Menendez: USDA Must Shine Light on Animal Abuse
Menendez: USDA Must Shine Light on Animal Abuse
USDA backtracks after Menendez slams agency for purging critical animal cruelty info from website, but will continue to give ‘puppy mills’ a free pass
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) kept the pressure on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) after it agreed today to restore some of the animal abuse data the agency scrubbed from its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) website in response to his call to restore all the information that had traditionally been readily available to the public.
“While today’s move by the USDA is certainly in the right direction, it is not enough and falls terribly short of full transparency. The USDA must shine the light on animal abuse and restore all of the data it wiped from its website.
“The USDA has agreed to restore animal cruelty information to its website on research facilities only. While a good first step, it will continue to keep in the dark records of any commercial dog, cat or horse breeder, zoo, aquarium and circus that abuses and tortures their animals. Today’s action will do nothing to prevent puppy mills and others who prey on helpless animals, and will only continue to impede New Jersey and other states from enforcing their own animal protection laws.
“I will continue to hold the Trump Administration’s feet to the fire until it fully reverses course and stops giving animal abusers a free pass.”
On Monday, the Senator led a letter with 17 other Senate Democrats to the USDA, calling on the Trump Administration to immediately restore animal cruelty information recently purged from the APHIS website. Until recently, APHIS had made available to the public inspection reports for all regulated entities and annual reports submitted by research laboratories in order to create greater transparency, accountability and enforcement of animal cruelty laws.
Seven states, including New Jersey, prohibit the purchase of animals from commercial breeders and so-called “puppy mills” cited for violations under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and the Horse Protection Act (HPA), and rely on information including inspection reports for all regulated entities and annual reports submitted by research laboratories that—until now—was readily available to the public on the APHIS website to enforce state laws.
Sen. Menendez is also cosponsoring the Scientific Integrity Act, legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) that would better safeguard federal data from political interference and require the government to create policies to protect the exchange of information with the public.
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The senator visited the Bergen County Animal Shelter in Teterboro, N.J., where he released the letter and was joined by representatives of the Humane Society of New Jersey, Animal Protection League of New Jersey and Best Friends Animal Society.
