Stop Pound Seizure!

Pound Seizure in the United States

Pound seizure is the practice of animal shelters selling or giving cats and dogs for experimentation or research. The cats and dogs are obtained from the shelter by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) random-source Class B dealers (animal brokers) or directly by research facilities or educational training institutions (such as medical or veterinary training schools). There are currently 10 random-source Class B dealers in the country, many of whom are under investigation by the USDA.

Pound seizure is a blight on any shelter that allows the practice. It is a betrayal of public trust in the purpose of sheltering homeless, unwanted, abused or neglected animals. Seventeen states plus the District of Columbia have passed laws banning pound seizure. Yet the remaining states allow the practice, and three mandate it (Minnesota, Oklahoma and Utah). Pound seizure is also detrimental to shelters because once citizens find out that a shelter practices pound seizure, they become resistant to donating money to that shelter, and hesitant to surrender stray animals to the shelter or call in complaints of abuse or neglect for fear of what might happen to the animals.

American Humane opposes the surrender of animals by animal shelters and animal control agencies to labs, pharmaceutical and educational institutions, or any scientific or research facility. All animals that are in the possession of a shelter or animal control agency should be returned to their rightful owners, placed in suitable homes or humanely euthanized. In a situation in which there is a law mandating the release of animals from shelters for purposes of biomedical research, the local animal care or control agency and the humane community should work to repeal such a law, and American Humane is available to help do so.

In late 2009, the federal Pet Safety and Protection Act was refiled by Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (S 1834) and Rep. Mike Doyle (HR 3907) to prohibit any research facility from obtaining random-source animals from USDA Class B dealers. The bills were refiled in the wake of a 2009 congressional study that determined that Class B dealers are no longer required to supply random-source animals to research facilities that still use those animals.

Pound Seizure in Michigan

Click here to read the Michigan bill.

In March 2009, American Humane collaborated with Rep. John Espinoza (D-Croswell) to file HB 4663, also known as Koda’s Bill, to stop the practice of pound seizure in Michigan. The bill was co-sponsored by Reps. Terry Brown, Mike Huckleberry and Jeff Mayes. The bill was named after Koda, a 3-year-old malamute who was surrendered to the Gratiot County Animal Control shelter. Koda was then taken by a Class B dealer and resold to the University of Michigan, where he suffered traumatic injuries as a subject in the university’s Advanced Trauma Life Support Class and subsequently euthanized. Koda’s former family believed that taking him to a shelter would allow him another opportunity to find a home and did not know he would be used in a research experiment. What happened to Koda is happening every day in the remaining Michigan shelters that practice pound seizure.

Michigan has struggled with the taint of pound seizure for decades and is home to three of the country’s 10 live-animal random-source USDA Class B dealers. With only two Michigan shelters still practicing pound seizure (Gratiot and Mecosta County Animal Control shelters), the time to end this practice is now.

Michigan citizens continue to speak loudly that pound seizure is not wanted in the state. Please add your voice to Koda’s Bill by sending an email to your legislator regarding HB 4663. And join the growing list of supporters by signing this endorsement form.

For more information about pound seizure in Michigan, and to find out what else you can do to help, please contact our Public Policy Office at publicpolicy@americanhumane.org.

Success in Montcalm County, Mich.

American Humane is pleased that after more than 30 years, the Montcalm County (Mich.) Animal Shelter will no longer allow pound seizure -- the practice of providing shelter cats and dogs to USDA Class B dealers for resale to research facilities. The decision follows a vote by the Montcalm County commissioners on April 27, 2009, to stop the practice.

American Humane especially applauds the efforts of the county’s Blue Ribbon Committee, which was formed to address issues at the shelter, as well as Montcalm County Citizens for Animal Welfare and Concerned Citizens Coalition-Montcalm. 

American Humane Vice President of Public Policy Allie Phillips is from Michigan and has worked toward stopping pound seizure in the state for the past 10 years. Phillips and American Humane’s Office of Public Policy assisted local advocacy groups in their efforts to end this practice, and were overjoyed at the dedication and perseverance of numerous concerned citizens.

“Michigan has struggled with pound seizure for decades, and thanks to successful campaigns at the county level, we now have just two shelters in the state that continue to practice pound seizure,” said Phillips.

Success in Eaton County, Mich.

After a May 2008 moratorium to cease the practice of pound seizure at the Eaton County (Mich.) Animal Control Shelter, an official resolution banning the practice was passed in December 2009. Well done, Eaton County!

Pound Seizure in Utah

House Bill 107 has passed both the House and the Senate and is now on its way to the governor's desk for signature.

Passage of HB 107 means that Utah finally moves from being a mandatory pound seizure state to a discretionary pound seizure state. Shelters now have a choice as to whether they want to participate in pound seizure. This is a significant step in the right direction.

Read the final version of the bill.

Tooele County, Utah

In December 2009, Tooele City Animal Shelter confirmed that it has not supplied shelter cats and dogs to the University of Utah for approximately one year. When the shelter director learned that some of the cats and dogs did not survive the procedures (contrary to the claim that the cats and dogs would be adopted after the research), the shelter stopped the practice. Read more.