United States Department of Agriculture
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Animal Welfare Enforcement Actions
Please Note: APHIS is committed to ensuring the welfare of regulated animals and continues to carry out the critical day-to-day work of ensuring the humane treatment of vulnerable animals through unannounced inspections, pre-compliance visits, horse protection inspections, and other activities.
APHIS, during the past year, has conducted a comprehensive review of the information it posts on its website for the general public to view. To conduct the review, the entire agency search tool database, along with additional documents, was taken off line. As a result of this review, APHIS has removed certain personal information from APHIS’ website involving the Horse Protection Act and the Animal Welfare Act. APHIS recently reposted certain inspection reports and research facility annual reports that were determined to be appropriate for reposting. Once a month, we also publicly post a list of our licensees/registrants that are regulated under the Animal Welfare Act. Here is the link: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalwelfare/SA_Regulated_Businesses. On that webpage, please click on List of Persons Licensed or Registered under the AWA to see the up-to-date list. Finally, some enforcement records (such as initial decision and orders, default decisions, and consent decisions) continue to be available on the USDA’s Office of Administrative Law Judge’s website.
The agency will continue to review records and determine which information is appropriate for reposting. Those seeking information from APHIS regarding inspection reports not currently posted to the website, regulatory correspondence, and enforcement related matters may submit Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for that information. FOIA requests can be submitted here: https://efoia-pal.usda.gov/palMain.aspx. Records will be released when authorized and in a manner consistent with the FOIA and Privacy Act. Also, consistent with recent amendments to the FOIA, if the same records are frequently requested records under the FOIA, and are subject to release under the FOIA and Privacy Act, APHIS will post the appropriately redacted versions to its website.
On August 18, 2017: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) is pleased to announce the rollout of the refined Public Search Tool that provides access to Animal Welfare Act compliance records. The public search tool is a component of the Animal Care Information System (ACIS) and will allow APHIS to make animal welfare information publicly available and ensure compliance with all applicable laws**.
In July 2016, APHIS formally initiated a comprehensive review and update of Animal Care’s website, publications, and correspondence to eliminate out of date content, improve the information provided, and balance its commitment to transparency with applicable laws**, including rules protecting personal privacy.
The ACIS search tool was taken off-line for review on February 3, 2017. During this review, APHIS re-posted annual reports of animal research facilities as well as many inspection reports. The reports were posted on a rolling basis in February, March, April, and June, 2017.
The refinements to the ACIS search tool are detailed in the attached Chart and remain ongoing to promote the user experience. As part of our comprehensive website review, APHIS is continuing to review animal inventories that accompany inspection reports for accuracy. For this reason, the newly posted inspection reports do not include animal inventories, but APHIS intends to make this information available in the future.
APHIS is offering the ACIS search tool to the public to provide information on APHIS’ performance of its statutory duties under the Animal Welfare Act, in accordance with all applicable laws** . A comprehensive User Guide for the ACIS search tool is available at https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/downloads/acis/AC-Public-Search-Tool-Users-Guide.pdf. The public may also request additional Animal Welfare Act records from APHIS through the Freedom of Information Act.
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** See, e.g. ,Animal Legal Def. Fund v. United States Dep’t of Agric., 17-CV-00949-WHO, 2017 WL 2352009 (N.D. Cal., May 31, 2017) and Animal Legal Def. Fund, v. United States Dep’t of Agric., 17-CV-00949-WHO (N.D. Cal., August 14, 2017)
On June 16, 2017: APHIS is posting Animal Welfare inspection reports involving business entities that occurred after the Agency restricted the public’s access to the search tool for the Animal Care Inspection System on Feb. 3, 2017, while the Agency conducts a comprehensive review of the information on its website. The newly posted inspection reports involve inspections that occurred between April 22 and May 19, 2017. As part of the comprehensive review of information, APHIS is continuing to closely review animal inventories that accompany inspection reports. For this reason, the newly posted inspection reports do not include animal inventories, though APHIS intends to make information regarding animal inventories available again in the future.
Consistent with the agency’s procedures for allowing time to consider and incorporate additional information, as appropriate, developed during appeals of inspection findings, inspections that occurred after May 19, 2017, are not yet ready for release. Inspection reports, as well as research facility annual reports, are located here.
On May 19, 2017: APHIS is posting Animal Welfare inspection reports involving business entities that occurred after the Agency restricted the public’s access to the search tool for the Animal Care Inspection System on Feb. 3, 2017, while the Agency conducts a comprehensive review of the information on its website. The newly posted inspection reports involve inspections that occurred between March 25 and April 21, 2017. As part of the comprehensive review of information, APHIS is continuing to closely review animal inventories that accompany inspection reports. For this reason, the newly posted inspection reports do not include animal inventories, though APHIS intends to make information regarding animal inventories available again in the future.
Consistent with the agency’s procedures for allowing time to consider and incorporate additional information, as appropriate, developed during appeals of inspection findings, inspections that occurred after April 21, 2017, are not yet ready for release. Inspection reports, as well as research facility annual reports, are located here.
On April 21, 2017: APHIS is posting Animal Welfare inspection reports involving business entities that occurred after the Agency restricted the public’s access to the search tool for the Animal Care Inspection System on Feb. 3, 2017, while the Agency conducts a comprehensive review of the information on its website. The newly posted inspection reports involve inspections that occurred between January 10 and March 24, 2017. As part of the comprehensive review of information, APHIS is continuing to closely review animal inventories that accompany inspection reports. For this reason, the newly posted inspection reports do not include animal inventories, though APHIS intends to make information regarding animal inventories available again in the future.
Consistent with the agency’s procedures for allowing time to consider and incorporate additional information, as appropriate, developed during appeals of inspection findings, inspections that occurred after March 24, 2017, are not yet ready for release. Inspection reports, as well as research facility annual reports, are located here.
March 3, 2017 Updates to APHIS’ Website Involving Animal Welfare Act Compliance Information
February 24, 2017 Updates to APHIS’ Website Involving Animal Welfare Act Compliance Information.
On Feb. 17, 2017, APHIS posted the first batch of annual reports of research institutions and inspection reports for certain Federal research facilities that the Agency regulates under the Animal Welfare Act. The reports posted are part of a comprehensive review of the documents the Agency removed from its website in early February and are in the same redacted form as before. The reposted information can be found on our website, here. As announced on Feb. 7, 2017, the agency will continue to review records and determine which information is appropriate for reposting. of regulatory records. In addition, APHIS 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. These decisions are not final. Adjustments may be made regarding information appropriate for release and posting.
Editor’s Note (Revised Feb. 7, 2017) The review of APHIS’ website has been ongoing, and the agency is striving to balance the need for transparency with rules protecting individual privacy. In 2016, well before the change of Administration, APHIS decided to make adjustments to the posting of regulatory records. In addition, APHIS 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. These decisions are not final. Adjustments may be made regarding information appropriate for release and posting.
Courts are continuously issuing decisions that provide agencies with guidance on interpreting and applying laws applicable to the release of information to the public by the Federal government, including the legal requirements of the Privacy Act and Freedom of Information Act. In addition, the U.S. Department of Justice maintains comprehensive guidance to federal agencies involving the Privacy Act, Freedom of Information Act, and other laws, and updates such guidance based on legal developments. APHIS, with the support of the USDA Office of the General Counsel, continuously monitors these sources of information and makes refinements to APHIS’ practices, as needed.
Based on our commitment to being transparent, remaining responsive to our stakeholders’ informational needs, and maintaining the privacy rights of individuals, APHIS is implementing actions to remove documents it posts on APHIS’ website involving the Horse Protection Act (HPA) and the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) that contain personal information covered by the Privacy and Freedom of Information Acts or guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice regarding them. These documents include inspection reports, research facility annual reports, regulatory correspondence (such as official warnings), lists of regulated entities, and enforcement records (such as pre-litigation settlement agreements and administrative complaints) that have not received final adjudication. In addition, APHIS will review and redact, as necessary, the lists of licensees and registrants under the AWA, as well as lists of designated qualified persons (DQPs) licensed by USDA-certified horse industry organizations to ensure personal information is not unlawfully released to the general public.
Those seeking information from APHIS regarding inspection reports, research facility annual reports, regulatory correspondence, and enforcement records should submit Freedom of Information Act requests for that information. Records will be released when authorized and in a manner consistent with the FOIA and the Privacy Act as well as the latest guidance received from the U.S. Department of Justice. If the same records are frequently requested via the Freedom of Information Act process, APHIS may post the appropriately redacted versions to its website. In addition, some enforcement records (such as initial decision and orders, default decisions, and consent decisions) are available on the USDA’s Office of Administrative Law Judge’s website (https://www.oaljdecisions.dm.usda.gov). For more information on preparing and submitting Freedom of Information Act requests, please visit https://efoia-pal.usda.gov/palMain.aspx.”