Bartholomew Sullivan

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The rising chorus of animal rights and open records advocates crying foul at the Department of Agriculture’s removal of inspection records from its website has now been joined by 119 members of Congress from both parties.

The department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service database went dark shortly after the Trump administration took office, but a plan to end the transparency was under review toward the end of the Obama administration, USDA and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which relies on the records to make its animal cruelty cases, both noted.

PETA and five other animal rights organizations, citing the Freedom of Information Act, sued the USDA in federal district court in Washington on Monday seeking to have the database restored.

“These records — inspection reports, research facility annual reports, regulatory correspondence, enforcement records, and lists of entities licensed under the Animal Welfare Act … have been routinely posted for many years by the USDA pursuant to FOIA’s affirmative disclosure requirements,” the lawsuit notes. Those requirements call for making records available for public inspection in an electronic format.

“Such records are heavily relied on by plaintiffs as well as other animal protection groups, research advocacy organizations, reporters, state and local governments and others to monitor and keep the public informed about the USDA’s implementation and enforcement (and lack thereof)” of the animal welfare laws, it says.

The records have been used to shed light on the treatment of animals used in medical and cosmetics research, roadside zoos, circuses and puppy mills and are credited with providing the evidence that spurred public opposition to Ringling Brothers’ use of elephants in its shows. Records collected pursuant to the Horse Protection Act called attention to the illegal injury of high-stepping Tennessee Walking Horses called soring.

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On Monday, 18 U.S. senators wrote to acting Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Michael Young asking to have the APHIS records restored to its website “immediately.” On Tuesday, 101 members of the House wrote a similar letter to President Trump in an effort coordinated by Republican Rep. Martha McSally of Arizona. Nine other Republicans signed on.

“Public access to information can guide consumer decision making and plays an important role in deterring regulated entities from violating the law,” the House members wrote.

Both the House members' and senators’ letters and the PETA lawsuit note that, while the public can still get access to the records by filing Freedom of Information Act requests, the USDA’s own accounting acknowledges long delays, sometimes more than two years, in processing them.

On Wednesday, Tanya C. Espinosa, a spokesman for the USDA, released a statement saying a review of the APHIS website had been going on well before the change in administration in an effort to “balance the need for transparency with rules protecting individual privacy.” It said the agency is currently defending a lawsuit involving information previously posted on the website and “in an abundance of caution, the agency is taking additional measures to protect individual privacy.

“These decisions are not final,” the statement said. “Adjustments may be made regarding information appropriate for release and posting.” The statement suggested those wanting access to the records that are no longer posted on the website can request them through the FOIA process.

“We are continuing to inspect facilities and initiate enforcement action as needed,” the statement concludes.

The APHIS records disappeared a few days after employees of another USDA agency, the Agricultural Research Service, returning for the first full workday under the new administration, received a memo from chief of staff Sharon Drumm that read: “Starting immediately and until further notice, ARS will not release any public-facing documents. This includes, but is not limited to, news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds, and social media content.”

The guidance from a career official not appointed by the Trump transition team was meant to remind employees to clear statements with policy implications with senior officials but was widely seen as a gag on research scientists. It was withdrawn the following day.

The APHIS records have been the subject of lawsuits by companies seeking to shield their private operations, although guidelines were already in place to redact information exempt from disclosure.

Trump has nominated former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue for Agriculture secretary, but he has not yet had a confirmation hearing. As he is the nominee, “he is unable to speak in that capacity” about the records removal, Diane L. Cullo of the Presidential Transition Team said in an email message.

In its statement shortly after the online records went dark, PETA said the plan to remove the records was under way “for months — long before President Donald Trump took charge,” and the department had stopped reporting its serious enforcement actions last fall. It vowed to prevent the department from escaping scrutiny by removing records crucial to its work.

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums also decried the online records’ removal.

“When the Department of Agriculture decided to take all animal welfare inspection records offline, there is no doubt some APHIS licensees were very happy: Those who have no desire for the public to know about their animal welfare record,” AZA’s president and CEO, Dan Ashe, said in a statement.