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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

Last week, Washington became the 12th U.S. state to pass a law to ban the sale of cosmetics newly tested on animals. This is a win for all the guinea pigs, rabbits, mice and rats who will never have to suffer through painful testing, including having cosmetics chemicals forced down their throats

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

The U.S. Department of Agriculture secretly implemented a new procedure in 2019 to skirt its responsibility to animals at some research laboratories, documents obtained by Harvard Law School’s Animal Law and Policy Clinic and covered in Science Magazine, reveal. While dogs, rabbits, primates and

A beautiful story came out over the weekend in the Washington Post about an 11-year-old beagle named Hammy. Adopted in 2013 after living in a research laboratory for his first four years of life, Hammy became the beloved pup of journalist Melanie D.G. Kaplan. As often happens, both the human and the

Recently, the United Nations identified some of the top drivers of zoonotic diseases, like COVID-19, that spread from animals to humans. Not surprisingly, the top three factors specified align exactly with issues the Humane Society family of organizations named in May in our own global policy plan

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

The fundamental purpose of our marquee advocacy training event, Taking Action for Animals Online, occurring on September 19 and 20, is to support greater political and social engagement by those who care about animals. COVID-19 hasn’t changed a thing in that regard, and TAFA 2020 features one of 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

Thirty-seven chimpanzees languishing at a New Mexico primate laboratory are still waiting for the National Institutes of Health to fulfil a promise it made in 2015---to retire them to sanctuary after a lifetime spent in research. Today, we’re giving these animals a helping hand by suing the federal

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

Cosmetics animal testing is on its way out the world over and U.S. states are rapidly moving in the direction of that trend. Just this month lawmakers in three states---Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey---have moved decisively to end the sales of cosmetics tested on animals and/or prohibit cosmetics

As we worked toward the introduction of the Humane Cosmetics Act in the last Congress, one of our most important partners was the Personal Care Products Council, the leading industry trade organization that represents more than 90% of the U.S. beauty industry, including our Be Cruelty-Free partners

The devastation wrought by the recent deep freeze in Texas is a stark reminder of the urgent need for disaster planning that includes tens of thousands of animals in puppy mills, roadside zoos and other enterprises. Today, to address that need, Representatives Dina Titus, D-Nev., and Rodney Davis, R

Virginia’s Gov. Ralph Northam has just signed into law bills that would ban new cosmetics animal testing and sales of animal-tested cosmetics in his state. Virginia joins three U.S. states that already have similar laws on their books. In 2018 California became the first state to prohibit the sale

Our Animal Research Issues Department is headed by Kathleen Conlee who has devoted the past two decades of her life to this work. But before she became an avid animal protection advocate she worked at a breeding facility that supplied primates for research. Recently we released a video of Katie

Maryland will soon become the fifth U.S. state to say no to cosmetics testing on animals. State lawmakers last night voted to prohibit new tests on animals for cosmetics and all sales of newly-animal-tested cosmetics beginning July 2022. The Senate and House versions of the bills passed the Maryland

Twenty-six chimpanzees at a laboratory in New Mexico have a stronger shot at spending the rest of their lives in a sanctuary now that the National Institutes of Health has dropped its appeal in a lawsuit focused on their future.

We’re pushing back hard against plans to fund expanded reliance on monkeys in experiments in the U.S., plans that would see even more of these intelligent, curious animals used in outdated and unreliable tests, often at taxpayer expense.   

Despite a recent court ruling and the animal welfare benefits of sanctuary retirement, media reports indicate the National Institutes of Health is still refusing to allow 26 chimpanzees warehoused in a government laboratory in New Mexico to spend the rest of their lives at Chimp Haven. These chimps