Search

Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized critical trade protections for African elephants. Serious threats such as poaching, habitat encroachment and climate change continue to imperil this endangered species; African elephants have suffered a severe population decline over the last 100 years.

The new rule under the Endangered Species Act seeks to increase scrutiny over trade in live elephants, like those imported for zoos and captive settings, and their parts, including trophies imported from trophy hunting expeditions.

A Newsweek article published this week shines a light on a growing problem in our society, one affecting millions of families across the U.S.: the inability to access and afford sufficient care and services for their beloved companion animals. We ardently believe that everyone deserves the experience of bonding with a companion animal, which is a source of love and comfort for all involved, and it follows that everyone must be able to access the resources they need to keep their companion animals healthy and happy.

India is home to more than 75 million street and community dogs, many of whom live in relative harmony with people. But there is still a high incidence of dog bites across the country. For more than a decade, our Humane Society International colleagues in India have been working toward humane alternatives to cruel and indiscriminate culls, promoting peaceful co-existence between street dogs and people and vaccinating and sterilizing more than 200,000 dogs and cats across the country. A new pilot project expands on this success in a fun and innovative way.

Today, with our allies, we sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its decision to not reinstate federal protections for wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains. In 2022, most wolves in the U.S. regained their federal protections under the Endangered Species Act when a federal judge ruled in their favor in response to a lawsuit we filed with other groups—most wolves, but not all. Wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains, including in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, lost federal protections years ago, and the 2022 court decision did not impact their status.

A mother dog still nursing her six puppies is currently recovering after being rescued by our team from a major suspected dogfighting operation. When our team members found the dog, who we’ve since named Joan Jett, she was stuck in a cold, bare kennel, standing protectively over her puppies while they nursed. Our colleagues, whose assistance was requested by law enforcement officials on scene, immediately took note of how skeletal she looked standing there with each vertebra protruding along her back.

Last week, reports surfaced that a man in Wyoming allegedly ran down a wolf with a snowmobile. He then reportedly taped the injured wolf’s mouth shut, paraded the helpless and terrified animal around at a local bar and posed for a photo with the injured wolf before going outside and killing the animal.  According to news reports, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department cited the man only for possession of a live wild animal and levied a paltry $250 fine before washing its hands of the matter.

Poverty and structural inequality create barriers to accessing healthy food, education, jobs, health care and housing. Pet resources are no different. Over 20 million pets experience poverty with their families in the U.S., and 70% of these pets have never seen a veterinarian. Our More Than a Pet campaign is leading the charge to raise awareness of this overlooked national crisis and to attract new corporate support to increase access to pet resources and veterinary services and help keep people and pets together. This year, with the help of our partners—Smalls, Tractive, Motel 6 and TQL—we’re introducing the More Than a Pet Community Hero Award to honor three individuals for their exceptional contributions to their communities.

This week, we released footage from the most recent undercover investigation of five fur farms, this time in northern China, the source of most of the world’s fur. What we see is what we’ve come to expect with fur farm investigations: foxes, raccoon dogs and mink pacing their cages frantically, a repetitive behavior associated with mental decline, and filthy, feces-encrusted cages packed so close together that the risk of zoonotic disease spread was nearly palpable.

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.   

Earlier this week, an elderly captive elephant named Viola escaped from a circus in Butte, Montana. Viola belongs to Carson & Barnes Circus and was in Butte performing with Jordan World Circus. According to news reports, she wandered through traffic, in front of a casino, and paused on a residential lawn. Videos show handlers with bullhooks—a tool used to hit and inflict pain on captive elephants to intimidate them—chasing and then corralling Viola in the busy downtown, capturing her and bringing her back to the circus. Whatever taste of freedom Viola experienced was quickly put to an end.

The use of fur in fashion causes immense suffering for millions of animals, so it’s no wonder that an increasingly animal-loving public is making the strongest fashion statement of all: opting for clothing made from humane and environmentally friendly materials.
And yet, some retailers and producers are perpetuating the cruelty of fur, refusing to accept that a fur-free future is a near reality.

Earlier this month, we reported on a gut-wrenching story out of Wyoming, about a man who injured a wolf by running her down with a snowmobile, taped her mouth shut, paraded the terrified animal around a local bar and posed for photos with her before killing her. I’m often hesitant to share such horrific cases because the violence and indifference to animal life can feel gratuitous, even hopeless. And the authorities’ handling of this case reinforced that feeling for me. The alleged perpetrator of these vile and depraved acts was fined $250, a veritable slap on the wrist, for “illegal possession” of a wild animal.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a final rule to stop a strange, persistent and deeply disturbing cruelty that has survived more than a half century’s legislative attempts to suppress it. In a huge win, the new rule bans the use on Tennessee walking and racking horses of devices and substances integral to soring, including tall, high-heel-like horseshoes (known as “stacks”) and chains that bang against a horse’s chemically sored ankles, all used to cause excruciating pain. The rule also assigns sole responsibility to the agency’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to screen, train and authorize inspectors, and creates an inspection system that relies on veterinarians, veterinary technicians or others employed by government agencies to enforce relevant laws and regulations. We believe that the rule puts the government on a much stronger footing to finally eliminate soring.

As a result of strong opposition from our team and wildlife advocates, a bill was recently defeated in Iowa’s state legislature that would have used taxpayer dollars to incentivize Iowans to kill raccoons. Under the proposed program—which was expected to cost Iowa taxpayers $860,000 each year—participants would have redeemed a $5 voucher for each raccoon tail they submitted to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources during each county’s “monthly raccoon tail pick-up event.”

Some of the findings of our latest Horrible Hundred report sound like scenes from horror films. A puppy mill operator in Iowa performed do-it-yourself surgeries on puppies. A breeder in Ohio is suspected of using rusty scissors to cut the tails off puppies. A breeding facility in Oklahoma was so infested with mice that some dogs could not eat their food without ingesting rodent feces. That breeder was associated with the American Kennel Club, a purebred dog registry organization that used to call itself “the dog’s champion.” 

We condemn in the strongest terms a disturbing act of cruelty caught on video by a wild horse advocacy organization at a Bureau of Land Management wild horse gather in Pershing County, Nevada.

Massachusetts House Bill 4915, which bans using primates, bears, big cats, giraffes and elephants in circuses, was just signed into law by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey after it unanimously passed the House and passed the Senate on a voice vote.

I recently featured highlights of our disaster response efforts in the U.S., where an increasing number of communities are contending with extreme weather events. Importantly, our work focuses on immediate response in the aftermath of disasters and on preparedness and education, so that people and animals can remain as safe as possible. The same is true of our work around the world, as in India, where, after recent landslides in Wayanad, Kerala, and floods in Assam, thousands of people are struggling to survive and rebuild their lives.

In so many respects, scientific and technological innovation has defined this era—so it is nothing less than absurd that taxpayer dollars still fund animal experiments when non-animal approaches that could yield far better results for human health exist. That’s why we push to take the suffering out of science by, among other things, advocating for changes in how taxpayer funding is spent.

The reduction of animal suffering in agriculture is one of our core priorities and, taking account of the tremendous harm factory farming does to animals, the climate, natural resources and human health, it is one of the most urgent issues of our era; it deserves everyone’s attention.