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I share details of another hare-raising story from the Show-Me State: John Dollarhite and his wife Judy of tiny Nixa, Mo., have been told by the USDA that, by Monday, they must pay a fine exceeding $90,000. If they don’t pay that fine, they could face additional fines of almost $4 million. Why? Because they sold more than $500 worth of bunnies — $4,600 worth to be exact — in a single calendar year.
“The first thing (the investigator) said was ‘My name is so and so, I’ve been in the USDA for 30-plus years, and I’ve never lost a case,’” John recalled, continuing. “He said, ‘I’m not here to debate the law, interpret the law or discuss the law, I’m here just to do an investigation.’” biggovernment.com...
Originally posted by Evil3unnie
reply to post by coldbore
Girl With 'Illegal' Lemonade Stand Earns $1,838
To the OP I hope this is one case this guy will loose.
Source
(3) The following persons are exempt from the licensing requirements under section 2 or section 3 of the Act: (i) Retail pet stores which sell nondangerous, pet-type animals, such as dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, gophers, domestic ferrets, chinchilla, rats, and mice, for pets, at retail only: Provided, That, Anyone wholesaling any animals, selling any animals for research or exhibition, or selling any wild, exotic, or nonpet animals retail, must have a license; (ii) Any person who sells or negotiates the sale or purchase of any animal except wild or exotic animals, dogs, or cats, and who derives no more than $500 gross income from the sale of such animals to a research facility, an exhibitor, a dealer, or a pet store during any calendar year and is not otherwise required to obtain a license;
Originally posted by arbitrarygeneraiist
reply to post by burntheships
The illegal trafficking of bunnies is a grave and serious offense. These people should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Yes, that's what it says in the article.
Originally posted by burntheships
An you may be correct, if thats the section of the code that this Nazi USDA
worker cited.
Recently, the Dollarhites received a “Certified Mail Return Receipt” letter (dated April 19, 2011) from the USDA informing them that they had broken the law and must pay USDA a fine of $90,643. Their crime? Violating violating 9 C.F.R. § 2.1 (a) (1): Selling more than $500 worth of rabbits in a calendar year.
Because they can fine a million of small companies/families/etc that you do not know and get as much money as if they fine 10 large corporations from people they know.
But think man, come on. I could find case after case where the big corporations are not
fined to the maximum. Why?
No, it's not fair, but precisely because of that people should know how to do things. If they cannot find that million of small companies to fine they will start losing money and they have to turn to something else.
Please, tell me how thats fair or right?