(CNN) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is preparing to sue the US Department of Agriculture and the Animal Health Inspection Service to obtain records of Animal Welfare Act enforcement actions, CNN has learned. PETA says Freedom of Information Act requests for these records submitted between December 2016 and December 2017 have gone unanswered. The…
Tag: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
NatGeo: We Asked the Government Why Animal Welfare Records Disappeared. They Sent 1,700 Blacked-Out Pages.
From National Geographic:
In January, the USDA deleted a public database that included inspection records from zoos, circuses, and research labs. In the agency’s response to our FOIA request, it still refuses to say why.
…
Amid outcry, some animal welfare documents restored to USDA website
Some of the animal welfare documents that were abruptly purged from a Department of Agriculture database early this month were restored last week, days after animal rights groups filed a lawsuit to make the records public again.
…
Federal agencies ordered to restrict their communications
Trump administration officials instructed employees at multiple agencies in recent days to cease communicating with the public through news releases, official social media accounts and correspondence, raising concerns that federal employees will be able to convey only information that supports the new president’s agenda.
The new limits on public communications appear to be targeting agencies that are charged with overseeing environmental and scientific policy, prompting criticism from officials within the agencies and from outside groups focused on climate change.
…