Humane Society Threatens Legal Action Over Scrubbed Animal Facility Records

By MATT SHUHAM Published FEBRUARY 6, 2017, 6:26 PM EDT

The Humane Society of the United States announced Monday that it could pursue legal action against the United States Department of Agriculture for its removal of inspection reports for thousands of animal facilities across the country, including zoos, labs and breeders.

The database of reports, which the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) keeps in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act, was removed from the USDA’s website late last week, following what the APHIS said in a statement Friday was “a comprehensive review of the information it posts on its website for the general public to view.”

APHIS said the information, including reports valuable to activists and journalists on which facilities and individuals had been charged with infractions, would still be available to those who filed Freedom of Information Act requests. If the same records are frequently requested, the statement noted, APHIS would post "appropriately redacted" versions of them online.

The Humane Society said this new arrangement violated a 2009 settlement it reached with the USDA concerning access to information collected under the Animal Welfare Act.

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