© Jenna StephensTransparency is a vital part of democracy. Access to information helps diminish confusion and skepticism. Prevent citizens from having access to information and, well… one can’t help but ask, “What do they have to hide?”[teaserbreak]
I was mystified to discover that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has removed from its website the online searchable database of inspection reports related to facilities that experiment on animals (biomedical research laboratories), that keep animals in captivity or force them to perform (zoos and circuses), that sell animals commercially (puppy mills), and others.
Thousands of documents have been removed: documents that are relied upon by journalists, lawyers, American citizens, and animal advocates. Born Free USA has long used this database to assess priorities for action to stop mistreatment of animals. When our Zoo Check participants write in to inform us of cruelty in zoos, for instance, we check the online database of inspection reports to see whether USDA has found similar violations of the Animal Welfare Act at those facilities.
So, why would the USDA shut down the site? According to the USDA’s website, “APHIS [Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service] is currently involved in litigation concerning, among other issues, information posted on the agency’s website. While the agency is vigorously defending against this litigation, in an abundance of caution, the agency is taking additional measures to protect individual privacy.”
I’m not buying it.
We’ll need more information and a more robust justification to defend this weak argument. A zoo is a zoo. A licensed breeder is a licensed breeder. Their addresses and contact information should not be a privacy concern; they will be widely available, anyway. The inspection reports are generated by government employees doing their work with American citizens’ tax dollars. We should always have access to this information.
Does the United States government want to shelter roadside zoos that have Animal Welfare Act violations from public scrutiny? Is it the role of the USDA to hide what happens to dogs forced to breed repeatedly and barbarically to supply puppies to pet stores? No, it is not.
My colleague, Kate Dylewsky, a program associate at Born Free USA who works on issues related to wild animals in captivity, synthesized our objections to the USDA best when she told The Dodo: “A zoo, circus, or research lab that is covered by this law is subject to inspections for the sake of animal welfare and public safety, and the USDA has a responsibility to make the findings of those inspections freely available to anyone who is interested. This is a blow to government transparency, and a blow to animal advocates’ ability to hold animal abusers publicly accountable for violations of federal law.” Exactly!
We will certainly do all we can, in coordination with colleagues across the country, to get the online database back in working order. We’re encouraging everyone who values communication and transparency to write to the USDA now and ask it to restore open access to information.
This is not a partisan issue; Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, should all speak with one voice in favor of government transparency. Conservative commentator Tammy Bruce agrees in her opinion piece in The Washington Times, declaring that animal welfare and transparency are conservative issues and that the USDA has let conservatives down.
Times are changing, and we live in challenging times. Animal exploitation is a relic of entertainment past—and those of us fighting for the protection and freedom of wild animals on a daily basis should have our work facilitated, not hampered.
It’s time to find out whether the USDA is on the side of transparency and animal protection… or secrecy and animal exploitation.
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Adam