Twenty years ago, in the days after September 11, 2001, heroic first responders did the unthinkable task of going into the wreckage to search for signs of life. By their sides were the search and rescue dogs who, over the last two decades, have garnered so much love and admiration for their role in...

Last week, a Pentagon official was arrested and charged with animal fighting in the wake of a federal investigation that revealed his 20-year career in dogfighting. This arrest highlights what we have seen time and again, that dogfighting involves people from all stations of life, here in the U.S...

Update: The full Trophy Hunting by the Numbers report has been released, providing a global look at the scope and impact of trophy hunting. Elephant-skin luggage and leopard claw jewelry are just some of the supposedly luxurious products our undercover investigator discovered at Safari Club...

A soldier seeking to bring home a dog they’d befriended while serving abroad. The diplomatic or military family leaving for or returning home at the conclusion of an overseas assignment. The traveler who fell in love with a dog in an animal shelter or rescue station in another country. The animal organization seeking to transport dogs from lives of uncertainty, distress or peril to the welcoming hearts and hearths of new and loving families. Starting August 1 this year, these are just some of the people and animals who could be adversely affected by a new federal rule on the importation of dogs from other countries to the U.S.

Disturbing as it was to learn last week that the British government is wavering on proposed bans on imports of fur and foie gras, it was heartening to see the reaction of a caring public outraged by this news and the firm resistance of politicians determined to see these animal protection laws...

Last week, Ohioans showed up at the polls to defend a core tenet of democracy that is vitally important to the animal protection movement: the ballot measure. On Issue 1—the proposal to raise the threshold for amending the Constitution of the State of Ohio from 50% to a 60% supermajority—the no vote...

The newly released Rockefeller Foundation report, “True Cost of Food: Measuring What Matters to Transform the U.S. Food System,” strengthens the case for substantial reform of animal agriculture in the U.S. and elsewhere. The primary purpose of the report is to demonstrate that the $1.1 trillion...

COVID-19 has made the past year and a half challenging, difficult and painful for so many individuals and institutions across the world. The animal sheltering and rescue community is no exception. Last summer, as the pandemic worsened across the U.S., shelters responded by growing programs to keep...

A recent story in U.S. News and World Report highlighted a simple, creative solution to prevent conflicts with wildlife: The Parks and Outdoors Department in Chattanooga, Tennessee, coated tree trunks with a mixture of sand and latex paint to deter beavers from gnawing on the trees for food and or...

It is a sad truth that the cute puppies frolicking in the windows of pet shops so often come from the most dismal facilities: Puppy mills, where their mothers and fathers are treated as little more than moneymaking machines, getting bred over and over to produce litter after litter. But there is...

It’s a gruesome topic that no one really likes to talk about but last week the methods for “depopulating”—killing—hundreds of thousands of pigs and chickens during a natural or manmade disaster, such as a pandemic like COVID-19, were front and center at a meeting of the American Veterinary Medical...

Recent heatwaves across the U.S. and Canada have proven to be deadly for people and animals. And just a few weeks before these fatal heatwaves, the Westminster Dog Show declared Wasabi, a Pekingese, winner of its “best in show” award at its 145 th annual competition in New York. While there was...

Making the world a more humane place for animals is fundamentally a matter of changing hearts and minds. No progress for animals would be possible without shifting perception. Where once a person wearing a fur coat conveyed a sense of wealth and status, it is now an image of callous indifference in the face of incredible animal cruelty. But progress isn’t a straight shot: Every now and then a fad seems to take us a step backward.

It could have been a heartwarming story but it quickly turned into tragedy. Earlier this week, numerous media outlets reported that a moose swam across Lake Champlain, making it all the way from New York to Vermont. But once the animal reached the shore to rest, he was surrounded by a crowd of...

The Humane Society of the United States has been working to reduce and humanely resolve human-wildlife conflicts in urban areas for over three decades, and during this time – as development and urbanization have grown apace -- we have seen incidents continue to increase. Wild animals displaced by...

We’re fierce defenders of wildlife in the United States, and we made major strides on that front in 2018. We won major victories for grizzly bears and black bears, defeated attempts to remove federal protections for gray wolves, helped shine a spotlight on cruel wildlife killing contests, and...

Dogs and cats in Illinois laboratories will be saved from painful and outdated toxicity testing thanks to a first-of-its-kind law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday. Under the new law, it won’t be permissible to use dogs and cats in Illinois laboratories in toxicity testing—tests that attempt to...

It’s no secret that puppy and kitten mills treat dog and cat mothers and fathers like moneymaking machines, bred over and over with little to no regard for their health or well-being. It is simply no way for a dog or cat to live. The suffering of these animal families is what drives us in our work...

Over the last few days, COVID-19 has dramatically touched all of our lives. Like you, those of us here at the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International have had to modify our routines and schedules. Children are home from school. Family members and friends who may be more...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is one of the federal agencies with the most impact on animal protection issues. Who heads it can make all the difference to the wellbeing of millions of animals, including those in puppy mills, roadside zoos, factory farms, laboratories, horse show rings and in...