The HSUS

Tell the USDA to protect animals in laboratories

Animals in laboratories endure so much; at the very least they deserve to receive basic care. This oversight is supposed to be the job of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which is tasked with inspecting regulated research laboratories once a year to ensure that cats, monkeys, rabbits and other animals at the lab are receiving care that meets the very basic standards of the Animal Welfare Act. But starting in 2019, USDA secretly stopped doing that very important job. And that needs to change.

In 2021 new leadership at USDA committed to taking animal care seriously. Join us in urging the USDA to renew extensive annual inspections of regulated research facilities to protect the lives of the animals who live there.

TAKE ACTION

Please send a brief, polite message to the USDA using the form provided.

This action alert is for U.S. residents. International advocates, please visit Humane Society International.

Your Message

Subject*

Secretary

Tom

Vilsack

Dear Secretary Vilsack,

In 2019, USDA changed its inspection policy - shifting to smaller "focused" inspections for research facilities accredited by the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International.

Generally, full USDA inspections involve looking at records, the animals, and the facilities. However, when USDA made this change in 2019, inspectors were told that they only needed to look at one of those aspects or a sampling of them for research facilities accredited by the AAALAC. This shift puts animals at risk because it means that inspectors can give a facility a "clean bill of health" despite never having laid eyes on any animals in that facilities' care. This could mislead the public into thinking that all the animals are cared for properly when this may very well not be the case.

USDA is placing its trust in an accreditation body--the AAALAC--that is not a federally regulated or enforced program and lacks transparency. This must change. I urge you to require extensive annual inspections of all research facilities regulated under the Animal Welfare Act.

Please renew these inspections and get the agency back to doing its job.

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