Where do animals covered by the US Animal Welfare Act live? Analysis of USDA licensed and registered entities

Abstract

Nonhuman animals are housed in captivity for a range of purposes in the US and other countries. The regulation, oversight, and public transparency of decisions related to the care and use of those animals varies by species and activity. The goals of this paper are 1) to provide a concise and accessible summary of the number and types of facilities either registered or licensed by the USDA and overseen by the federal agency; and 2) to provide concise comparisons of the relative proportion of different types of use of nonhuman animals that fall under the AWA (Animal Welfare Act). Analysis of the publicly-available list of USDA certificate holders produced descriptive data for each state and the US overall. Licensed exhibitors (N=2,640; 33% of total) and breeders (N=2,701; 34% of total) comprise two-thirds of the 8,002 USDA certificate holders. Registered research facilities (N=1,110) account for 14% of the total USDA certificates. The final 19% consists of licensed dealers (N=763; 9%) and registered carriers or interim handlers (N=788; 10%). The number and distribution of types of certificates varies across states. The largest number of exhibitors and dealers are in Florida, while the largest number of breeders are in Missouri. California has the largest number of research registered facilities. Finally, a comparison of the estimated number of animals in the US that are pets, used in agriculture, exhibition, and research suggests that animals in research are between 0.07-2.3% of the total. The comparison also highlights areas in which public information about captive animals in the US is uneven or missing altogether. Together, the current report provides a concise view of basic information and data relevant to public consideration and policy decisions about animals housed in the set of captive settings to which the AWA applies.