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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

Mink on two fur farms in Utah have tested positive for the coronavirus. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported today that “unusually large” numbers of animals had died at the two farms, which also reported positive cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, in people who had contact

Federal prosecutors have charged more than two dozen racehorse trainers, veterinarians and drug dealers in a “widespread, corrupt” scheme to dope horses to push them beyond their limits, increase profits and cheat the betting public. “This is the most far reaching prosecution of racehorse doping in

A second city in mainland China has banned dog and cat meat, striking the latest in a series of blows against this cruel trade that causes immeasurable suffering and pain for millions of animals each year. The city of Zhuhai announced that dogs and cats are not livestock meant for consumption, as

Update! The U.S. Senate has just voted to approve the Farm Bill by a vote of 87 to 13. The bill did not include the dreaded King amendment that had the potential to nullify important state and local laws protecting animals, but senators approved three key measures that benefit companion animals. The

In a heinous move that defies both science and common sense, the United States has prematurely lifted federal protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states, giving them carte blanche to open trophy hunting seasons on these beloved native carnivores. The Department of the Interior bulldozed this

The U.S. House has just approved a bill that would expand opportunities for veterans to get involved with training and adopting service dogs, leading to better lives for both the animals and the people helping them. The PAWS for Veterans Therapy Act, H.R. 4305, will create a pilot program at the U.S

The U.S. House today approved many key animal protection reforms, including measures designed to rein in horse soring, combat wildlife trafficking and help enforce animal cruelty laws, as part of Congress's annual appropriations process. Members also prohibited the use of federal funds for

The U.S. House has just approved provisions that would make highways safer for wildlife to cross and create safer conditions to transport horses across the country, as part of the Moving Forward Act, a package of reforms designed to restore America’s aging infrastructure. The measures approved today

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson The U.S. House has just voted overwhelmingly to crack down on some of the worst and most malicious acts of animal cruelty, including crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating and impaling live animals and sexually exploiting them. The watershed vote takes us one step

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson Thousands of tigers, lions, leopards and other big cats are kept in private homes and poorly run exhibits across the United States. These wild and dangerous animals are forced to spend their lives in inhumane conditions, locked up in small cages that are as far from

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson A quartet of bipartisan U.S. Representatives today introduced a bill that would strengthen baseline standards for commercial dog dealers regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Animal Welfare Act. The Puppy Protection Act was introduced by Reps

Slaughterhouses are hotspots for the coronavirus, with tens of thousands of infections reported among American workers since the onset of the pandemic last year. Yet, appallingly, at the height of the crisis last spring, the Trump administration ordered that these facilities should remain open. To

A bill that would ban the sale of dogs from large-scale commercial breeders at pet stores is making its way through the Pennsylvania state senate. If it passes, Pennsylvania would become the third state in under two years to end pet store sales of dogs from puppy mills -- facilities that breed dogs

A bill introduced in the Senate yesterday would prohibit some of the cruelest practices in puppy mills that are licensed to sell to pet stores and online, like stacking cages of dogs on top of each other, using wire flooring in cages, and leaving dogs unprotected in extreme weather. The Puppy

Nevada, one of the last remaining states without a ban on the ownership of exotic wild animals as pets, is now moving to pass a law to do exactly that. A bill, SB 344, recently passed the Senate and now awaits action in the Assembly. It would, among other measures, end the private ownership of

The movement to end the testing of personal care and beauty products on animals has gained unprecedented momentum in recent years, with three U.S. states, 39 countries, and more than a thousand manufacturers abandoning this outdated and unnecessary practice. Today, Congress took an important step

A bill that would prohibit public contact with big cats like tigers, lions and leopards and ban keeping these animals as pets has been reintroduced in the U.S. Senate. The Big Cat Public Safety Act, S. 1210, would end the suffering of animals like Elsa, a tiger cub kept as a “pet” and found outdoors

The coronavirus pandemic has revealed the terrible consequences of keeping live wild animals in cruel, unhealthy and unsuitable confinement in wildlife markets that slaughter and sell them for food. Bills introduced in Congress this week would position the United States as a global leader in ending