The road to a more humane and just society for animals is paved by many hands and hearts doing many different kinds of work: Sheltering and finding loving homes for dogs, cats and other companion animals in local communities; tending to sick and injured animals, from those who share our homes to...

Ahead of a looming U.S. government shutdown, congressional leaders have unveiled the first of two packages of bills to keep federal government funded through September 30 (the end of fiscal year 2024). This first package of funding and directives for several agencies contains many key items with positive implications for animals.

Note: This blog is part of a series highlighting how we fight—and win—for animals. For this post, I join with Sara Amundson, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, to tell the story about how we tackle institutionalized animal suffering by changing laws and government regulations. “Why...

Note: This blog is part of a series highlighting how we fight—and win—for animals . This post focuses on how we’re ending the worst forms of institutionalized animal suffering by working with corporations. Our p revious post in this series covered our efforts with governments and legislative bodies...

With a presence in more than 50 countries, Humane Society International has the reach and the ability to create lasting and transformational change for animals around the globe. In 2019, among several achievements, our team helped win key victories for giraffes, elephants and rhinos at the meeting...

The year 2019 was one of extraordinary gains for animals trapped in the cruel business of fur, for companion animals who are the victims of malicious cruelty, for wild animals at risk of extinction because of trophy hunting and the wildlife products trade, and for farm animals forced to spend their...

Hundreds of beauty companies around the globe---including our market leading partners Unilever, L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble, Avon, Lush and a growing number of cosmetic ingredient suppliers---now support an end to cosmetics animal testing. Forty countries have passed laws to ban or limit such tests...

Animals used by the cosmetics testing industry have long suffered in silence. But they now have a new spokesbunny, Ralph, who is telling it like it is. “Save Ralph” is a powerful stop-motion animation short film featuring Oscar winner Taika Waititi as the voice of Ralph, who is being interviewed for...

One of the great honors of being able to work toward a more humane world through our family of organizations is witnessing how public sentiments toward animals are changing across the globe. In North America, we work across the continent to effect change for animals. At the end of 2022, great...

Even in our age of advanced technologies, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice and rats continue to have chemicals and substances forced down their throats, dripped into their eyes or slathered on their skin to satisfy new regulatory demands that undercut progress against cosmetic animal testing. That’s why...

Momentum for passing a federal law against animal testing for cosmetics continues to grow, with some of the strongest support coming from the industry that makes and markets these products. This week, we reached an important milestone with 300 independent companies now officially endorsing the...

There is simply no reason to force guinea pigs, rabbits, mice and rats to undergo painful new chemical tests for cosmetic products like shampoo and mascara when better science allows for non-animal testing methods that are more relevant to human safety. That’s why a ban on animal testing for...

Back in the 1940s, when government scientists were asked to check cosmetics for safety, they turned to rabbits. Dr. J.H. Draize and colleagues at the Food and Drug Administration dropped chemicals into the animals’ eyes and applied them to their skin, then assigned scores to the redness, swelling...

Residents of three U.S. states can now buy cosmetics in stores without having to worry whether they may have been tested on animals. On New Year’s Day yesterday, a ban on the sales of cosmetics newly tested on animals went into effect in California, Illinois and Nevada. This signals the dawn of a...

The world is moving toward a future dominated by sophisticated methods that use human cells, tissues and organs, 3D printing, robotics, computer models and other technologies to create approaches to testing and research that do not rely on animals. These methods are often faster, less expensive and...

In a massive step forward, Canada has just passed a ban on cosmetics animal testing and the sale of beauty products that rely on new animal test data to substantiate their safety, becoming the second North American country to do so; Mexico passed such a ban in 2021. Our Humane Society International...

Maryland has a groundbreaking new tool to help the state transition away from animal experiments. This week, Gov. Wes Moore signed HB 626/SB 560 into law, making Maryland the first state to require that animal laboratories contribute to a research fund that will be used to provide grants for...

We took to the halls of power in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday for a full day of events in support of the Humane Cosmetics Act, H.R. 5399, a bill to end animal-based cosmetics testing in the U.S, usher in a new era of cutting-edge testing methods, and prohibit the sale here of cosmetics newly...

One of the biggest obstacles Humane Society International faces is the frequent lack of comprehensive animal welfare laws within some of the countries in which we work. While we don’t let this stop us from pushing forward with the means and tools available to us, the existence of laws and systems of...

With Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature earlier this month, New York became the 10 th state in the U.S. to prevent the sale of cosmetics that have been newly tested on animals. This represents just the latest gain in a worldwide movement to end cosmetics animal testing on animals. Worldwide, we’re up to...