Overview of Program
The Animal Facilities Inspection Program (AFIP) is comprised of a Director, a Program Consultant II, and five Animal Facility Inspectors. The Director and Senior Administrative Assistant are located in Topeka. The Program Consultant II and Inspectors work in the field and are based out of their respective homes.
Program Staff
Debra Duncan, Program Director, dduncan@kahd.ks.gov
OFFICE STAFF:
Senior Administrative Assistant: Dee Koerth
Office Assistant: Karen Travis
FIELD STAFF:
Program Consultant II: Carman Simon
Northeast Kansas Inspector: Jeaneen Hercha
Southeast Kansas Inspector: Terri Farran
North Central Kansas Inspector: vacant
(due to reduced budget this position will not be filled at this time).
South Central Kansas Inspector: Barry Cooper
Western Kansas Inspector: Elaine Adams
Summary of License Requirements
K.S.A. 47-1701 et.seq., is the Kansas Pet Animal Act (KPAA).
Please note: this is a summary of state laws. It is not intended to be totally comprehensive. If you are not sure whether you need to license please contact the Department to ascertain whether any laws pertain to your activities.
The Kansas Animal Health Department is responsible for enforcing the Kansas Pet Animal Act (formerly known as the Kansas Animal Dealer Act). This Act was established by the 1988 legislature to regulate the companion animal industry in Kansas.
The Act requires these facilities and individuals to be licensed and inspected:
- Pounds and animal shelters,
- Pet stores,
- Temporary pet stores,
- Animal and exotic bird auctions (excludes livestock)
- Group foster homes (Groups or individuals who find homes for relinquished animals)
- Breed rescues,
- Foster homes,
- Individuals or entities picking up strays and finding homes for them.
- Individuals who adopt out animals of any kind (excluding livestock)
- Individuals maintaining 20 or more dogs and/or cats on their premise,
- Boarding and training facilities,
- Doggy daycares,
- Research facilities,
- Auctions,
- Swap meets,
- Animal distributors,
- Anyone who produces for sale, sells* or offers for sale three or more litters of puppies and/or kittens (or both) during the state fiscal year anyone who produces for sale, sells* or offers for sale 30 or more adult dogs and/or cats (or both) during the state license year.
- Anyone who produces for sale, sells* or offers for sale any combination of number 13 and 14 above.
*Sell includes sale by trade or exchange.
State license year: July 1 through June 30.
No license is required to:
(a) Produce and sell only 1 or 2 litters of puppies or kittens a year (between July 1 and June 30).
(b) Raise, train and/or sell only racing greyhounds registered with the National Greyhound Association of Abilene, Kansas.
(c) Sell only the offspring of breeding stock (other than dogs or cats) that are produced and sold from the premises where you live. This includes, but is not limited to the offspring of birds, reptiles, rabbits, hamsters, gerbils and other mammals.
(d) Sell only fish. Note: If a pet store sells fish and other animals, the fish will be inspected and regulated along with everything else in the store.
Licenses must be renewed annually. The license year runs from July 1 through June 30.
Included in the Act are spaying/neutering requirements for animals adopted from a pound or shelter, a mandatory three day holding period for stray animals, record keeping requirements for animal control officers and other statutes pertaining to licensing requirements for the inspection program.
Sales of dogs, cats, puppies and kittens are based primarily on the number of litters sold, but the statute also addresses the total number of animals sold. Consequently, the sale of an adult animal counts toward the total number of animals that people may sell (e.g., toward the 29 animal limit for a hobby breeder). It also does not matter if the animals sold are purebred. People who produce for sale, sell or trade any puppies, dogs and/or cats or kittens (or both) must comply with the statute. Furthermore, since the statute requires that the premise of a breeder be licensed (not the person) it does not matter who the owner of the dogs or cats are. Selling or offering animals for friends or relatives still constitutes the sale of a litter.
License categories:
(1) A hobby breeder license is required when:
- All or part of 3, 4, or 5 litters, and 29 or fewer dogs, cats (or both) are produced for sale, sold, offered or maintained for sale. Sale of even one puppy or kitten counts as a litter.
(2) An animal breeder license is required when:
(a) All or part of 6 or more litters of dogs or cats (or both) are sold, or offered or maintained for sale, primarily at wholesale (to pet stores and distributors) or
(b) When 30 or more dogs or cats (or both) or sold, or offered or maintained for sale, primarily (more than 50%) at wholesale. This means, for example, if an individual sells three litters of Golden Retrievers to a broker (for a total of 28 pups) and then sells two adult dogs, an animal breeder license is required.
(3) A retail breeder license is required when:
(a) All or part of 6 or more litters of dogs or cats (or both) are sold, or offered or maintained for sale, primarily at wholesale (to pet stores and distributors) or
(b) 30 or more dogs and/or cats (or both) or sold, or offered or maintained for sale, primarily at retail i.e. to the final consumer. This includes individuals who sell dogs or cats through word of mouth, classified ads, at breed shows, the Internet, swap meets, auctions etc.
(4) An animal distributor license is required for individuals engaged in the business of buying and selling dogs and cats for resale. For example, a distributor license is required to buy an animal from a breeder and resell it to a petshop.
(5) Pet Shops: Every pet shop in the state of Kansas must have a license with the Kansas Animal Health Department. Pet shops are defined as:
(a) Any premise selling dogs or cats or any other animal which was not raised on the premise. This does not include:
1. animal breeders, retail breeders, hobby breeders or distributors;
2. pounds and shelters;
3. any premise selling only the offspring of breeding stock (other than dogs or cats) that are produced and raised on the premise by a person residing on the premise; or
4. premises selling only fish.
(6) Pounds and Shelters: Each premise acting as a pound and/or animal shelter must obtain a pound and shelter license. Pounds and shelters are defined as:
(a) a facility used to house, contain, impound or harbor any seized stray, homeless, relinquished or abandoned animal, or
(b) a person who acts as an animal rescuer or who collects and cares for unwanted animals or offers them for adoption, or
(c) a facility of an individual or organization maintaining 20 or more dogs or cats, or both, for the purpose of collecting, accumulating, amassing or maintaining the animals or offering the animals for adoption.
Licensed veterinarians are exempt from pound and shelter licensing requirements if the pound and shelter is operated from a veterinary clinic. Even though licensing is not required, veterinarians operating a pound or animal shelter from their clinic must comply with:
- the three full business day holding period (K.S.A. 47-1710);
- the requirement that the pound operator attempt to notify the owner of the animal if the owner is known or reasonably ascertainable (K.S.A. 47-1710);
- euthanasia requirements (K.S.A. 47-1718);
- record keeping requirements (K.S.A. 47-1701(k) & K.S.A. 47-1711);
- and spaying and neutering requirements (K.S.A. 47-1731).
Please note: This statute does not allow a veterinarian or anyone else to tell the adopting party which veterinarian they must use for spaying or neutering.
(7) Boarding or training kennels must also obtain a state license. This includes:
(a). Any person who operates an establishment where four or more dogs or cats, or both, are maintained in any one week for boarding, training or similar purposes for a fee or compensation.
Licensed veterinarians are exempt from kennel operator (boarding) licensing requirements. K.S.A. 47-835 (which is part of the vet practice act) sets out the procedure for animals abandoned at a veterinarian’s clinic.
(8) Research facilities must also license. These are defined as:
(a) Any place, laboratory or institution, where any scientific test, experiment or investigation involving the use of any living animal is carried out, conducted or attempted. Research facilities do not include:
(1). Elementary schools, secondary schools or universities.
(Under state law research facilities do not include individuals who are not testing but are harvesting blood to sell to hospitals and laboratories, however, the USDA does require these facilities to be licensed).
Note: zoning. Individuals wishing to start an animal facility should check city and county zoning laws before doing so. Obtaining a state license will not exempt you from local zoning ordinances.
