It is best to contact the Department of Agriculture in your state. It might just require a permit to bring them in because they are rescues. If you start purchasing and breeding, that might be a different requirement. You might want to ask that question when calling.
I am sorry, but I am going to have disagree about this subject.
If you have not been licensed, how can you speculate what every state does?
You know that they have a veterinary inspection at least yearly.
But the
vet doesn't even have to know anything about gliders.
My
vet does know about gliders and you should not purchase one single glider unless you have a
vet that can treat them. Before you think about getting licensed, make sure you have a good
vet that is teachable. Many are willing to learn, but the basics for proper care and cleanliness apply to all animals. The
vets are called out to inspect the premises - not the animals. If a
breeder is bringing in gliders that are sick all the time and the
vet knows the room is immaculate, he might rule out some of the parasites that come with dirty cages or water bottles before making a diagnosis. This is what my
vet has stated as to the purpose of a USDA
vet visit. Also, it is wonderful time for me to help educate him more. Most
vets do not know as much about gliders are we do. They generally have another area of expertise. My
vet charges $90 to do this. I think it is beneficial for his diagnosing possible future problems and well as building a relationship with him which is invaluable.
The USDA inspector can come in without warning and inspect the premises, so they need to keep their place orderly.
In some places, the inspectors are lucky if they make it to a facility once every 2 years. And some inspectors just don't CARE. If they did, the mills would not still be in operation.
This is true; they do come out without warning. Now there was a time period that
vets were not coming out. It cost the USDA $500+ to send one agent out to your home. That was the reason for going from having to get a license with one glider pair to now more than three females. When Katrina hit, we noticed a decline in when our inspectors came and it was every two years. We discovered our one
vet (inspector) had the whole state of Oklahoma to look after, and they had to borrow other inspectors from other states to cover Oklahoma because they were so overloaded with work. Many state inspectors were called down for additional work in La. That lasted for three years. For the last two years we have had a new inspector - also a
vet who will fail you if you have fruit flies. Why do we have them - various reasons, but one is because food is left too long in the cages during the day. My room is out in our garage and do you think I would go out there earlier than 9am and pick up dishes if I was not licensed? No way! But because I am, and that is when my inspector starts his day, my dishes are always picked up before 9. If the dishes there when he arrived, I would not pass. Bacteria, mold and decay can occur with dishes left out too long. No baby has ever left my home in 11 years with a bacteria or parasite. Most people cannot say that, and I think it has a lot to do with the high standard that I am accountable to with the USDA.
Yes, they could lose their license but the "standards" that the USDA enforces are so minimal it allows
mill breeders to stay in business and keep the gliders in 1 foot cubes with no stimulation (
toys).
mill breeders are paying taxes on the sale of those gliders. They are also paying USDA high fees on them. Sadly those taxes and fees pay the salaries of the USDA agents. I believe Anita and I are the only small scale licensed
breeders in Oklahoma. There is one pet shop here as well. There are no
mill breeders here. There standards are deplorable. I do fault the USDA for not cracking down on them for what they see. That does not mean that the people that are doing the right thing by keeping a high standard should not be penalized or downgraded because they are licensed.
They are required to keep records detailing the animals.
Yet those records are often not kept properly. Mill BROKERS are supposed to have individual "paperwork" on each glider they buy and sell but they do not give that paperwork to those they sell to (in many cases). They have NO idea which set of paperwork goes with what glider.
mill breeders are not required to have individual paperwork. If you request it, they will give it to you. You will not usually receive any lineages though. All they are required to keep is a record for themselves so that when they are inspected, they can turn these over to the USDA. Most
mill breeders have Quickbooks for their accounting records. It is in that program that every sale is accounted for tax purposes. Every year those that are licensed pay a fee to the USDA on every glider that is sold. Having a good accounting program in essential to keeping records. My
vet requires me to show the paperwork, but then again, I hand him a stack that is about an inch tall for the sale of 45 gliders a year. The reason they don't want
mill breeders doing that is because the stack would be 10 feet tall. The purpose of the paperwork is so that they put the names in the computer and want to make sure that one person is not purchasing a lot of gliders and not getting a license. If they see this on the paperwork, they call or pay the person a visit. I normally mark on my paperwork if my gliders are to be neutered or are already neutered. If a glider changes home, the paperwork should go with them as long as the glider is alive. Don’t know why, that is just the rule. I guess it keeps track of the history of the glider.
They can't buy from or sell to individuals that should have licenses and do not.
Again, that happens both from smaller
breeders and larger to
mill breeders. They DO buy and sell from non-licensed people.
Not true. I can sell to non-licensed
breeders. Many of my gliders are sold as pet only.
They are the only ones able to sell to people in GA.
Sadly, this is true. And the real shame are the glider that end up on Craigslist or else where being given/sold/abandoned because they can't sell them or ask for adoption fees unless they too have a USDA license. The USDA requires you have MORE than 3 breeding females before they will issue a license.
Licensed
breeders are the only ones who can sell to people in Georgia. Gliders cannot be sold on CL even though people do it anyway. This is a problem nationwide and CL is not the proper place to sell animals. It is against policy anyway.
The bottom line for me is why break the law? It is the law to have a license if you have more than three breeding females. Laws are for our good as well as the gliders themselves. Whether we think we know more than the people in Congress or not, we still abide by the law. If you were driving on a winding road and the sign said slow down when wet and you continued to speed avoiding the signs, someone, not just including yourself could get hurt or killed. That law is there for a reason and even though you have been over that hill a million times safely at that speed, you never know what will happen as you go to the other side.
If I felt my taxes were too high would I not pay them? If I didn't agree with the gov't as to why they were raising them, would I just not report the income? It is the same thing as not getting a license. There are many people who take advantage of the economic system but break the law by not paying. Does that make it excusable because the standard hurts their pocketbook too much?
Until the law changes I will abide by it. Someone out there knows more than me about the safety and protection of animals. I find that the standard I am to uphold with the USDA keeps me on the right path.