The drug companies are very powerful and have the funds to continue using animals for research. I'm not sure how old you are, but I've been around long enough to have seen a huge difference in the attitude towards animals and the push to stop pet stores from selling live animals. I think there's hope for dogs but doubt that small animals will ever be impacted due to the small cost of breeding, low fee to buy them, value to the drug and medical communities and lack of money to investigate abuse cases. Rescues didn't exist when I was young. The guinea pig rescue I volunteer with was founded in 1999 and is probably one of the first. Rescues were one huge step in the right direction and often step in when a large scale rescue takes place. But, the problem isn't just those type of interventions. It's the mindset of individuals who think that pet stores are a good option for buying healthy pets. This country is over regulated the way it is. You're naive if you think that relying on the Federal government is the way to handle it. There are so many regulations in place that enforcement is lacking and it's almost a joke. Putting the government in charge of animal welfare will leave animals without a dimmer of hope. Locally, you can try and do something on a case by case situation but when you're dealing with global corporations, there's little you can do except not buy from them. It takes a change or mindset so that what's an easy "purchase" changes to a thoughtful process to consider the life of a small animal to have value beyond a sales receipt and a profit to a corporation. As far as website, buy from the sites that only sell products and aren't affiliated with pet stores. Don't step foot in the stores that sell animals or only purchase what cannot be bought elsewhere. Boycotts do work and it takes one person at a time.
The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) (7 U.S.C. § 2131) is the only U.S. federal law that covers animals in research. (The federal Public Health Service Policy on the Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals covers animals in NIH-funded research through recommended policy only, not requirements. While it has the power to inspect, it relies on self-reporting.) Enacted in 1966, it regulates the care and use of animals in research, testing, teaching, exhibition, transport, and by dealers.
This is a start with animal testing, and was set in place because of people like us who stood up and took a stand. Animal testing use to be much much worse, but over time it's changed due to federal laws. And it keeps changing.
I'm 30 years old and have been involved in protection of all animals since I was a kid and joined PAWS (lol).
I'm not sure what changes on pet stores you could be taking about since places like pet-smart who was founded in 1986 but went public in 1994 and really made it big in 2000, As of May 2010, PetSmart operated approximately 1,160 stores and about 165 locations with PetsHotels and Doggie Day Camps. Many PetSmarts also contain Banfield Pet Hospital veterinary offices. Unless you are referring to mom and pop stores who went out of business because of big chains like pet-smart.
If you somehow changed the law or got enough people to shut down every pet store , what then? How will people get pets like cockatoos and guinea pigs unleash you buy them from back yard breeders, but how is that any different?
And I don't believe relying on our government to make a difference ( with the push of the people) is naive. That's how the laws have changed. That's why animals have more rights then they had before. And your right, we can't just sit back and wait for the government to do something, we the people have to rally and petition to make that change and the government makes it law, which then can be enforced.
How do you know that the website you buy from does not affiliate with any stores who sale animals. Or who don't support animal basics stores?