SAN DIEGO — In August, the San Diego Humane Society transferred more than 300 pocket pets such as rabbits, guinea pigs, rats and mice to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona to alleviate San Diego’s overcrowded shelters.
Weeks later the San Diego Humane Society said they believed those pets were transferred to a reptile breeder who also sells live and frozen animals for food.
The case is now under police investigation.
We've received questions as to whether this is legal.
THE QUESTION
Is it legal in Arizona for a humane society to transfer animals to a breeder as food?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
Yes, it is legal for humane societies in Arizona to transfer animals to breeders to be used as food.
WHAT WE FOUND
The managing attorney for The Animal Legal Defense Fund says, “The law does not specify whether live-feeding a companion animal to another animal qualifies as illegal cruelty. However, a person who adopts animals from a rescue organization with the intent to live-feed them to another animal may be engaged in fraud or breach of contract depending on the terms of the adoption,” Christopher Berry, ALDF managing attorney.
The Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary, which is one of the nation's largest reptile sanctuaries, says live feeding is frowned upon.
“There's nothing in the state of Arizona, that I know of that says you cannot feed it to your snake, doesn't exist. It comes down ethically it wasn't correct, probably for the most part,” said Daniel Marchand, Executive Curator for The Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary.
Humane societies are locally run and have individual policies but similar common practices.
The Humane Society of Southern Arizona would not release its policies but on their FAQ page, they say there are transfer policies in place but in this case they were not followed and are working to rectify it.
San Diego Humane Society says they had no idea this was going to happen.
“In the probably 1,000 transports that happen across the United States a year, 999 of them go to an accredited rescue group or to a private family or, another shelter. This doesn't happen. It's completely unheard of. But there's no laws to make that not happen,” said Gary Weitzman, DMV, SDHS President and CEO.
San Diego Humane Society says it is exploring legal action including if the animals were treated inhumanely by the reptile breeder.
The Humane Society of Southern Arizona says it will release its internal report next month.
The CEO was fired and the COO resigned shortly after the allegations surfaced.
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