PETA to sue USDA to obtain records on animal welfare enforcement

Jacqueline Thomsen, The Hill, June 7, 2018

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) will sue the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Animal Health Inspection Service in an effort to obtain records on the enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act.

PETA told CNN that the group plans to file the lawsuit Thursday, after the Trump administration failed to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed over the past two years.

The USDA last year pulled thousands of records on the Animal Welfare Act from its website, including those on the enforcement of the act.

The agency said it decided to remove the records after lawsuits accusing the USDA of falsely identifying people as having violated federal laws that prohibit the soring of horses for show. Thousands of the records have been reposted.

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