July 2, 2006
WASHINGTON - He calls it the "blood belt."
Chris DeRose uses that phrase to describe 15 sites, stretching from
Oklahoma to Pennsylvania, where dogs and cats gathered from random
sources are sold for research. DeRose, president of the nonprofit
animal welfare group Last Chance for Animals, says dealers at these
sites even steal pets from ordinary homes.
His organization has conducted undercover investigations of
USDA-certified Class B animal dealers who are legally permitted to
collect animals from flea markets and pounds, among other places, and
sell them to research facilities. The LCA and like-minded groups say
the animals are mistreated. But their most incendiary charge is that
Class B dealers regularly steal pets from homes and sell them to
research facilities for hundreds of dollars.
"Anyone whose animal is missing shouldn't have to stay up at night
wondering if their animal ended up in a lab," said Cathy Liss,
legislative director for the Society for Animal Protective
According to those in the research community, the idea that pets are
being stolen from backyards is ludicrous and the allegations of animal
welfare activists represent another attempt to turn the public against
But activists have been heard on Capitol Hill, where the Pet Safety
and Protection Act is again pending in both houses of Congress. The
act would prohibit Class B dealers from selling random-source dogs and
cats to laboratories.