Class B Cat Dealers

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by Michael (PoC Admin)
(London, UK)

I think we have a duty to go behind the veneer of the cat world, the fancy world of show cats and the cosy world of well cared for domestic cats and look at the seedy side. And as in all walks of life there is what we see and there is what there is and the two are different. The old adage: Out of sight out of mind…comes to mind. Class B dealers deal in other animals too. But right now I am more concerned with cats.

For a decade, legislation to shut these Class B despicable animal dealers down has been brought to the U.S. Congress, but has never passed into law!….(a YouTube comment to the video below – reproduced verbatim – I am sure the person making it will allow me to publish it here)

What do Class B Cat Dealers Do?

This is a USA thing although I am sure it happens under a different name in other countries. They deal in cats in a highly commercial way treating them as inanimate products certainly not as feeling animals. And that is what is totally wrong. Cat breeding is also commercial and some people argue that that should be stopped, bearing in mind the levels of feral cats and euthanised cats in the world and in the USA particularly (because it is the biggest domestic cat market). But nearly all cat breeders treat their cats with great respect. Class B cat dealers don’t.

It seems that they sweep up all the cats that are unwanted and then sell them to people who use them for research (drug testing and the like) or training (veterinary schools). Sometimes they acquire stolen cats or obtain them in questionable ways. Apparently two million companion animals are stolen every year in the USA. That is about the same number of cats that are euthanized in cat rescue facilities. Like I said, we don’t see or feel this usually but I think we should. As a society as a whole we cannot be said to be animal lovers if we allow this to happen.

This level of unethical behavior is to be expected by people operating in such a seedy area of commercial enterprise. Apparently (at 2009) there are 15 Class B dealers in the USA who sell to research facilities. You can see a list of these dealers here: XXX link broken at Oct 2012. As at 2007 there were 1,200 Class B dealers in the USA (lcanimal.org).

I know we are in a controversial area here because some people think cats should be used in research. In fact a lot of people hate animals or cats literally. They have no objection to poisoning them or mistreating them. Just read the comments on this Blogger post of mine – the hatred! And despite Class B dealers being regulated by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) in the USA, there is bound to be mistreatment of cats that goes unrecorded and I am sure that the Act is unenforced constantly.

Class B cat dealers are just an extension of society. A large part of society don’t give a damn about cat welfare or animal welfare. A large number of people think that the god-created-human is King on this planet and he and she can do as they please with animals (of course humans are not animals to these people).

A bill has been introduced called the Pet Safety and Protection Act that, in amending the Animal Welfare Act, would prohibit research facilities (and I presume vet schools for example) from buying cats and dogs from people who have not breed them. The intention it seems is to curb ill treatment of cats and dogs by Class B dealers by “eliminating” them (I can think of some nice ways to eliminate them). Personally I’d ban the whole despicable thing.

Another group of horrible people are called “bunchers”. That name has a Dickensian feel about it. Does anyone know where the name comes from? Bunchers take pets from people advertising “free to a good home”. The owner is duped into believing that their cat or dog will be nicely rehomed when in fact the exact opposite will happen.

So what to do? If people can find the time and if they care enough they should petition the legislators to pass this bill and make it law. Click on this link to go to an ASPCA webpage that says some more and helps you to do this. Or HSUS do something similar.

Date of this article: Oct 2009

Sources:

  1. lcanimal.org
  2. ASPCA
  3. HSUS

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Class B Cat Dealers

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Oct 29, 2009
Rating
starstarstarstarstar		 Blame they buyers
by: Finn Frode, Denmark

The reason these dubious characters are in business is the fact that there is a market for the “goods” they supply. The pressure must be put on the research facilities and vet schools, who deal with them without asking questions.
Once the lucrative Class-B-Cat business has been closed, they will turn to other markets like stolen goods, drugs etc. – and hopefully end up in jail, which they deserved from the beginning!

Oct 27, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar		 my experience
by: kathy

I know all about people keeping and breeding cats just for the money. I had two bad experiences with bengal breeders. The first one the woman had all these beautiful bengal cats in her basement that was dark with no lights on and they were pretty much overcrowded in large cages.

The second woman was what I found out to be part of a breeders circle, where several breeders get together and run an ad. When you call to buy a kitten, you have no idea where that kitten came from. They bring the kitten in question to the ad runners house. I was stupid both these times.

The first kitten never got tame because she never was socialized. She eventually escaped and disappeared. The second kitten died about 4 weeks later from sicknesses. The breeder refused to honor the contract we signed. I did call animal control and she was investigated. They said it wasn’t the first time they had been called on her. Its sad the way animals are treated as commodities. My cats are part of the family and are our babies.

Oct 27, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar		 “Class B Cat Dealers”
by: Rudolph.A.Furtado

In India cats are not prized possessions unlike dogs and are simply kept as pets or exist as feral cats in the streets.Its tragic to read this article about exploitation of cats in the U.S.A, a country which prides itself for being home to the largest number of pet cats and dogs.

I really feel sad for the thousands of cats and dogs that get euthanized or are caged for “Medical experiments and research”.My cats Matahari and her kitten Matata seem to be privileged to have me as their owner, living the “Fat Cat Life” in Mumbai.Inversely, i would have been a very unhappy and lonely man without my pet cats Matahari and Matata.Hope the majority of us humans realize the value of pet companionship in our daily lives.

Oct 27, 2009
Rating
starstarstarstarstar		 Stick ’em in cages
by: Anonymous

Stick all class B dealers in cages and beat ’em and starve ’em.

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