Rachel Fobar: Why is the USDA in Charge of Enforcing the Animal Welfare Act? And Why Won't They Enforce It?

"It's almost like the Animal Welfare Act is like a safety, a security blanket, because it's like, 'Oh, we have the Animal Welfare Act to protect the animals, they're okay.' And they don't realize that it's actually not very strong and that it's not being very aggressively enforced." – Rachel Fobar   In February, Eric Kleinman from the Animal Welfare Institute was on the podcast. He came on to talk about the Envigo Dogs - the 4000 beagles that were rescued last summer from a breeding facility for lab animals, and trafficked monkeys, and the many many failures of the USDA to enforce the Animal Welfare Act.   Before Eric and I met, he sent me a ton of articles on much of the above, and many of them were National Geographic stories written by Rachel Fobar. Rachel is a National Geographic reporter who covers wildlife crime and exploitation, everything from the USDA's failures to roadside zoos to monkeys being forced to work in Thailand's coconut trade.   I asked Rachel to come on the show because I want to better understand why it is that we are allowing the USDA, who almost never does their job, to be in charge of the Animal Welfare Act.   LINKS:  Rachel Fobar: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/meet-the-team-wildlife-watch?loggedin=true&rnd=1677336327384   Rachel's Articles for National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com /author/rachel-fobar