Pet Safety Message from Senator Vitter

The following is a message from Senator David Vitter about focusing on pet safety:

At Christmas, my family added a new member, Elle,  a dog that we adopted from a local shelter.   Elle has already added a lot of joy to our house.  And Wendy and I and our children  look forward to many years with her in our home.

We  had a great experience working with the rescue shelter that gave us Elle.   But unfortunately there have been instances  of unscrupulous dealers who adopt pets from shelters under the guise of wanting  a pet but then sell the pet for medical research.  Some of these dealers have even sold family pets that were stolen.

We  can’t imagine this happening to Elle or any of the other wonderful animals we  saw at the shelter.

To protect our pets from those who wish to do them  harm, I recently cosponsored legislation  that would stop the illegal trade in pets for research by cracking down on  unethical dealers.  This bill would curb the illegal and unethical practice of selling  stolen and stray animals.

It’s a small step that should be taken to ensure our  pets are protected.