The appropriations bill and accompanying coronavirus relief/stimulus package for fiscal year 2021 now advancing through Congress will bring critical and much-needed support to millions of Americans. We are also pleased to report that the package, which funds federal agencies, includes a number of...
By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson During the past year and a half, the Trump administration and the 115th Congress have launched over a hundred attacks on the Endangered Species Act, the bedrock law that protects endangered and threatened animal species and their habitats. Today, the administration...
Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it will be proposing a rule that would ban predator control on the National Wildlife Refuge System. When finalized, this rule will be a huge victory for countless wildlife living on refuges. The National Wildlife Refuge System is home to thousands...
North Atlantic right whales are among the most critically endangered animals on the planet today. There are fewer than 440 left on earth, and their mortality rates are high: at least 20 individual right whales died in U.S. and Canadian waters during 2017 and 2018 and no calves were born during this...
By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson In the past two years, our federal government has waged war against the Endangered Species Act, the bedrock law that protects endangered and threatened animal species and their habitats. Today, despite our hopes that it would take the steps necessary to enforce our...
The presence of pets has been one of the silver linings during the pandemic for so many millions of Americans. A recent, evocative NPR story delved into the joys and comforts of such companionship at a time when people are isolated at home and less able to socialize with family and friends. There is...
While the human world is marked by borders between territories and nations, the animal world in its natural state knows no such boundaries. Migratory animals—who travel thousands of miles on land, through sea, and in the air—not only play a crucial role in ecosystems, but are living, breathing testaments to the interconnectedness of all our lives on earth. A new United Nations report, the first-ever on the state of the world’s migratory species, reveals that nearly half of these species (44%) are suffering population declines, and some are under severe pressure, including many species of migratory birds, whales, sharks, elephants, jaguars and other big cats. No wild species are safe from the threat posed by the global biodiversity crisis.
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...
It is the dream of a better world for animals that inspires our work, but it is action that will get us there, and that’s what made Friday’s events on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives momentous. All at once, in a single session, in one package—the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 4521)—the...
The Senate Committee on Appropriations today released a package of 12 appropriations bills for fiscal year 2021, and it is a mixed bag for animals. The House has already approved its appropriations bills, which fund federal government agencies, and they include significant protections for animals...
We’ve never cared for the cheap, lurid television programming tied to Shark Week, preferring to join with other groups and media outlets in a celebration of this apex species found in all of the world’s oceans and even sometimes in rivers. Sharks are part of an incredibly diverse taxon, a cluster of...
By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson The Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act passed the Senate Commerce Committee with a near-unanimous voice vote this week, with American lawmakers leaving no doubt of how they view the nefarious global trade in which fishermen cut the fins off sharks and dump them back in...
Hawaiian spinner dolphins, named for their acrobatic displays like leaping out of the water and spinning in the air, are nocturnal. To make it harder for sharks to detect them, they hunt for food and socialize at night. During the day, they rest in sheltered coves—safe from sharks and other ocean...
Fewer than 400 North Atlantic right whales remain on our planet; fins from 73 million sharks are traded every year; warming waters render habitats increasingly unlivable for animals once at home there. Clearly, the status quo for the animals of our oceans urgently needs to change. On World Oceans...