In our recent USA Today opinion piece, we wrote about the cascade of events that sparked passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act late last year. Among other factors, the pandemic-era Netflix sensation Tiger King laid bare the cruelties of the cub petting industry so devastating to animals, making...
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...
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...
A bill that would prohibit public contact with big cats like tigers, lions and leopards and ban keeping these animals as pets has been reintroduced in the U.S. Senate. The Big Cat Public Safety Act, S. 1210, would end the suffering of animals like Elsa, a tiger cub kept as a “pet” and found outdoors...
Gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park have tested positive for the coronavirus in the first known cases of its transmission to non-human primates. The animals are believed to have contracted the virus from an asymptomatic zookeeper. This is distressing news on many levels. While gorillas are not...
It is a sad reality that human beings always seem to be inventing new ways to exploit, mistreat and profit from animals, but people can also help correct such harms and point the way to a better and more humane world. One of the most positive actions we can take is to educate ourselves and others...
After being shuttered for six years because of flagging ticket sales and financial troubles, a new kind of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will kick off a nationwide circus tour this month, this time without a single animal caged, held captive and forced to perform for public entertainment...