The C-121 later saw service with smaller civilian operators until 1993.

Most of them are small part-time operators with one to nine animals.

The vast majority are small operators with a handful of employees.

In part because the company generally targets such small operators, people or organizations that have little money to fight back.

While some small operators went out of business, others were bought by larger retailers.

He's probably done it a million times to small operators along the way.

One effect was to eliminate many of the smaller operators.

"The smaller operators are not the lion's share of the problem," she said.

For small operators, however, even the decade allowed them to comply has been tough to meet.

Even smaller operators can create competition problems and then we have to intervene.