Caged raccoons drooled in 100-degree heat. But federal enforcement has faded.

[sinkingfeeling]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/caged-raccoons-drooled-in-100-degree-heat-but-federal-enforcement-has-faded/2019/08/21/9abf80ec-8793-11e9-a491-25df61c78dc4_story.html

For two days running in the summer of 2017, the temperature inside a metal barn in Iowa hovered above 96 degrees. Nearly 300 raccoons, bred and sold as pets and for research, simmered in stacked cages. Several lay with legs splayed, panting and drooling, a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector wrote.

But after an appeal from an industry group to a Trump White House adviser, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and senior USDA officials intervened, according to five former employees. The inspectors and veterinarians were blocked from taking the remaining raccoons and ordered to return those they had seized.

Since Trump took office, the number of animal welfare citations issued by the USDA has declined dramatically. In 2016, the agency issued 4,944 citations; two years later, that number was 1,716, a drop of 65 percent.

The agency last year launched 19 enforcement cases — which can lead to penalties including fines and license revocations — against alleged violators, a decline of 92 percent compared to 2016.

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Much more at link on the sorry treatment animals.

[democratisphere]

1. The cruelty of drumpf is endless.