UPDATE: We have since learned that the proposed state policy we describe below, which would nullify local puppy mill sales bans, has since been withdrawn.
Last week, we told you about how Florida lawmakers want to preempt cities' and counties' ability to bar pet stores that source animals from puppy mills.
They seem to believe that industrial-scale dog (and other animal)-birthing operations should not be blocked from selling to consumers if they're inspected and approved by the feds.
Well, here's the thing, guys.
The Trump administration is now blocking information about inspections of these facilities, the Tampa Bay Times reported this week. When the paper asked for U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection documentation for such facilities, it took nearly a year for the agency to get them the documents.
Oh, and basically all of it was blacked out.
This, mind you, despite such documents having been open to the media and the public prior to this administration.
This means that if lawmakers pass the pro-puppy mill legislation, which someone snuck into a tax bill, consumers will have no way of finding out whether, in buying a puppy from a large-scale breeder, they're supporting inhumane conditions and other abuses.
A facility can still operate even when found to be in violation of federal regulations, so consumers would have no way of knowing what those violations are, how egregious they were or how many occurred.
"Having a USDA license for breeding dogs is like having a driver's license," John Goodwin, senior director of the Humane Society of the United States Stop Puppy Mills campaign, told the Times. "You get to hold onto it even with a number of citations, except now, no one knows what those citations are. The worst people in the world could be selling to pet stores, and no one is the wiser."
The legislature could pass the tax bill, puppy mill ban preemption and all, sometime this week.
As for Trump, it's not the first time this week his administration has announced a screw-you to animals and the people who care about them.
The Trump administration announced earlier this month it would lift the ban on some "trophies" severed from elephants killed abroad.
Trump has rarely, if ever appeared to show fondness for animals. In a December profile of Vice President Mike Pence, the author cites an anecdote in which Trump called the Pences "yokels" because they brought their pets with them to their D.C. residence.
Trump is notoriously not a fan of dogs, and even compares perceived rivals to dogs in some of his more infamous tweets.
