Animal advocacy groups seeking to monitor allegations of factory-farm abuses have filed a federal lawsuit in the Western District of New York demanding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture divulge information on compliance with federal laws governing humane slaughter and poultry production.

The Animal Welfare Institute, an animal-rights advocacy group, and Farm Sanctuary, which has a farm in Watkins Glen, New York, on Thursday said in their complaint that the USDA should proactively post compliance documents online without being compelled by a Freedom of Information Act request.