SAOVA played a leading role in educating legislators and fellow animal owners about the destructive federal bill known as "PAWS" - the Pet Animal Welfare Statute of 2005.
S1139 was introduced by former Senator Rick Santorum on 5/26/05 and PAWS mirror, HR2669, was introduced by Rep. Jim Gerlach (R) PA-6. PAWS was promoted by Animal Rights groups as legislation that "will close a loophole in the Animal Welfare Act (AWA)." Typical of the animal rights agenda, their description of what PAWS does is disingenuous, at best. At worst, it absolutely misleads legislators and the public into thinking this legislation will put an end to "puppymills," when nothing could be further from the truth.
What PAWS did was federalize a hobby - by subjecting home breeders and rescuers of cats and dogs to USDA licensure and over 60 pages of regulations. It further provided groundwork for imposing extra restrictions on "any person who buys, or sells any dog for hunting, security, or breeding purposes." [see definition of "Dealer"] Essentially, the best source for puppies and kittens - the home breeder - will be all but eliminated; thereby assuring that the only choice for consumers are commercially-bred pets.
On August 28th, the team of SAOVA, NCRAOA, and DFOW submitted the following to the Senate Agriculture Committee:
