HSUS Takes Action to Challenge USDA's Removal of Abuse Records

We were so close to having our horse soring rules come to fruition, then last week a 'freeze' came out from the government, stating that all new rules would be reviewed first. A terrible blow to so many who have worked so hard to get this passed. Then, later in the week, word came out that the USDA (our partner in the recent horse soring campaign) had removed all records pertaining to animal welfare from their website. Needless to say, this has caused an uproar in our humane education and animal activism community.

I'm coming to the conclusion that we need to decide as a nation if we care about humane legislation or not. Why does it take years upon years, and then ridiculous setbacks, to simply create a society that doesn't abuse the most vulnerable? This is a terrible heartbreak for me and many others.

Do you feel the same? Please read on for ways to help.

HSUS Puppy Mill image

Today the HSUS sent a strongly worded notice to the USDA per their taking down all abuse records from their site last week.The notice outlines the ways in which the USDA's actions are in violation of our prior agreement. You can read the full notice here in PDF form (from the HSUS blog):

http://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2017-02-06-Notice-of-Violation_HSUS-v-USDA-No.-15-0197.pdf

Please share the link to the notice and help us keep the pressure up for these records to be returned to the public's view.

We also have a blog post that outlines the impact of these actions in easy to understand points:


http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/02/hsus-challenges-usda-mass-removal-animal-welfare-records.html?credit=blog_post_020617_id8766

IF you are looking for ways to help, please sign the petition mentioned in the post and share these details with your network.

The petition link: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/304/134/376/

I would like to publicly thank Laura J. Fox, counsel for HSUS, and also Kimberly D. Ockene, Senior Attorney for HSUS, for writing the notice and keeping us informed throughout the process. We have the best of the best taking this on, but we need support from citizens and animal activists.

To keep up with this situation, follow the HSUS on all social media. In addition to Wayne's blog linked above, you can find our TN Puppy Mill Awareness Task Force on Facebook.

Thank you. Any comments or feedback welcome, please post below.