UPDATE (4/2/19): Following a year-long White Coat Waste Project campaign, the USDA announced that its kitten slaughterhouse will close permanently and the 14 surviving cats will be adopted out. Read more.
Original post (09/06/18)
USDA blocking information on experiments that killed 3,000 cats, lawsuit says https://t.co/jkpkf02Sed
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 6, 2018
Earlier this year, using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), White Coat Waste Project (WCW) exposed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) little-known kitten slaughterhouse that was kept hidden for nearly 50 years. Apparently, the USDA wants to keep operating in the shadows, but WCW is taking it to court.
As first reported by The Washington Post, this week WCW filed a lawsuit against the USDA for refusing to release documents about its wasteful and cruel experiments on nearly 3,000 kittens to date.
.@WhiteCoatWaste uncovered the government killing of thousands of cuddly kitties. Now the USDA is denying their FOIA requests. https://t.co/Egt5yrMYeO
— reason (@reason) September 12, 2018
In a June 2018 FOIA request to the USDA–aimed at obtaining up-to-date documents about the kitten testing program–WCW sought records including cats’ veterinary records, kitten breeding records, and internal emails about the much-criticized experiments in which 8-week-old kittens are forced to eat parasite-ridden raw meat for two weeks and then killed even though they’re healthy and could easily be adopted out.
USDA kitten killing comes under fire from bipartisan group of lawmakers. https://t.co/uG3qX7p5xd
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 19, 2018
After three months, the USDA is in violation of FOIA by failing to provide the materials, or even acknowledge the request. WCW is suing because taxpayers have a right to know how our money is spent. Earlier this year, WCW won a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for videos of its now-defunct nicotine tests on baby monkeys. In both cases, WCW is represented by the Law Office of Matthew Strugar.
Cat used for breeding at the USDA’s experimentation facility in Beltsville, MD. Photo obtained by WCW via FOIA.
USDA is facing harsh criticism for continuing these archaic taxpayer-funded experiments. Veterinarians have panned the USDA for refusing to adopt out the kittens. Congress members have introduced the bipartisan KITTEN Act to end these experiments, and legislation passed by the U.S. Senate urges the USDA to end the experiments and adopt out the cats.