Pound Seizure

Pound seizure, or pound release is the practice of some animal shelters or dog pounds of giving or selling unclaimed, unadopted animals to class B dealers for resale to laboratories, medical schools, hospitals etc for experimental research, student training, or product testing. Some shelters and pounds sell directly to such facilities

Only 14 states in this country prohibit this practice, and only Massachusetts prohibits the sale from other states.

In Michigan, only 1 county remains that allows pound seizure. 82 counties, do not. Be wary of any animal shelter or pound that openly promotes or supports "Biomedical research". Such shelters may not inform the owner that their pet might be used for such purposes. You have the right to deny such use of your surrendered pet. Ask to sign a form denying this use.

The remaining backwards Michigan county still allowing pound seizure is : Mecosta,.

There are currently two kinds of dealers of animals. Class A dealers are those that breed their own animals. Class B dealers are those that secure animals from "random  sources". Random source means the securing of animals from pounds, shelters, or possibly from owners which have bred the animal themselves, or have owned the animal at least one year. These dealers may pay a small fee, or perhaps get the animals free. They then "condition" them for resale to facilities for upwards of $200-$400 each. Class B dealers may also be class A dealers, doing some breeding of their own.

The perfect "research" animal

The most desireable animals for research purposes are young, maybe up to 3 years of age, friendly, and of medium size. Short haired breeds seem to be preferred. In other words, the very type of animal most likely to be adopted!  Beagles and labs seem to be of choice here in Osceola county. While dogs are more used, cats and rabbits are also used for a variety of experiments and cruel behavioral studies.

Some uses of animals are product testing. This is supposedly to make sure that household products and health and beauty products are safe for human use. Yet, many of these products still carry warning labels!

Drugs are required to be tested on animals before being approved for human use in this country. Many drugs have more serious side effects than the condition for which they are prescribed. Drugs such as Thalidimide and DES were tested and approved. Look at the devestation caused by these two drugs! And, the FDA has brought back Thalidimide!!

Many tests are simply redundant. Tests on animals are still being done to study the effects of tobacco use. We already know tobacco smoking causes lung cancer.