USDA Inspections
 

INSPECTION DATA:

USDA-licensed commercial breeders are to be inspected by USDA APHIS officials. The concept sounds good enough, but based on the results of analysis of 1,354 pages of reports of inspections for the timeframe January 2007 thru August 2009, USDA inspections do not work. At least not here in Iowa.

The table below summarizes data found in the inspection reports:



Some stark revelations from this information

  1. Inspector A cites violations far less frequently than the other inspectors. This should raise questions about this inspectors effectiveness.

    1. Note also the disproportionate frequency of repeat inspections by this inspector. This belies the USDA Risk-Assessment model which describes low-risk kennels as requiring inspection "every 2 or 3 years". See the USDA Animal Care Annual Report of Activities for Fiscal Year 2007 for details.

  2. Averaging all kennels, excluding Inspector A data as an outlier, 59% of kennels were cited for violations to the Animal Welfare Act.
You can view inspection reports online at the USDA website.

Here is a list of some breeders whose inspection reports are especially egregious: (this list will be updated periodically. Please note that some of the inspection reports are very large and may take longer to open, depending on your connection speed)

USDA Cust. # Breeder Name Kennel Name City
23047 Judy Scearcy Mystic Rock Kennel Keosauqua
5154 Carol Beyer Beyer Kennel New Sharon
20612 Colleen Ries Wishbone Kennels Ryan
36573 Cathy Speer   Milton
8360 Gary Felts Black Diamond Kennel Kingsley
37448 Betty Porter   Cumberland
21803 Ed Schmidt   Bloomfield
13174 Kenneth and Leatrice McGuire   North English