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Update (May 17, 2023): The feckless U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) paid yet another visit to Blue Ridge Kennel, citation book in hand. Yet again, inspectors saw scads of violations and wrote scads of citations. But yet again, the sun rose on Blue Ridge the next day and it was back to business as usual, allowing dogs to suffer while the USDA refuses to do anything but get writer’s cramp.
As a result of its latest inspection, USDA inspectors issued citations for the following:
- Several dogs had chipped teeth and other agonizing dental problems that had gone unaddressed by staffers for nearly a year.
- Dogs were suffering from foul-smelling ear infections.
- Three dogs with thyroid problems were months overdue for treatment.
- There were rusty metal protrusions in dogs’ pens—an ongoing problem—as well as peeling paint in a quarter of them.
- Blue Ridge’s plan to prevent parasites in the dogs held there was inadequate, but it wasn’t being followed anyway.
Astoundingly, the agency also found that two members of the facility’s animal oversight committee—the body in charge of ensuring the animals’ safety—had zero training in what they were supposed to do and that they hadn’t filed appropriate paperwork on two occasions.
If you do nothing else today, please take a minute to pressure the USDA to finally show some teeth and seize the long-suffering dogs imprisoned at Blue Ridge—a good first step toward shutting down this miserable facility permanently.
Blue Ridge Kennel, a laboratory in Alabama that uses dogs in grim companion animal product tests, is a demonstrably provable hellhole that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has repeatedly cited for animal welfare violations that span an array of horrors.
Since 2020, USDA inspectors have cited Blue Ridge 63 times for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. But no matter how many citations it racks up, conditions there do not improve.
So we need your help to pressure the USDA to finally show some teeth and seize the long-suffering dogs imprisoned there—a good first step toward shutting down this miserable facility permanently.
Three dogs—Preston, Star, and Shakira—were so emaciated that their ribs, backbones, and hip bones were clearly visible. Some dogs were left outside in the heat without access to water, while other dogs needing veterinary care, including a 12-year-old yellow Labrador named Blue who could barely stand or walk, were left to suffer. Another Lab, named Party Girl, had severe dental disease and two mammary masses—one an inch wide—that the facility left untreated.