Until last week, it was possible to review documents on the treatment of animals at the USDA website. Then they were taken away. Other government web sites have seen some changes in the transition to the Trump regime, but this one isn't temporary.
The agency said in a statement that it revoked public access to the reports “based on our commitment to being transparent … and maintaining the privacy rights of individuals.”
The commitment to being transparent is … causing them to hide information from the public? The site previously posted information on how animals are treated at over 7,800 facilities. That includes zoos, circuses and animal breeders. It’s also research labs, including government and university research labs. So the USDA is arguing that the “privacy rights of individuals” mean that animal treatment reports can’t be viewed even when those reports are from public facilities, and even though the reports are required as part of the Animal Welfare Act. Why would they do this?
The records that had been available were frequently used by animal welfare advocates to monitor government regulation of animal treatment at circuses, scientific labs and zoos. Journalists have used the documents to expose violations at universities.
So a law created to make visible the treatment of animals was making visible the treatment of animals. Getting that information now requires filing a Freedom of Information Act request, meaning that it could be years before even a small subset of the data could be seen.
But covering up abuse at research facilities may not even be the main goal. There’s another group that Republicans have moved repeatedly to protect who get a big win with this change: Puppy mills.
Members of the public could also use the department’s online database to search for information about dog breeders, as could pet stores. Seven states currently require pet stores to source puppies from breeders with clean USDA inspection reports, according to the Humane Society of the United States — a requirement that could now be impossible to meet.
Puppy mills might not seem like a core Republican constituency, but Republicans have certainly treated them as such. Take the case of Missouri.
Missouri has an extremely unsavory reputation as playing host to large numbers of some of the worst, most abusive puppy mills in the nation. Requirements for cage sizes, animal treatment, number of dogs, cleanliness of facilities — were all among the worst in the nation. Often regulations were completely lacking. Despite multiple attempts to bring up legislation to improve the situation, it could never escape the legislature.
So in 2010, voters in Missouri tackled the issue with a ballot measure that required dog breeders to provide each dog with food, clean water, necessary veterinary care and exercise. It also set a cap on facilities at 50 pairs of breeding dogs — which, considering the size of litters, meant that a breeder could still be caring for upwards of 300 dogs at any given time.
But puppy mill operators were incensed, and so were Republican legislators. Despite the fact that the voters of the state had just approved this measure, the legislature immediately kicked into gear. A bill to repeal the ballot amendment was filed on the first day of the legislature. It took a year, and a tremendous organizing effort, to put the measure on the ballot, and required an army of volunteers and millions of donations to fight and win a publicity campaign waged by the puppy mills.
Missourians against the abuse of animals won … and it didn’t matter. Within weeks, the reforms put in place by the measure were gone. Legislated out of existence.
And now, the puppy mills are winning again.
“The USDA action cloaks even the worst puppy mills in secrecy and allows abusers of Tennessee walking horses, zoo animals and lab animals to hide even the worst track records in animal welfare,” said John Goodwin, senior director of the Humane Society’s Stop Puppy Mills Campaign, which uses the federal records, as well as state inspection reports, to publish its annual “Horrible Hundred” dog breeding operations that have been cited for welfare violations.
The Horrible Hundred can sleep well tonight. The dogs kept in tiny stacked cages, forced to breed one litter of puppies after another in dog factory farms … they don’t sleep well on any night.