By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson We are on Capitol Hill today for the swearing in of the 116 th Congress, along with Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society Legislative Fund colleagues. We’re meeting with members of Congress, old and new, and gearing up for a new session of pushing...
When our Humane Society International team first saw the Belgian Malinois, he was sitting forlornly in a cage only slightly larger than he, on a Korean dog meat farm. Dogs belonging to this breed are prized by police departments and the military for their natural ability to detect scents, but Jean...
An Indiana roadside zoo whose owner’s federal license was revoked for numerous violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including beating a leopard to death with a baseball bat and swinging monkeys around by their tails, has closed its doors. The animals are being moved to facilities where they will...
If you’ve been following our advocacy for dogs and cats in puppy and kitten mills, you already know that these mega-breeding facilities treat dog and cat mothers and fathers like moneymaking machines with little to no regard for their health or well-being. Thankfully, each year, more and more people...
Many people experience their first connections with animals through relationships with dogs, cats or horses. Just as these bonds are powerful and pervasive, so must our advocacy be since companion animals face myriad injustices and difficulties in the U.S. and around the world. We’ve already detailed the incredible progress made against the dog and cat meat trades in 2023, but there is much more to say on other fronts. Here are just some of the ways we created a more humane world for companion animals in the past year.
I’ve talked about access to care as a defining animal welfare issue of our time: Everyone caring for a companion animal deserves and should be able to obtain necessary resources for their animal’s health and wellbeing. And certainly, the absence of resources shouldn’t mean that people shouldn’t experience the profound joy and love the bond with a pet can bring.
November 17, 2023, was a truly historic day in the fight to end the dog meat industry. In South Korea, where up to one million dogs are farmed and killed for human consumption each year, the government officially presented a roadmap to end the dog meat industry within a three-year period. We’ve been...
Update 12/29/22: President Biden has signed the fiscal year 2023 omnibus appropriations package into law—a big win for animals! We’ve had remarkable success in our end-of-session push for critical legislation in the U.S. Congress, with the Big Cat Public Safety Act, Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act...
Artificial intelligence, organ-on-chip technology and 3D bioprinting: These advancements promise to dramatically reshape our world, and they’ll play a part in making animal experiments obsolete. Sophisticated testing and research methods that use human cells or human biology-based technology will one day completely replace experiments on animals—a game-changer not just for animals, but for human health. The only question is how quickly it will happen.
When Russia invaded her country in late February, Larysa Frisby of Ukraine fortunately was far from the war zone visiting family in the United States. Unfortunately, her cat Persik was back home in Odesa. Frisby managed to find help to evacuate the cat as far as Warsaw in Poland, but without a way...
I was in New Orleans last week for our Animal Care Expo 2023, an inspiring event that drew more than 2,600 animal welfare professionals. I always love attending Expo, which has been building a stronger animal protection movement for more than three decades. This time around, I joined Hilary Hager...
It is a moving photograph, and one that shows just how strong an animal can be in the midst of immense suffering. A dog, missing most of her hair coat, stares into the camera with one blue eye and one brown. She is curious but not moving, her eyes hopeful as she looks at her rescuers. Earlier this...
Although many years have passed, I can’t help but think of Dolly on Valentine’s Day. She was my first dog, and the very embodiment of unconditional love. I was a toddler when my parents brought her home, a golden retriever puppy with the softest eyes and fur. It was love at first sight. Dolly and I...
The cat playing with a blue buoy in the video looks adorable and will put a smile on your face, but it is important to remember that Loki is no pet. The 300-pound tiger was, however, being kept as one when he was found living in a cage inside a Houston home one year ago this month. It was a terrible...