Our Impact
More than 80,000 animal species range across Canada’s vast and varied environments. Unfortunately, many of these wild animals face threats from humans. Each year, millions are subjected to cruel practices such as the global trade in wild animal parts, trophy hunting, captivity, wildlife culls and more.
What we are working on
Companion animals are confined to puppy and kitten mills, roam the streets, or live in remote communities where their families can’t access the pet care resources they need. Tens of millions of pigs, cows, chickens and other animals are raised on factory farms and slaughtered for human consumption each year. And animals hidden in labs undergo painful, invasive and often needless testing.
Tom and Pat Leeson
Humane World for Animals
Kristo Muurimaa
Kathy Milani/The HSUS
Highlights of our work
Canada, once the largest importer of shark fins outside Asia, passed a landmark bill that included measures to prohibit the trade in shark fins nationally as well as finning in Canadian waters. Humane World for Animals campaigned for the ban for a decade.
Following a seven-year campaign by Humane World for Animals Canada, the Canadian government banned domestic trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn, as well as the import of hunting trophies containing these parts. The landmark measures fulfilled a 2021 Ministerial mandate and were a critical step in protecting these iconic species.
Humane World for Animals Canada worked to help pass The Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act or the “Free Willy Bill,” which imposed a sweeping ban on the trade, possession, capture and breeding of all cetaceans for entertainment.
After years of advocacy and campaigning, Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency decided to cease the use of the poison strychnine for killing wild animals, including wolves, coyotes and black bears. Strychnine is notorious for causing some of the most agonizing symptoms of any poison, including muscular convulsions that can last up to 24 hours or longer.
Following a longstanding campaign by animal welfare, conservation and First Nations groups, the Government of British Columbia finally ended the hunting of grizzly bears throughout the province. The decision eliminates loopholes that would have allowed trophy hunting of grizzlies to continue, while respecting the will of the overwhelming majority of BC residents.
In the wake of multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 on BC fur farms—and an incident in which infectious mink escaped from a quarantined facility—the provincial government announced a phase-out of mink farming. Mink farming is exceptionally cruel, intensively confining highly intelligent, semi-aquatic wild animals and denying them their most basic of needs.
Andi Edwards/Getty Images
Help protect animals from needless suffering
Declawing, ear cropping, and devocalization are banned across Canada except in Ontario.
Petitions
Help animals by taking action
End cruel fur farming in Iceland
Fur farming causes suffering to animals, damages the environment and is a risk to public health.
Support for a dog and cat meat-free South Korea
Please add your name to show support for a dog and cat meat free Bok Nal and South Korea.
Support for a dog and cat meat-free South Korea
Please add your name to show support for a dog and cat meat free Bok Nal and South Korea.
Misleading animal food product labels
Consumers deserve honest and transparent information on meat labels.
Help preserve the Endangered Species Act
One of the strongest tools in fighting extinction is at risk. Take action today.
Stop fur farming in Europe
The evidence is clear, the moral case undeniable and EU citizens overwhelmingly demand change.
Protect gray wolves
These incredible animals deserve a science-based, humane and comprehensive approach to their conservation.
Urge India to end the dog and cat meat trade
Urge the Assam Chief Minister to enforce existing laws and end this cruel trade for good.
Urge India to end the dog and cat meat trade
Urge the Assam Chief Minister to enforce existing laws and end this cruel trade for good.
Urge Quebec to prohibit force-feeding for foie gras
Force-feeding animals until their organs become diseased urgently needs to end.
Protect black bears from trophy hunting
The methods used to kill these bears are incredibly cruel and often cause poor outcomes, including orphaned cubs and increased human-bear conflicts.
End Australia’s slaughter of marine animals
It’s time to end the needless cruelty and suffering caused by shark nets and lethal drumlines. Let the Queensland Government know you oppose shark culling.
Ban the cruel and inhumane declawing of cats!
Declawing is a painful, irreversible surgical procedure that amputates part of a cat’s toes.
Stand up for wolves!
Gray wolves continue to face ongoing threats to their survival. We need your help to fight back!
End the captivity of wildlife for entertainment
Big cats, elephants and great apes are suffering in captivity across Canada.
Sign your name to tell companies to say no to cruel fashion
Millions of foxes, mink, raccoon dogs and chinchillas spend their entire lives trapped in tiny wire cages before being killed and skinned for so-called fashion.
Help dogs get a second chance in Canada
Allow rescue organizations in Canada to continue to help dogs from around the world.
Grizzly bears need your help!
Grizzly bear protections in the U.S. are under attack and we need your help to fight back.
Protect horseshoe crabs
Nearly one million horseshoe crabs are taken from the wild every year and exploited. Horseshoe crabs belong in oceans, not laboratories.
Stop the captivity of wildlife in Quebec
Help us ensure that no animal suffers at the hands of roadside zoos in Quebec ever again.
Put an end to cockfighting
Each year, thousands of roosters suffer in fighting pits in the United States. Razor-sharp gaffs tied to their legs, roosters suffer punctured lungs, broken bones and pierced eyes while fighting to the death. Will speak out against this cruelty and help ensure there is no haven for cockfighting?
End animal experiments
Dogs, monkeys, mice and other innocent animals continue to endure a life of misery in laboratories around the world, but we can change this.
End animal experiments
Dogs, monkeys, mice and other innocent animals continue to endure a life of misery in laboratories around the world, but we can change this.
End animal experiments
Dogs, monkeys, mice and other innocent animals continue to endure a life of misery in laboratories around the world, but we can change this.
British Columbia: End wildlife killing contests
Please act now to help ban wildlife killing contests in British Columbia.
Urge the South African government to protect big cats!
All big cats—tigers, cheetahs, leopards and jaguars—should stay wild.
US: Fight for a federal ban on wildlife killing contests
Please act now to ban wildlife killing contests in the United States.
Urge Loblaw to go 100% cage-free
Loblaw is an influential egg buyer and should support a cage-free future for hens.
Eradicate the dog and cat meat trade in China
Ask Premier Li Qiang to end this animal welfare and public health nightmare in and around Yulin.
Stop trophy hunting in the UK
Show your support for a ban on hunting trophies.
Join the plant-based revolution
Join the plant-based community and pledge to EatKind for animals, people and the planet.
You can save the seals
Urge Canada's new administration to protect seals now and transition those involved in the industry to sustainable, humane livelihoods that can bring in far more revenue.
Act now to protect Proposition 12
Pigs deserve to turn around. Prop 12 provides farm animals with protections like this, and more.
End cruel and deadly fur farming worldwide
Farming cause immense animal suffering and appalling conditions make fur farms a breeding ground for pandemic disease spread from animals to humans.
End the cruel dog and cat meat trades in Viet Nam
It's time for Viet Nam to ban the inherently cruel and dangerous dog and cat meat trades.
Animals are suffering at Marineland
Marineland has a history of being investigated for animal abuse, neglect and exploitation.
Urge the European Union to stop importing hunting trophies
Nearly 15,000 hunting trophies of species at risk like elephants, lions, giraffes, polar bears and black rhinos were imported into the EU between 2014 and 2018.
Petition for FDA progress
It is time to end outdated and flawed practices and support science without suffering.
End the export of live horses for slaughter
Horses are flown by air, crammed into wooden crates without water, food or rest.
Sign the pledge to end trophy hunting
Every year, hundreds of thousands of wild animals are killed solely to obtain "trophies"—heads, hides or pelts and even whole animals—to stuff, skin and hang on a wall.
Urge the USDA to protect puppies
Puppies and mother dogs suffer in puppy mills and urgently deserve better conditions.
Ban the cruel dog and cat meat trades worldwide
Speak out against the cruel, unnecessary and dangerous dog and cat meat trade.
Urge Shriners to adopt an animal-free circus policy
Join us in urging Shriners International to prohibit local chapters from using sensitive wild animals in their circuses.
Keep pets and their families together
Help us increase access to affordable veterinary care, pet food and pet-inclusive housing.
Ban fur farming across Canada
Hundreds of thousands of animals—mostly mink and foxes—are living in misery on factory fur farms in Canada. Join our call for an end to this cruelty.
Ban farrowing crates in the UK
It is cruel and unnecessary to force mother pigs to be locked in narrow metal cages.
Speak out to end cruel horse slaughter methods
Thousands of American equines are brutally slaughtered every year. Horses deserve a humane end of life.
Pass the PAST Act to end horse abuse
No horse should be made to suffer for a blue ribbon. Urge legislators to strengthen penalties for abuse.
Help dogs and cats on the streets
Millions of dogs and cats roam the streets worldwide.
Petland cruelty exposed
Undercover investigations have unveiled terrible suffering in Petland stores.
Pledge to protect captive wild animals
The misguided demand for interactions with wild animals is fueling an industry that harms wildlife across the U.S. and around the world. Avoid attractions that offer close encounters with wild animals.
Speak up for animals suffering on factory farms
Prevent the suffering of animals on factory farms and protect the world around us.
Stop the dog and cat meat trade in Indonesia
End the horrifically cruel and dangerous dog and cat meat trades.
End organized dogfighting
Dogs forced to fight for human entertainment suffer horrific injuries and sometimes death.
End dog testing
40,000 dogs are used in painful and often deadly experiments each year in the United States alone.
Help us end animal cruelty
Start saving lives today by making a one-time gift—or protect animals worldwide all year long with a monthly contribution.