Why the legal requirements regarding transfers of ownership of animals?
The Animal Pedigree Act was initially enacted in 1900 to bring order and protection to the Canadian livestock industry. It accomplished this through the standardisation and control of the sale of breeding stock and how they are registered. It was based on the premise that accurate knowledge of pedigree is the most important requirement for sound breeding decisions and therefore breed improvement. This premise is no different now that it was back then. To encourage the maintenance of accurate registries it was made a Criminal Offence under the Animal Pedigree Act of Canada (Article 64 [j]) to sell animals as registered stock and not provide the purchaser with a certificate of registration within six months of completion of the sale.
