Businesses that
sell pets over the internet (sight unseen) will be subject to licensing and
inspection under the Federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) as the USDA revised the
40 year old definition of "retail store".
As "retail stores" are not
covered under the AWA and the definition of "retail store" was
put in place before the internet was invented, a huge gap was created whereby
sales of animals over the internet, or "sight unseen" were
unregulated as they were exempt from oversight under the AWA and invisible to
state and local law enforcement. Naturally, sick, injured and genetically
inferior animals were being sold to naive buyers across the country with no
checks and balances and no minimum care standards. This situation was not good
for the consumer but far worse for the pets.
The USDA restored the definition of
"retail pet store" to its original intent which is "a place of
business or residence at which the seller, buyer and the animal available for
sale are physically present so that the buyer may personally observe the animal
and help ensure its health prior to purchasing or taking custody of it"
thereby eliminating the "retail pet store" exemption for internet and
other "sight unseen" businesses.
As such, these "sight
unseen" vendors will now have to be licensed and inspected by the USDA's Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to ensure the pets they sell to the
public receive minimum standards of care and other requirements proscribed by
the AWA.
There are a host of exemptions and
other changes in this set of revisions - but - the focus and impetus for this
change was the overwhelming number of sick animals coming from larger scale
breeders into homes with absolutely no oversight but plenty of heartbreak.
