The USDA has given cover to people who abuse animals.

Did you know that the public availability of a database of animal welfare inspection reports is actually a threat to transparency? No? Well, the United States Department of Agriculture was way ahead of you on Friday, February 3, when it quietly removed critical animal welfare inspection reports from its website, presumably so commercial dog and horse breeders can violate their animals without the threat of pesky public comment and regulations. The government can't say that out loud yet, however, so officially this redaction is based on, as a spokeswoman who cannot possibly be paid enough to spit this Orwellian nonsense told the Associated Press, "our commitment to being transparent, remaining responsive to our stakeholders’ informational needs, and maintaining the privacy rights of individuals." 

The information in the lost reports is used by animal rights groups and concerned citizens to monitor practices at the aforementioned horse and dog breeding farms. As John Goodwin, of the Stop Puppy Mills Campaign at the Humane Society of the United States, told the AP, "What the USDA has done is given cover to people who neglect or harm animals and get cited by USDA inspectors… The public is no longer going to know which commercial dog breeders, horse trainers, which zoos, which research labs have horrible animal welfare track records.”