Life is Golden
The Sage
This deplorable does not approve.
Tuesday, February 07, 2017 03:09PM
WASHINGTON -- The Agriculture Department has removed animal welfare inspection reports, enforcement records and other information about the treatment of animals from its website, citing privacy and other laws.
Tanya Espinosa, a spokeswoman for USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said the information was removed from the site around 11 a.m. Friday. She would not say if the removal was temporary or permanent in the new Trump administration.
The information is used by advocacy groups and other members of the public to look up information on commercial dog and horse breeders, some of whom have had a history of abuse. The reports included lists of animal welfare violations at those facilities and also at animal testing labs, and whether those violations have been corrected.
In place of the online database is a new message from the department saying it is "implementing actions to remove documents" related to the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act that contain personal information.
The records have been removed "based on our commitment to being transparent, remaining responsive to our stakeholders' informational needs, and maintaining the privacy rights of individuals," the online message says.
The statement said the documents will still be available through Freedom of Information Act requests, which can be costly for the general public and sometimes take months or years to obtain.
http://6abc.com/politics/usda-removes-animal-welfare-reports-from-its-website/1742021/
Tuesday, February 07, 2017 03:09PM
WASHINGTON -- The Agriculture Department has removed animal welfare inspection reports, enforcement records and other information about the treatment of animals from its website, citing privacy and other laws.
Tanya Espinosa, a spokeswoman for USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said the information was removed from the site around 11 a.m. Friday. She would not say if the removal was temporary or permanent in the new Trump administration.
The information is used by advocacy groups and other members of the public to look up information on commercial dog and horse breeders, some of whom have had a history of abuse. The reports included lists of animal welfare violations at those facilities and also at animal testing labs, and whether those violations have been corrected.
In place of the online database is a new message from the department saying it is "implementing actions to remove documents" related to the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act that contain personal information.
The records have been removed "based on our commitment to being transparent, remaining responsive to our stakeholders' informational needs, and maintaining the privacy rights of individuals," the online message says.
The statement said the documents will still be available through Freedom of Information Act requests, which can be costly for the general public and sometimes take months or years to obtain.
http://6abc.com/politics/usda-removes-animal-welfare-reports-from-its-website/1742021/
