Many egregious Animal Welfare Act violations by Envigo were documented by APHIS, but APHIS neither confiscated any dogs nor suspended or revoked the Envigo license.
: Responsible for federal Animal Welfare Act enforcement, such as it is, the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA-APHIS] on May 20, 2022 got a public butt-kicking from National Geographic writer Rachel Fobar.
The Fobar butt-kicking was followed by butt-kickings from an array of animal advocacy organizations, politicians, pundits, and––indirectly––U.S. district judge Norman Moon, who ordered the laboratory animal supply company Envigo to “immediately cease breeding, selling, or otherwise dealing in beagles” until it complies with the Animal Welfare Act…
“In early May 2022,” Fobar recounted, “National Geographic approached the USDA for comment about the facility’s history of violations and ongoing welfare problems. On May 18, 2022, authorities from the USDA and the Department of Justice confiscated 145 dogs in need of immediate medical care from Envigo’s facility in Cumberland, Virginia, according to a complaint filed the next day by the Department of Justice in federal court”…
But “more than 300 puppies died at Envigo’s Cumberland branch between January 1 and July 20, 2021” Fobar charged, and the deaths were known to APHIS, “Yet for months, the department failed to take any action”…
USDA records, Fobar said, “show that Huntingdon Life Sciences, which later merged with Harlan Labs to form Envigo, has had [Animal Welfare Act] violations going back to the late 1990s”… The many egregious Animal Welfare Act violations by Envigo that the judge cited, “and dozens more,” Fobar wrote, were documented by APHIS, but APHIS “neither confiscated any dogs nor suspended or revoked” the Envigo license…
Much of the current criticism of APHIS is, in the words of former New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, “déjà vu all over again,” reflecting APHIS’ status from inception as an orphan agency, at odds with the focal purpose of the USDA, and with internal conflicts inherent within the mission statements of the eight APHIS divisions.
New Farm Bills, introduced at five-year intervals, inevitably bring Congressional policy review. Members of Congress beholden to animal use industries that employ many of their constituents typically make APHIS a target of attempted budget cuts…
James R. Ebbitt, then assistant inspector general for audit, on January 5, 1995 issued an APHIS audit report that might have been written yesterday. Ebbitt pointed out then, 27 years ago, that APHIS does not have the authority, under current legislation, to effectively enforce the Animal Welfare Act against animal dealers and research facilities.
For instance, Ebbitt charged, APHIS cannot terminate or refuse to renew licenses or registrations in cases where serious or repeat violations occur, as at Envigo. Although APHIS does technically have such authority, it cannot revoke registrations or suspend operators without a lengthy administrative hearing process, which can be prolonged for up to three years, during which the operator can continue to commit the violations for which the facility was cited.
Thus, Ebbitt said, “Our audit disclosed 28 instances in the Northeast and Southeast sectors in which APHIS had renewed licenses or registrations of facilities which were in direct violation of the Animal Welfare Act, thereby potentially jeopardizing the health and well-being of animals.”
Further, Ebbitt wrote, “APHIS cannot assess monetary penalties for violations unless the violator agrees to pay them, and the penalties are often so low that violators regard them as merely part of the cost of doing business”…
A 2005 USDA Office of Inspector General report confirmed and restated all of Ebbitt’s conclusions, further noting “failure on the part of the USDA’s Veterinary Medical Officers to ensure that research facilities provided them with basic data on themselves such as ‘the number of animals used in research’ and the number of ‘unexpected animal deaths.’”
A 2014 Office of the Inspector General audit hit the same points yet again, and found that penalties for Animal Welfare Act violations “were reduced by an average of 86% from [the] authorized maximum penalty per violation. APHIS pledged to do better, but on February 4, 2017 took down the web site that had allowed the public, animal advocates, and news media to monitor Animal Welfare Act inspection reports and enforcement actions…
APHIS on April 2, 2022 celebrated a 50th anniversary… USDA-APHIS was created in 1972 by Earl Butz, then U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, as a shotgun wedding of a reluctant bride, Animal & Plant Health Services, with what originally were three separate agencies within three different federal departments.
Animal & Plant Services had been created in 1971, just a year before, specifically to enforce the Animal Welfare Act. But enforcing the Animal Welfare Act was never a priority for Butz (1909-2008), who is remembered today for turning USDA policies away from supporting small-scale family farmers, toward favoring corporate agribusiness…
Butz put Animal & Plant Services together with the Agricultural Research Service, adding the much larger meat and poultry inspection divisions of the Consumer & Marketing Service to the mix to create APHIS. This ensured that enforcing the Animal Welfare Act would never be the top priority for the agency. SOURCE…
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