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Don't count on the rabbit's footIt all started with perfect intentions for John and Judy Dollarhite of Nixa, Mo. In 2005, they purchased two bunnies for their son to have as a project. They hoped he could develop a work ethic and responsibility. Just like the American dream, it grew into a profitable venture and they sold $4,600 worth of rabbits in 2009. They even managed to generate a profit of $400 that year. One day a USDA inspector stopped by for a visit, which ultimately led to a letter arriving from the USDA indicating that they are being fined $3.9 million dollars. The great news was that if they were able to go online and pay with a credit card, the government would accept $90,643 to settle the matter. First let me say that this is not totally a problem of the current administration. It has been building within the USDA and the government for many of the past administrations. However, it does appear to be accelerating rapidly during the Obama administration. When you tear away all the absolute terror the Dollarhite family is currently living through you will find one Sarah L. Conant at the core of the problem. This former Humane Society of the United States employee is now employed by the USDA as chief of the Animal Health and Welfare Enforcement Branch, Investigative and Enforcement Services. Beside the fact that we have one person with a tremendously long history of animal rights activism that dates back to her time spent at University of Virginia School of Law, Conant founded the Virginia Animal Law Society. Day after day I find examples of where the USDA talks about rebuilding rural America. They say we need to create greater opportunities for people who want to build a stronger rural America through small business. Yet every time I turn around I see another example of the government reaching out to squash someone who is trying to make an honest living in rural America. Today so many want to blame the big businesses and the multi-national corporations for wielding too much control in the market place. You need to realize that those big companies are the only ones with the wherewithal and legal staff to deal with the constant harassment from regulatory agencies that families like the Dollarhites are currently dealing with. I am not trying to make this any more complex than it is. I am simply trying to point out the two separate issues we are all dealing with here. At the top of the list is the current system we have in place that makes it extremely tough for small start-up companies to jump through all of the hoops necessary to get started. Secondly, we have individuals who have worked their way up the ranks on the regulatory side of government that clearly have anti-ag agendas. We need to take notice of this and get both of those problems fixed. So back to the case at hand with the Dollarhite family from Missouri. Ironically, they did contact the USDA when they started in the rabbit business and were told, "No, USDA does not need to monitor anything you are doing in selling meat rabbits." After a couple of years they realized the meat rabbit business was not working because expenses out-paced revenues. People were asking about buying rabbits that they could keep for pets. That demand really took off including supplying rabbits to Silver Dollar City. Who would have guessed that the very same USDA who has no jurisdiction over the sale of rabbits for food has a statute stating that if you sell over $500 worth of animals for "pets" you must have a permit to do so? Once the Dollarhites learned of this in January 2010, they dispersed their rabbit business completely. However, one full year later they got the letter from USDA employee and lifetime animal rights activist Sarah L. Conant stating that they owed the government $3.9 million. Here are a couple of closing thoughts. Are you aware of the fact that there is a big push to have USDA classify the horse as a companion animal? If that were to happen it seems that selling more than $500 worth of horses annually would subject one to a whole new level of USDA regulations. Secondly, this is not an isolated case. I continue to hear about situations similar to this one from dog breeders, goat producers and owners of all other species of animals. You can sit back and agree that this is just terrible and ridiculous or you can do something to rectify the problem so you aren't the next one to get a letter in your mailbox from the USDA. Apparently owning a rabbit's foot won't provide near enough good luck when Big Brother comes by for a visit. Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or email Trent at trent@loostales.com.
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