Update: This evening, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter announced that he had asked for -- and accepted -- the resignation of Blake Fischer. "I have high expectations and standards for every appointee in state government,” Gov. Otter said in a press release. “Every member of my administration is expected to...

Giraffes, with their iconic long necks and unmistakable, beautifully patterned coats, are facing extinction. There are currently fewer than 69,000 mature individuals remaining in the wild today. And the threats of habitat loss and illegal hunting for bushmeat are only exacerbated by demand for...

New research conducted by our Stop Puppy Mills campaign reveals that the American Kennel Club, a purebred dog registry organization that used to call itself “the dog’s champion,” has opposed more than 450 bills that aimed to help pups since 2008. What’s more, its opposition has escalated, at the...

Last month, Americans reacted with horror and outrage when an Idaho game commission official, Blake Fischer, circulated a photo that showed him smiling next to a family of baboons, including youngsters, he had killed on a hunting trip in Namibia. To most of us, it was unfathomable that anyone could...

This time of year is a special moment in the lives of black bears. After consuming about 20,000 calories and gaining three to five pounds every day during the late summer and early fall, black bears head to their winter dens. Because bears hibernate in their dens for three to six months (depending...

Grizzly 399, often called the world’s most famous grizzly bear, has a fan base of wildlife watchers that numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Each year, dozens of paparazzi attempt to record her every waking moment, from the time she emerges from her den in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in the...

Exactly three years after the killing of Cecil the lion sparked outrage among the American public, one more U.S. trophy hunter is making international headlines for killing an imperiled animal -- this time a giraffe. The news of this hunt comes just weeks after another American killed a lion...

American wolves are once again under urgent attack. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is readying a proposal to strip Endangered Species Act protections from wolves across the entire continental United States, which would arrest the recovery of these animals and banish them forever to isolated...

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson The cheetah, an animal capable of top speeds of 75 miles per hour, is racing toward extinction, with just 7,100 animals left in the wild. Recently, in another expression of the callous disregard trophy hunters show for the world’s most endangered and at-risk animals...

Imagine having to work in a roadside zoo, a pet store selling puppy mill puppies, a slaughter plant or a factory farm without ever being able to show your true feelings. Would you ever be able to walk alone among hundreds of dead animals at a wildlife killing contest, surrounded by people carrying...

Earlier this month, our Nevada state director Rebecca Goff and others testified at the Assembly Natural Resources Committee hearing in support of a bill in Nevada (A.B. 102) that would end cruel, unsporting and ecologically destructive wildlife killing contests in the Silver State. An end to these...

At the Golden Globes this Sunday, Hollywood’s A-list celebrities will sit down to an all-plant-based dinner. And while no one knows yet who will take home the evening’s top awards, the menu—chilled golden beet soup, king oyster mushrooms scallops and wild mushroom risotto, and roasted baby purple...

Right now in Washington, D.C., a single urgent plot line threads together the fate of many animals: wild species threatened by trophy hunting or the commercial wildlife trade, the North Atlantic right whale, the nation’s wild horses, the former research chimpanzees waiting for sanctuary, the pets of...

Animal Care Expo 2019 in New Orleans has been a booming success, with record attendance, an increased pool of scholarship participants and an expanded menu of presentations for both domestic and international attendees, including nine daylong learning labs. The energy, the spirit and the power of...

We’re looking forward to Animal Care Expo 2023, which takes place this year in New Orleans. In anticipation, Hilary Hager, our vice president of outreach, engagement and training, reflects on how Expo brings people together and strengthens the animal protection movement. The first time I attended...

Animal Care Expo, our marquee training and exhibition event for animal welfare professionals, has moved online this year because of the coronavirus crisis. From the comfort and safety of their homes, participants can enjoy an interactive virtual conference experience during a three-day event packed...

The link between crimes involving cruelty to animals and human violence has been well documented and long recognized by the nation’s top law enforcement groups, including the FBI and the National Sheriffs’ Association. Now, a new report warns that animal abuse crimes could signal warning behavior...

Sara Amundson is president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund.

Update 3/15/2022: President Biden signed the appropriations package into law. Humane advocates often look to the passage of animal-friendly legislation as the strongest measure of progress in our work at the federal level, and clearly, good laws are important. But a nation that cares for animals...

Anyone with pets knows that our furry family members can become so frightened by exploding fireworks that they do anything to escape the noise, whether it’s hiding in the bathtub, or something more desperate (and dangerous), such as breaking through windows or door screens. At least we can make...