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legislation > Animal Welfare Act > standards
As stated on the USDA-APHIS website, the Animal Welfare Act “requires that minimum standards of care and treatment be provided for certain animals bred for commercial sale, used in research, transported commercially, or exhibited to the public. Individuals who operate facilities using animals in these ways must provide their animals with adequate housing, handling, sanitation, nutrition, water, veterinary care, and protections from extreme weather and temperatures.” Further details of AWA standards are outlined within the Act. Even in the words of the USDA, animal care and breeding standards are “minimum.” Some AWA care standards, as written, are considered by many to be inadequate for the species and subject to interpretation by breeders and inspectors. One example often cited is cage size. An illustrated example of the USDA formula for calculating cage space is at the link below. Scientists, in particular, have studied large number of dogs kept in kennels. One study, from Raymond Coppinger and Jule Zuccotti, printed in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, questions the emphasis on cage size alone: “Recently, interest has grown in improving the minimum standard kennel, with a goal of bettering the welfare of dogs. Many investigators have studied single parameters of kennel design. What is the optimum temperature, optimum size (square feet per dog), or optimum noise permissible for the kenneled dog? … The very assumption that each kennel parameter has an optimum dimension may be faulty, but, at present, this is what drives the regulation for dogs’ welfare needs. For example, if animals are to be healthy, they should have enough room to exercise, if they want to. Thus, present United States Department of Agriculture standards for exercise require that dogs be provided with the opportunity to exercise. The minimum standard for the opportunity to exercise is to simply double the minimum cell dimensions. Even if the dog never moves, the legal exercise requirement is met.” Minimum AWA standards do not fulfill the basic physical and mental needs of the animals. A dog or cat’s overall health and well-being do not appear to be the driving force behind the creation of AWA standards.
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