Virginia Code 3.2-6592.1: Breeding cats and dogs for experimental purposes
Any person or entity that breeds dogs or cats, including dogs or cats regulated under federal law as research animals, for sale or transfer to an animal testing facility shall be required to keep accurate records of each dog or cat purchased, acquired, owned, held, or otherwise in the person or entity’s possession or control, and each dog or cat transported, euthanized, sold, or otherwise disposed of, for five years from the date of the acquisition, transfer, or disposition of the dog or cat. Records shall include:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 3.2-6592.1
- Adoption: means the transfer of ownership of a dog or a cat, or any other companion animal, from a releasing agency to an individual. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
- Animal: means any live vertebrate nonhuman animal. See Virginia Code 3.2-6591
- care: means the responsible practice of good animal husbandry, handling, production, management, confinement, feeding, watering, protection, shelter, transportation, treatment, and, when necessary, euthanasia, appropriate for the age, species, condition, size and type of the animal and the provision of veterinary care when needed to prevent suffering or impairment of health. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
- Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
- Euthanasia: means the humane destruction of an animal accomplished by a method that involves instantaneous unconsciousness and immediate death or by a method that involves anesthesia, produced by an agent that causes painless loss of consciousness, and death during such loss of consciousness. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
- Facility: means a building or portion thereof as designated by the State Veterinarian, other than a private residential dwelling and its surrounding grounds, that is used to contain a primary enclosure or enclosures in which animals are housed or kept. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
- Releasing agency: means (i) a public animal shelter or (ii) a private animal shelter, humane society, animal welfare organization, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, or other similar entity or home-based rescue that releases companion animals for adoption. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
- State Veterinarian: means the veterinarian employed by the Commissioner as provided in § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-5900
1. The name and address of the person from whom the dog or cat was purchased or otherwise acquired, and such person’s license or registration number if licensed or registered under the federal Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. § 2131 et seq.);
2. The date on which the dog or cat was acquired;
3. The name and address of the person or entity to whom the dog or cat was sold, given, or transferred and such person or entity’s license or registration number if licensed or registered under the federal Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. § 2131 et seq.);
4. The official U.S. Department of Agriculture tag number or tattoo assigned to the dog or cat under the federal Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. § 2131 et seq.);
5. A description of the dog or cat, which shall include (i) the species and breed or type, (ii) the sex, (iii) the date of birth or approximate age, and (iv) the color and any distinctive markings;
6. The date and number of any offspring born of any animal while in the possession or under the control of the person or entity;
7. All medical care and vaccinations provided to the animal;
8. The date and method of disposition of the dog or cat, including sale, death and cause thereof if not euthanasia, euthanasia, adoption, or transfer;
9. The number of dogs or cats in the person or entity’s possession for which the person or entity no longer has a need; and
10. The number of dogs or cats in the person or entity’s possession for which the person or entity no longer has a need that have been offered for transfer to a releasing agency for eventual adoption or for adoption through private placement in accordance with § 3.2-6593.1.
Records shall be made available upon request to the Department, animal control officers, and law-enforcement officers at mutually agreeable times. The person or entity subject to the requirements of this section shall quarterly submit a summary of such records to the State Veterinarian in a format prescribed by him.
2022, c. 93.