ASPCA Sues USDA for Failing to Release Animal Welfare Records

WASHINGTON – The ASPCA^® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals^®), with the assistance of Sorenson Law LLC, has filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for the agency’s failure to fulfill its legal obligation to disclose records related to treatment of dogs warehoused by commercial breeders licensed by the USDA. The complaint details the USDA’s failure to respond to more than 40 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests that the ASPCA has filed with the agency since 2022.

Federal law requires certain businesses that use animals—like zoos, research institutions and commercial pet breeders—to meet minimal animal care standards found in the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The USDA is responsible for licensing and inspecting these businesses to ensure compliance, and the agency has granted licenses to thousands of high-volume commercial breeding facilities, permitting them to profit off the sale of mass-produced puppies sold to pet stores, over the Internet or to researchers.

USDA has repeatedly claimed to lawmakers and the public that 99 percent of these businesses are compliant with the law and USDA’s oversight is effective. However, the agency releases minimal information about what actually happens in USDA licensed facilities, how they determine “compliance” or what the agency does when a licensed facility violates the law.

“Federal law requires the USDA to disclose records that shed light on the agency to the public, but the USDA continues to disregard its obligations under the law by withholding these records from both the ASPCA and the public, impeding our efforts to prevent animal suffering,” said Robert Hensley, Senior Counsel, ASPCA Legal Advocacy and Investigations. “When public records have been released in the past, they revealed evidence of horrific cruelty at USDA licensed facilities, as well as agency policies designed to keep violations from being reported, the licensing of facilities with known welfare issues and the agency’s failure to act in response to public complaints, endangering the welfare of dogs currently languishing in puppy mills.”

The ASPCA has successfully sued USDA under FOIA two other times since 2018, resulting in the release of thousands of previously undisclosed records and $90,000 in attorney fees awarded to the ASPCA.

“Thousands of dogs and other animals have suffered and died on the USDA’s watch while the agency regularly flouts its obligation to disclose records, taking months to respond to simple requests and routinely and illegally redacting critical information, allowing the facilities they license to operate in the dark,” said Hensley. “The agency’s failure to disclose this information limits the ability to respond to cruelty situations, prevents the public from having access to reliable information and erodes the ability to effectively advocate for protective legislation.”

There are a quarter of a million dogs warehoused by USDA licensed commercial dog breeders, and countless examples of dogs suffering, yet the USDA continually refuses to take action. A recent ASPCA report analyzing the USDA’s own data shows that last year, USDA inspectors documented over 1,000 violations of care at more than 400 of the dog breeding facilities that the agency licenses but only took action against four dog dealers.

The ASPCA Legal Advocacy department focuses on increasing legal protections for animals across the country and shaping stronger animal welfare laws through the judicial system. In addition to taking legal action against the USDA, the ASPCA is continuing to advocate for the passage of Goldie’s Act, urging Congress to include this bipartisan measure in the final Farm Bill. Named after a Golden Retriever who was left to suffer and die at a USDA-licensed puppy mill in Iowa, Goldie’s Act would require the USDA to conduct more frequent and meaningful inspections, provide lifesaving intervention for suffering animals, issue penalties for violations, and communicate with local law enforcement to address cruelty and neglect.

For more information on the ASPCA’s efforts to protect dogs in commercial breeding facilities, visit www.aspca.org.