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BRUSSELS (28 Sept. 2021)—The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is widely thought to have passed to humans from bats via intermediate species sold in wildlife markets, has highlighted the fact that the trade in wildlife—both legal and illegal—poses a significant threat to human health. Today

SEOUL—The South Korean government has announced that the cabinet will launch a formal discussion next week on how to proceed with actions to address the increasingly controversial dog meat industry, news welcomed by Humane Society International/Korea which has rescued almost 2,500 dogs from South

SEOUL—In response to South Korean President Moon’s reported suggestion that it could be time for South Korea to ban dog meat, Humane Society International/Korea’s dog meat campaigner Nara Kim issues this response from Seoul: “As a Korean who has visited many dog meat farms and seen the appalling

In the battle over farm animal welfare standards playing out in Congress, a number of producers associated with the National Pork Producers Council have made misleading claims about the effects Proposition 12 and other state-level public health and animal welfare laws have on family farmers. So has

President Biden recently signed the Puppies Assisting Wounded Servicemembers for Veterans Therapy Act (PAWS), which increases the number of service dogs available to support veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and related conditions. We’re elated at the thought that more veterans will have

Update 11/19/2021: Today, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to not allow the 2022 spring bear hunt ! The 4-4 vote means that mother bears and their dependent cubs will be protected from trophy hunting at a time when they are most vulnerable. For all of us, fall is a time for winter

Summer is a time of rest and relaxation for many of us, but there has been no lull in our fight to end puppy mills. We have made real progress in our campaign to stop inhumane dog breeders who mass-produce puppies for sale through third-party outlets like pet stores and online sites that allow their

Last Friday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill to end the use of gas chambers for euthanasia of cats and dogs, leaving just two states in the U.S.—Missouri and Wyoming—that continue to use this cruel and archaic method. Today, only three known and active gas chambers are used for companion animals

This year has already been historic for animals, as the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of upholding the strongest farm animal protection law in the country, California’s Proposition 12. This landmark law, approved by voters via ballot measure in 2018, prohibits the in-state

It’s been more than three years since we filed a petition asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to protect giraffes under the Endangered Species Act from trophy hunting and other imminent threats to their survival. During this time, the agency has responded once last year—following a

With a proposal to permit the killing of brown bears over bait in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has “gone rogue.” The USFWS and its parent agency, the Department of the Interior, are way over on the dark side when it comes to the killing of

The Biden administration has withdrawn a deplorable pending rule that would have allowed qualifying chicken slaughter plants in the United States to permanently dial up line speeds from an already inhumane and lightning-fast 140 birds per minute to 175 birds per minute. The U.S. Department of

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

In March, I shared with you this photo of a dog who was rescued from a puppy mill in Caldwell County, North Carolina, along with more than 30 others. This week, the breeder responsible for her condition pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and was sentenced to 18 months probation. She is also prohibited

Days before the Kentucky Derby kicks off in his home state next week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has announced he will introduce a bill to reform horse racing. This is a promising development for the future of race horses in a sport that has increasingly come under a cloud because of the

Iceland has announced it may kill more than 2,000 whales over the next five years, despite a declining market for whale meat and a growing sentiment against whaling among the Nordic country’s own citizens. Earlier this week, the Icelandic fisheries minister issued new commercial whaling quotas

California made history late Friday night when it became the first state in the nation to pass legislation that ends the sale of cosmetics, including products like lipstick, shampoo and deodorant, that have been newly tested on animals. Lawmakers in both houses voted unanimously on the last day of

For someone who’s been supporting the protection of whales as long as I have, the prospect of a return to commercial whaling is a genuine nightmare. But that’s what Japan has proposed to this year’s meeting of the International Whaling Commission, set to begin next week in Florianopolis, Brazil. And

A rule proposed by the federal government to reintroduce some of the cruelest of hunting methods to national preserves in Alaska has raised a chorus of outrage from conservation organizations, biologists, elected officials and American citizens, and there is still time to speak out against it. The

Massachusetts has just banned cruel wildlife killing contests, becoming the fifth state, after Vermont, California, New Mexico and Arizona, to take a firm stance against these gruesome events in which participants compete to win cash and prizes for killing the most or heaviest animals. The