It is a practice that compromises shelter integrity, threatens the wellbeing of shelter animals and gives research institutions license to take animals without having to justify the cost. Pound seizure puts tens of thousands of animals in harms way—while offering a strong disincentive to adoption efforts.

Pound seizure is the ability of a research or educational institution to take animals from municipal or county pounds and shelters to use for experimentation, vivisection or dissection. The decision to take these animals is at the discretion of the researchers, although they are obligated to wait until any mandatory waiting period is over before taking any individual animal from the shelter.

In some states the decision to sell unclaimed animals for research is optional, leaving it to the discretion of the animal care facility. When animal care facilities do sell their animals for research, it undermines any effort to aggressively encourage adoption since there is already a market for the unclaimed pets. In fact many times a researcher will request a certain breed or size of animal; giving the animal care facility even less incentive to place those animals back with their own families or with a new one.

Many states—and individual counties and cities—have abandoned this practice altogether, specifically forbidding the sale or gift of unclaimed animals to any research institution or school. Jackson County, Michigan, was the most recent to join the ranks rejecting pound seizure in July 2006 by a 10-1 vote. It was one of only eight counties in Michigan that still permitted this practice.

Statewide, there are a variety of laws regarding pound seizure. There are prohibitions as well as laws requiring pounds to release their animals to licensed research facilities. Here is a summary of current law. To find the text of a particular law, go to Animallaw.com. Select laws at the top of the page and enter your state and the key words “pound seizure.” You may also go to the Animallaw.com selection for “Model Laws” for an example of a law prohibiting pound seizure that you would like to see passed in your state.