Bailing Out Benji · USDA Annual Audit Series
2021 – 2026 · 2026 updated as new inspection data arrives
2026

USDA APHIS Licensed Facilities · Annual Audit

of inspections found
at least one violation
Total Inspections
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Inspections With Violations
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Clean Inspections
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Total Non-Compliant Items
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Non-Compliant Items by Severity

A single inspection can produce multiple Non-Compliant Items (NCIs) at different severity levels. Counts below reflect individual NCIs, not individual facilities.

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Direct
Conditions likely to cause injury, illness, or death if not corrected immediately
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Critical
Harm that has already occurred or is actively occurring to animal health or welfare
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Non-Critical
A compliance failure that doesn't pose an immediate threat but still violates federal standards
Violation Severity Breakdown
Top Violation Categories

The USDA Animal Welfare Act standards most frequently cited during inspections this year.

States With Most Inspections

Missouri has led every year in our dataset by a significant margin.

License Type

Class A licenses are held by breeders; Class B by dealers who buy and resell animals.

Violation Rate by State

Missouri leads in oversight volume, but these states show the worst outcomes per inspection. Ranked by share of inspections with at least one violation; limited to states with at least 15 inspections that year to avoid small-sample noise.

Year-over-Year Trend

Total inspections (bars) and violation rate (line) across all years. The active year is highlighted.

Understanding the Terms

USDA inspection reports use specific regulatory language. Here's what it means in plain language.

Non-Compliant Item (NCI)
A specific failure to meet a USDA Animal Welfare Act standard, documented by an inspector during a facility visit. One inspection can produce multiple NCIs.
Direct NCI
A violation in which the conditions found are likely to cause injury, illness, or death to an animal if not corrected immediately. This is the most serious category before active harm is confirmed.
Critical NCI
A violation indicating that an animal has already been seriously harmed or is experiencing conditions causing ongoing harm. These require the USDA to take urgent enforcement action.
Non-Critical NCI
A compliance failure that does not pose an immediate threat to animal welfare but still represents a violation of federal standards. Repeat non-critical violations may signal systematic neglect.
Class A License
A USDA license held by breeders who sell animals they produced themselves. These are the facilities that breed and sell puppies and kittens, often to pet stores or brokers.
Class B License
A USDA license held by dealers who buy animals from one source and resell them — including brokers who act as middlemen between breeders and pet stores or the public.
About This Audit

This annual audit covers USDA APHIS-licensed breeders, brokers, and dealers actively tracked in the Bailing Out Benji database — facilities with documented connections to the commercial pet trade, including pet stores, online brokers, and animal transport companies.

Inspection data is sourced from USDA APHIS enriched inspection reports, obtained through public records requests. The dataset spans January 2021 through the most recent reports on file for 2026. 2021–2025 are complete calendar years; 2026 is a partial, in-progress year that will keep growing as new reports post — USDA typically posts inspection reports on roughly a 4-week delay, so the most recent few weeks of any period will look artificially low until later reports catch up. Records without complete date or license type information have been excluded from aggregate totals. Inspection counts represent individual inspection events, not unique facilities — some facilities were inspected more than once in a given year.

This audit does not cover all USDA-licensed entities (such as research facilities, zoos, or circuses). It reflects only facilities that fall within Bailing Out Benji's research focus on the commercial dog and cat breeding industry.