Animal rights activists sue University of Missouri over records costs

The Beagle Freedom Project (BFP), a group of animal rights and rescue activists, has filed a lawsuit against the University of Missouri, claiming the university violated the state’s Sunshine Law.

The complaint filed by BFP accused the university of “extorting the public” for documents related to how dogs and cats are treated in experiments. BFP says it has requested records for nearly 180 dogs and cats used in experimentation, and the university has asked for $82,000 to process and release those records.

BFP’s lawyer Daniel Kolde told ABC 17 News Wednesday, “It’s a big business and they (University of Missouri) have a vested financial interest in keeping their activities secret. By trying to charge us $82,000, what they are attempting to do is circumvent the Sunshine Law and thwart our efforts to expose, lift their veil of secrecy,” Kolde said.

According to BFP’s complaint, the University of Missouri responded to their records requests with demands of $400-$700 for photocopies of documents related to one animal, including a wage compensation of $125 per hour for the copy work.

“We asked for things that should have been available to an inspector immediately upon request on any given day, so there should not have been time required to compile these,” said Kolde.

BFP claims such demands are meant to discourage, and violate the Sunshine Law’s requirement to grant fee waivers if the records request is in the public interest. The group also alleges the school is trying to block their lawful requests because of a “financially vested interest in thwarting public scrutiny of their practices.”

You can find more information about Beagle Freedom Project here.