wounded, or could not be placed in a permanent home in a reasonable period of time. This proposed rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12866. The rule has been determined to be not significant for the purposes of Executive Order 12866 and, therefore, has not been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget.
Confiscation is a complicated and expensive procedure.
Finding a licensee or registrant with the capacity and ability to house and care for the animals' well-being is one of the major challenges in the confiscation process. The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires that agencies consider the potential economic effects of rules on small businesses, organizations, and governmental jurisdictions. We expect that the types of facilities most likely to accept confiscated animals under this proposal are animal shelters run by humane societies. In addition, the costs incurred by humane societies are covered by membership donations. In the United States, there are at least 121 known humane societies in 35 States.