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Most people would be surprised to learn that the passage of Public Law 89-544, the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act in 1966 ([12] United States Code, 1966, the first federal law governing animal use in research, can be traced directly back to the theft of a Dalmatian named Pepper from a farm in Pennsylvania. During the 1960s, several bills providing for the humane treatment of laboratory animals languished in Congress, without ever gaining the necessary support to move forward and become law. But that changed dramatically with the publication of the November 29, 1965 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine. An article by Coles Phinizy appearing in that issue documents the story of Pepper. On June 22, 1965, Pepper disappeared from the farm of Julia and Peter Lakavage in Slatington, Pennsylvania. Someone later told the Lakavages that they had seen Pepper being loaded into the back of a truck near their farm. Thus began a nearly two-week odyssey for Pepper in the grip of dog dealers who made a profit by selling animals to research laboratories. Although they tried their best to track down her whereabouts and bring her back home, the Lakavage family was unable to save Pepper. They came painfully close when, as fate would have it, days after Pepper's disappearance, a dealer named Bill Miller was pulled over by police in Easton, Pennsylvania. The police saw 18 dogs and two goats crammed into an enclosure in the back of Miller's truck ([4] Engber, 2009). It was a hot day in late June and the 20 animals had little ventilation. The police turned the dogs and goats over to the county shelter. The shelter workers told Miller he would have to return with proper bills of sale and a truck that had adequate ventilation. Photographs of the animals were taken at the shelter that evening and the local paper, the Allentown Morning Call , ran a story about Miller and the dogs and goats. The Lakavages happened to see the article, which mentioned two female Dalmatians. They contacted the shelter and were told that Miller had returned for the animals and said that he was taking them to a dealer in High Falls, New York ([8] Phinizy, 1965). Julia Lakavage, her daughter, and grandson...