USDA animal welfare inspectors dropped 28% while violations cited fell 72%

Between 2014 and 2018, USDA APHIS inspections of animal exhibitors fell from 9,489 to 8,354, while cited violations plummeted from 6,052 to just 1,716 — a 72% decline. By March 2025, Animal Care employed only 115 inspectors to cover thousands of licensed facilities. This means that violations are not decreasing because conditions improved; they are decreasing because there are fewer inspectors writing fewer citations. Animals in substandard facilities go uninspected for years, and when inspectors do visit, the reduced enforcement culture means marginal violations get overlooked. The people harmed are the animals themselves, who endure untreated injuries, inadequate space, and poor nutrition with no external accountability. This persists because APHIS staffing is subject to federal budget politics and hiring freezes, and because the agency's Risk-Based Inspection System was found in a 2025 audit to be non-functional — 95% of reviewed facilities were not inspected according to the system's own schedule.