Am I NUTS or do you feel the same?

[Nellasaur]

I'm with Deb and the others on this one, I don't think regulation is the answer. From a logistical/enforcement standpoint alone, strict regulation of animal breeding would be a resource intensive nightmare. Even if you only regulate breeding via requiring a permit/license to breed, you're going to have to constantly be sweeping for unlicensed breeders to confiscate their animals to enforce it. Otherwise, what's going to stop people from just breeding without the license/permit and selling anyway? Especially if they're selling at competitive rates to licensed breeders or on a black market...

The only other alternative would be sterilizing all animals at the time of sale unless you're selling to someone already holding a license to breed, but that's putting an incredible burden of cost on breeders, not to mention isn't actually a feasible option when it comes to reptiles and other animals that aren't easily or safely sterilized.

It basically comes down to the problem you already see with licensed dog breeding right now. Sure, the ethical breeders are registered and have licenses and meet certain standards of animal welfare as set by their jurisdiction, but that doesn't stop the backyard breeder from offering their "purebred" puppies for a steal on Craigslist. The only way to stop that would be to send an agent in to confiscate the animals, and doing that from every unregulated/unlicensed person would be impossible just from a man-hours standpoint.