Meredith Lee / The HSUS
Animal rescue and response
Support rapid-response animal rescue missions worldwide. Learn how Humane World for Animals protects animals from cruelty, neglect, and natural disasters.
Did you know?
We rescue, transport and rehabilitate thousands of animals each year, and our sanctuaries provide lifelong care for animals who have nowhere else to go.
rescued and/or cared for after disasters around the world since 2017
addressed each year
living at our sanctuaries in Liberia, Texas and Oregon
Always ready to help animals in need
Our Animal Rescue Team is highly trained and ready to deploy at a moment’s notice. Whether responding to disasters, large-scale neglect cases, animal fighting operations or other large-scale situations of cruelty and neglect, our team travels around the world to assist in the ongoing care of animals rescued from harm.
Meredith Lee/Humane World for Animals
Anthony Rathbun/AP Images for the HSUS
Kevin Wolf/AP Images
Our Sanctuaries
Our three sanctuaries, spanning thousands of acres in Texas, Oregon and Liberia, Africa, are safe havens for exploited or abandoned bison, pigs, chimpanzees and other primates, horses, tigers, bears and more.
Extending over 1,400 acres, Black Beauty Ranch is home to hundreds of domestic and exotic animals rescued from near-death situations. Some come from industries we’re working to reform. Others have been rescued from labs, roadside zoos or the exotic pet trade. All have found safe, forever homes at the sanctuary.
Since its gates first opened in 2008, Duchess Sanctuary has transformed into a beautiful, lifelong haven for rescued equines. The 1,120-acre property south of Eugene, Oregon, is an oasis for more than 100 formerly abused, abandoned, neglected and homeless horses.
Our Second Chance Chimpanzee Refuge in Liberia provides lifetime care to more than 60 chimps who were used in invasive research for decades. With proper nutrition, fresh water, state-of-the-art veterinary services and careful oversight by their caregivers, these animals are finally spending their time just being chimpanzees.
The latest
Humane World for Animals operates rescue teams, community-based programs and sanctuaries and care centers that directly assist tens of thousands of animals each year. Learn more about our latest work helping animals in crisis.
After Hurricane Katrina, Humane World for Animals was instrumental in passing the PETS Act to support the inclusion of animals in disaster-related planning.
Dozens of small makeshift huts were recently found on a rural property in Iowa. Some were little conical hovels; others, overturned water tanks and chemical barrels with holes cut out of them. Inside each was a solitary rooster tethered to the enclosure.
Today, a small horse with a big personality is frolicking in the fields of our sprawling Texas sanctuary—but it wasn’t so long ago that he was barely able to walk.
Donate today to our Emergency Animal Relief Fund!
We never know where disasters will strike or when animals may be in need of urgent rescue, but we know we must be ready. Your support makes our preparedness, rescue, care and relief work possible.
Meredith Lee/The HSUS
Kevin Wolf/AP Images for the HSUS
In 2022, our Animal Rescue Team removed nearly 4,000 beagles from a mass breeding facility that received multiple Animal Welfare Act violations for issues such as inadequate veterinary care and
Jean Chung
May 2025: Humane World for Animals rescued 67 dogs who had been languishing on a dog meat farm, fated to be slaughtered for meat before the farm was shut down by local authorities