Pound seizure is the sale or release of cats and dogs from a pound or shelter to a research, testing or educational facility.
It is hard to imagine that dogs and cats are still being used as expendable tools in lethal experiments. It is a difficult fact that some of these animals were once accustomed to life in a human home and are now confined within a laboratory cage. Two states in the U.S.—Ohio and Oklahoma—still legally require that publicly funded shelters and pounds provide dogs and/or cats to institutions for experimental or educational purposes, and other states allow it. Several states have no law either way.
This horrible practice is a small, but troubling facet of the animal experimentation industry.
POUND SEIZURE FAQ
If animals are to be used, is it better to use animals who would be euthanized anyway, rather than breed other animals?
Euthanasia of animals in shelters and pounds is a result of irresponsible animal breeding and overpopulation, and research and education industries should not exploit this unfortunate reality. The primary purpose of shelters or pounds is to provide a safe haven for companion animals who have been given up or are lost.
Biomedical interest groups that promote the use of animals in research, testing, and education state that random source animals are abandoned, ‘unwanted’ animals, not people’s ‘pets.’ In some cases, shelters that provide animals to these industries cannot even try to find a proper home for the animal—they must first fulfill the quota expected of them. Common sense indicates that the most desirable animals for research or educational purposes would be healthy, well-behaved, and well-mannered. These are the same qualities that deem an animal ‘adoptable.’
Are companion animals still being stolen from people's homes for use in laboratories?
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agency that enforces the Animal Welfare Act, continues to fine dealers who violate the Act by obtaining animals by deception. Although laboratories only want animals with documents regarding their acquisition, that does not prevent dealers from falsifying the information. In advising people on how to find lost or stolen companion animals, the USDA suggests that they contact research facilities in their area to be sure the dog or cat is not at the research facility. If animal theft is a myth, a government agency would not make this suggestion.
