In July, the Colorado Department of Agriculture made significant changes to pet store regulations in the state. The departmentís Animal Health Division newly streamlined rules are designed to ensure domestic animals in Colorado are treated humanely and are healthy before consumers purchase or adopt them.The effects of new regulations on small pet stores and larger national chains depend on training, resources and the kind of animals the stores carry.Pet store regulation is governed at the state level, and the federal Animal Welfare Act primarily regulates animals used in laboratory research and exhibitions. Retail pet stores are not covered by the federal act.The Colorado Pet Animal Care Facilities Act was passed in 1994. The law gave the Department of Agriculture authority to license and inspect all pet animal care facilities; including pet stores, breeders, boarding facilities, groomers and shelters. The department issues binding rules on the industry. The PACFA rules were reduced from 126 pages to 39 pages, according to the July 2014 PACFA Summer Update, published by the Animal Health Division. ìThe rule change process started with advisory committee discussions and included 23 meetings and conference calls with advisory committee members, members of industry representative groups and the general public,î wrote Dr. Kate Anderson, program manager, in the Summer Update.Inspectors visit pet stores when they first apply for licenses to sell live animals, then on an ongoing basis depending on the company or organizationís risk level. ìYou have to have the store ready and set up to go, let them know what youíre planning to do and submit plans if youíre building your store from the ground up,î said Kathy Mische, owner of Furr and Fins in Falcon, who went through the process when she and her husband, Ted, opened the store in 2013. ìThey look at all the cages and make sure that the reptiles, who need certain things, are taken care of. They have a large printout of the care requirements and they go through that with you.îMische said they did not see the process as a burden to their business. ìIt certainly wasnít as bad as I imagined it to be,î Mische said. ìWhen youíre reading through all the regulations before actually talking to anyone, it looks bad. Thereís requirements for ventilation, for plumbing; but I found when going through it with them that the ventilation is usually sufficient in your store, and the plumbing is usually for grooming ó and Iím not doing any grooming here.î Furr and Fins is scheduled for inspection once a year going forward. ìIíve only been open eight months, so I havenít had the surprise inspection yet,î Mische said.Larger stores such as Petco and PetSmart are also licensed and inspected by the state. The national companies must follow the state regulations wherever they have locations, said Lisa Stark, spokeswoman for Petco.ìWe have standards of animal care through our standards, policies, training and our own internal audit procedures to make sure weíre providing industry-leading animal care,î said Marci Whichard, Petcoís vice president for animal care and education. ìWe also have a team of animal care managers throughout the country that audit our stores against our requirements.îPetSmart also uses internal policies and checks to make sure that consumers and state regulatorsí concerns are addressed. ìDistrict managers perform a formal audit of every store four times a year, and store managers audit their stores once a month in addition to checking on the care of the pets four times a day, every day,î said Erin Gray, corporate communications manager for PetSmart. ìThe bigger chain stores are much more visible than the smaller stores so they are apt to at least make an appearance of adhering to animal welfare issues, and there may be protocols put in place by which the employees are supposed to abide,î said Adam Roberts, chief executive officer of Born Free USA, a national animal advocacy group. ìHowever, there was a case in 2009 where authorities took possession of more than 20,000 animals from U.S. Global Exotics, a supplier for Petco and PetSmart, among others.îThe humane treatment of pet animals in retail pet stores is only part of the regulatory process. Vendors and breeders must also be licensed and inspected to make sure the animals are healthy and treated well before arriving at the retail storefront. ìAll our sources are also licensed, and all our small animals are from in-state, so theyíre licensed by the state already,î Mische said about her Falcon store.Larger companies have additional resources to ensure breeders and suppliers are adhering to the companyís internal requirements in addition to legal requirements. ìWe implemented the vender standards of excellence program many years ago,î Whichard said. ìWe have unannounced audits at our vender facilities to make sure theyíre complying with our standards. The nice thing about our program is that our venders and breeders sell to more stores than just Petco, and we feel by bringing on these standards weíve lifted the entire industry.îAnimal welfare groups and consumers encourage the retail pet industry to live up to the higher standards the industry describes. ìI have had people come in,î Mische said. ìI had a lady from the National Mill Dog Rescue come in when we first opened to see if we were selling puppies, and a few other people like that.îDespite stricter standards for breeders and the retail industry, the state still discovers abuses within the industry. There were 783 inspections performed in 2012 by the Animal Industry Divisionís four inspectors, 66 of those inspections were prompted because of 172 complaints about pet stores the department received. Eleven cease-anddesist orders were issued and four licenses were revoked or denied, according to the annual report for the 2012 license year, published by the Animal Industry Division.Pet stores that operate without a license or falsify documents can be charged with Class 2 misdemeanors, which has a minimum sentence of three months imprisonment, $250 fine or both, according to Colorado regulations.ìBorn Free USA would like to see stronger and more uniform laws protecting the animals who come through the pet shops, which address basic sustenance needs, adequate housing, proper record keeping, prompt vet care and enforcement of existing laws for these animals,î Roberts said. ìDue to the lack of oversight on this issue, it is truly a case of ëbuyer bewareí when purchasing an animal from a pet shop; and even the most vigilant consumer may end up with a sick animal.îConsumers and pet caregivers are encouraged to contact the PACFA office to file a complaint about a facility if they notice potential violations. Complaints can be emailed to CDA_PACFA@state.co.us.
