Mr. John Joe Fitzpatrick:

If an animal is advertised as free to a good home, there would have to be compliance with the regulation. There would have to be change of ownership. It would have to go to an equine premises that was registered, not some fly-by-night person buying the horse and pretending. There are flaws in the present system that they might hand over the passport but the change in ownership might never be done. If there is a microchip and DNA behind the horse, it is the seller's responsibility to protect himself or herself in order to make sure that it is transferred to the next owner so that the DNA can be traced any time from then on.