In addition to contacting USDA & signing petitions
PLEASE CONTACT SENATOR CLAIRE McCASKILL
Ask her to demand that USDA post inspection reports of puppy mills for public viewing
We desperately need Congressional action to ensure public oversight of commercial dog breeders. USDA is also covering up reports of violations documented at research facilities, zoos, animal exhibitors, animal dealers, and at walking horse shows.
Please take a moment to write, email, or call Senator Claire McCaskill:
The Honorable Claire McCaskill
503 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-6154
You can contact her at
www.mccaskill.senate.gov/help, then you can click on "Help with a Federal Agency" and a form will appear for you to fill out and leave your comment.
USDA announced last week that the agency would no longer post inspection reports online for public viewing. This presents a serious obstacle to our efforts against puppy mills. The Alliance utilizes information from these online inspection reports to monitor the industry.
The information gathered from these online reports was invaluable in our recent successful efforts to lobby the Missouri Department of Agriculture to hire two full time investigators.
Due to USDA's failure to improve its standards of care to ensure the humane treatment of dogs in puppy mills, as well as USDA's failure to effectively enforce its existing "survival" standards, seven states and even some municipalities, such as New York City, have taken manners into their own hands. These jurisdictions have passed laws and ordinances restricting pet stores from acquiring puppies from dog breeders that have a certain number of violations documented on their federal inspection reports.
USDA is now taking direct aim at these state laws and local ordinances by refusing to post inspection reports of dog breeders in order to prevent states and municipalities from monitoring conditions and halting the sale of dogs from cruel puppy mills to pet stores in their jurisdiction.
The new administration within USDA is returning to its old ways of helping substandard breeders circumvent state and local laws restricting the sale of puppies from disreputable breeders.
In addition to keeping inspection reports from public view, USDA inspectors and personnel have been ordered not to share any info with other federal agencies, state agriculture departments and even state and local law enforcement agencies concerning their inspections even when coming upon abuse and gross neglect.
