USDA Inspections

Feds Issue Scathing Report on USDA Commercial Kennels

May 25, 2010

CLICK HERE to read the 69-page report. WARNING - Graphic pictures of abused dogs in USDA-licensed commercial kennels!  

Search for Pet Shop Breeders and Brokers  

USDA / APHIS Press Release / March 2011

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's Animal Care program has developed an expanded and improved Animal Care Information System (ACIS) Search Engine. This searchable information system will give the public access to Licensee and Registrant information, Inspection Reports, and Annual Reports submitted by research facilities.

The ACIS Search Engine allows users to search the licensing and inspection data captured by Animal Care. The user may search the system using multiple criteria (e.g. two or more states, two or more CFR section violations, two or more licensee types). All data generated by a search can be electronically sorted and exported for analysis. Data from Form 7023 Annual Report, submitted by research facilities, will also be available for the user to electronically search, sort and export for analysis.

Column E explanations and exceptions for FY 2010 and future years will also be available through the ACIS Search Engine. Column E explanations and exceptions for FY 1999 -2009 will remain on APHIS’s E-FOIA reading room in PDF format.

The ACIS Search Engine can be found at http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/Warning.jspx

What USDA /APHIS does NOT regulate or inspect

Retail pet stores. The USDA only regulates wholesalers who supply puppies to pet shops.  

"Hobby" breeders who claim to have three or fewer breeding female dogs; often identified as "exempt" dealers on pet shop papers.

Internet puppy sales

USDA Definitions

Pet Wholesalers - Anyone importing, buying, selling, or trading pets in wholesale channels must be licensed. Annual license fees are based on the amount received from the sale of regulated animals less the amount paid for these animals.

Pet Breeders - Anyone breeding pets for the wholesale trade must be licensed. You also may have to be licensed if you sell dogs as breeding stock to other breeders. Some small-scale breeders can qualify for an exemption (see "Hobby Breeders").

Animal Brokers - Anyone who deals in regulated animals but does not take physical possession must be licensed.

Class “A” licensee means a person whose business involving animals consists only of animals that are bred and raised on the premises in a closed or stable colony and those animals acquired for the sole purpose of maintaining or enhancing the breeding colony.

Class "B'' licensee means a person whose business includes the purchase and/or resale of any animal. This term includes brokers, and operators of an auction sale, as such individuals negotiate or arrange for the purchase, sale, or transport of animals in commerce. Such individuals do not usually take actual physical possession or control of the animals, and do not usually hold animals in any facilities.

Dealer means any person who, in commerce, for compensation or profit, delivers for transportation, or transports, except as a carrier, buys, or sells, or negotiates the purchase or sale of: Any dog or other animal whether alive or dead (including unborn animals, organs, limbs, blood, serum, or other parts) for research, teaching, testing, experimentation, exhibition, or for use as a pet; or any dog at the wholesale level for hunting, security, or breeding purposes. This term does not include: A retail pet store, as defined in this section, unless such store sells any animals to a research facility, an exhibitor, or a dealer (wholesale); any retail outlets where dogs are sold for hunting, breeding, or security purposes; or any person who does not sell, or negotiate the purchase or sale of any wild or exotic animal, dog, or cat and who derives no more than $500 gross income from the sale of animals other than wild or exotic animals, dogs, or cats, during any calendar year.