Virginia approves rescue licensing law
Virginia’s governor approved SB 260, a bill that requires registration
of rescue organizations and foster homes in the state. The bill, which sets
annual fees and report requirements for rescues and their foster homes, goes
into effect on July 1.
The new law amends the state’s animal welfare statute. It defines a “companion
animal rescue agency” as
“any person or organization that accepts more than six companion animals,
or three companion animals and three unweaned litters of companion animals
during a calendar year for the purpose of providing sanctuary or finding permanent
adoptive homes for companion animals and that does not maintain an animal
shelter for keeping animals, but rather houses the animals in a residential
dwelling or uses a system of housing animals in foster homes or boarding establishments.”
Those rescue groups that do operate their own kennels do not escape oversight;
the bill amends the definition of animal shelter to include any other organization
“operating for the purpose of providing animals with sanctuary or for finding
permanent adoptive homes for animals.”
The suggested fee is $100 per organization and $50 per foster home. The economic
impact statement accompanying the bill estimates that 300 rescue groups and
1150 foster homes will register to provide just enough money to hire an administrator
for the program.
Rescue agencies must agree to
- abide by the state’s animal welfare laws,
- keep detailed records on animals for five years,
- publish their addresses and telephone numbers in a telephone directory,
- be accessible to the public at ‘reasonable hours,’
- ensure that their foster homes also obey state animal welfare laws,
- remove animals from foster homes that do not comply with state animal welfare
laws and report those foster homes to the authorities,
- report a description of any animal not acquired from the owner or a legal
releasing agency to the local pound within 24 hours of receiving the animal,
- provide and update name, location, and contact information to local animal
shelters,
- send semiannual ‘assessment reports’ to the state agriculture
department, and
- send annual reports of the number of animals handled, the names of new
owners, etc. to the state veterinarian and make these records available to
local authorities and the public.
While rescue groups can get a license by affirming that they are in compliance
with state laws, they are also subject to unannounced inspections by the state
veterinarian.
Other provisions
The law also prohibits those who have been convicted of animal abuse, neglect,
or abandonment from acquiring an animal from a pound, shelter, or rescue or
from serving on a shelter or rescue board or as a foster home.
In addition, it sets standards for privately-operated shelters similar to
the standards set for rescue groups and prohibits the operation of any shelter
that violates local zoning ordinances.
For More Information
- Virginia animal rescuers fight to repeal new licensing law
by Walt and Sharyn Hutchens
- Rescue archives
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