Board Endorses Bill Barring Shelter Animals from Being Used for Research

By City News Service:

RIVERSIDE, CA - Riverside County supervisors Tuesday unanimously endorsed a bill that would bar animal shelters from releasing dogs, cats and other creatures under their care to research labs.

The Board of Supervisors, without comment, added the county to the list of supporters for AB 2269, authored by Assemblywoman Marie Waldron, R- Escondido.

The legislation would "prohibit a shelter that accepts animals from the public or takes in stray or unwanted animals, from selling, giving or otherwise transferring a living animal to a research facility or animal dealer," according to a summary posted to the board's policy agenda.

The State Humane Association of California, the bill's chief proponent, stated in an online analysis of AB 2269 that sheltered pets are often taken for scientific and other experimentation -- a practice referred to as "pound seizure."

Waldron pointed out that animals dropped in veterinary clinics, kept in kennels or abandoned in pet grooming parlors cannot be transferred to research facilities under existing law. However, there are no prohibitions against the use of sheltered pets.

The law does require that public shelters post and distribute notices stating that animals surrendered to them may be released to labs.

AB 2269 also stipulates that sheltered pets cannot be euthanized for the specific purpose of selling their carcasses to animal parts dealers.

Violators of any provision of the bill would be subject to a fine of $1,000 for each transgression.

The bill is slated for a hearing before the Assembly Appropriations Committee tomorrow.

(Image courtesy of the Riverside County Department of Animal Services)