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R&R Research under investigation by USDA
Updated: Thursday, 19 May 2011, 4:01 PM EDT - By Henry Erb
Who Is Policing Animal Safety?
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Pet owners may not know their tax money pays
for a staff of federal government workers who are supposed to keep their
dogs and cats safe in their yards and healthy when they buy them from
breeders.
It's called the Animal Welfare Act , and it was written in 1966
to keep pets from being stolen and sold to laboratories for research.
Under the law, rules require animal brokers to get dogs and cats only from
licensed shelters or other licensed breeders. They may get animals from
unlicensed sources only when the animal was born and raised on the owner's
property.
"Now there's been additional regulations and standards built onto that but
that's why it was created," said Dave Sacks, a spokesman
for the US Department of Agriculture Animal Welfare Division.
The act has expanded since 1966 to require humane care standards for
thousands of breeders and the dozen or so remaining brokers, even zoos and
circuses. USDA inspectors make unannounced visits four times a year to
license holders all over the US.
Target 8 Tip
It was a tip about one of those brokers, R&R Research based just
outside Howard City in Montcalm County, that put Target 8
Investigators onto a story which found those federal regulators have failed
to "effecively enforce" the Animal Welfare Act against repeat offenders.
R&R Research has been the source of controversy over the years.
In the 1990s, Ionia County Animal Control gave a dog to R&R and told the
owner the dog had been killed. R&R gave the dog back.
Also in the '90s, Target 8 Investigators reported the Michigan Attorney
General had ordered R&R to stop advertising as an animal shelter.
Then, in 2009, public outcry heated up a series of Montcalm County
board meetings as people tried - unsuccessfully - to pry R&R out of
its contract with the county that allowed it to take its pick of unwanted
animals in exchange for killing others.
James Woudenberg, the owner of R&R Research, wouldn't talk
with Target 8 on camera, citing "some very unprofessional conduct by those
in the media."
But in a recent letter, he said "R&R has always maintained a high level of
compliance with USDA, Animal Welfare Act guidelines. Any problems which were
cited have been corrected."
In 2005, though, R&R paid a $3870 fine for taking 18 cats from the Howard
City Public Works Department, which is not a licensed, legal source of
animals. And since then, USDA inspectors have found the company got more
cats and dogs from illegal sources at least a half-dozen more times.
Woudenberg said "owners surrendering their animals are not compensated in
any way, and in each case R&R obtains a signed statement from the animals
owner that they bred the animal."
That disputes findings by USDA inspectors that the animals came from
unlawful sources because they were not bred on the owner's property.
The repeat violations alleged by USDA have risen to the level of a formal
investigation which could lead to fines or action against R&R's license.
There is a bigger question: What value is all that federal
regulation if a license holder can do the same wrong act over and over
again?
In fact, Target 8 investigators found that's a question raised by the USDA's
own internal watchdog, the Inspector General, in 2005 and in 2010.
It found the "enforcement process was ineffective in achieving dealer
compliance with the Animal Welfare Act." The IG said over a two-year
period, re-inspection of 4,250 breeders and brokers found 2,416
repeatedly violated the Animal Welfare Act.
"It chose to take little or no enforcement action against most violators,"
the IG reported in May 2010.
Instead, the agency chose to try to educate dealers and brokers instead.
"We have always thought, and still feel, that getting these license holders
to provide humane care and treatment for their animals is the ultimate
goal," said the USDA's Sacks. Educating them, he added, is still the best
way to get them to comply.
But the audits have had an impact, he said. "There's been a real strong push
for more enforcement and stricter enforcement, more aggressive enforcement
actions and penalties for those repeat offenders."
Sacks said the agency recently hired more inspectors, a kennel specialist,
boosted the average fine from $3,700 to $10,400, and launched more
investigations that could lead to fines or even license suspension or
revocation.
"So, as part of that," he said, "R&R Research is being investigated
right now."
SOURCE:
http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/target_8/Who-is-policing-animal-safety.
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10 June 2011 Issue
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