The latest controversy surrounding lurid social media posts by trophy hunters has prompted a predictable response -- global outrage and a wave of tweet storms directed at the individuals involved. This time around, it’s a Canadian couple who posed for a kiss over the dead captive lion they’d just...
Today, we released the grisly findings of three undercover investigations into wildlife killing contests in Virginia, including the largest contest held east of the Mississippi River. The heartbreaking callousness and carnage our investigators saw at the weigh-ins of the three contests, which took...
Facebook’s recent takedown of dozens of troll accounts linked to a single marketing firm sheds new light on the intensely deceptive tactics used by trophy hunting groups to sell the public and politicians a bill of goods. Last week, the social media network announced it was permanently banning Rally...
Throughout 2018, Humane Society International has driven transformational changes for animals around the globe. Vietnam adopted animal welfare language for the first time in its history; Unilever supported a global ban on animal testing for cosmetics; the Indonesian government supported a ban on the...
On Dec. 31, Florida's greyhound racetracks closed for good as a result of a ballot measure we helped pass with our partner groups in 2018. That win brought down what was once the stronghold of this "sport" and effectively sounded the death knell for greyhound racing in the United States. The work...
We recently celebrated progress toward protecting wolves, bears, coyotes, cougars, foxes, bobcats and other native carnivores living on the vast U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service advanced a rule that would protect them from lethal and flawed “predator control” programs. Until the rule is finalized, however, their lives still hang in the balance, waiting for a decision that could mean the difference between life and death. Such is the power that public policy has over the lives of animals. And it’s just one decision that we’re urging the Biden administration to make before election season stalls critical activity to finalize protections for so many species.
Note: This blog is part of a series highlighting how we fight—and win—for animals. For this post, I join with Sara Amundson, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, to tell the story about how we tackle institutionalized animal suffering by changing laws and government regulations. “Why...
One of the urgencies that defines our mission in this era is the rapidly increasing threat to wild animals all over the world. Under the overwhelming pressures of biodiversity loss, shrinking habitats and climate change, untold numbers of wild animals also face the cruelty of the illegal wildlife trade, trophy hunting, predator control and businesses that want to lock them in cages, pools, circus rings or petting zoos for entertainment. Others simply find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, sparking human-wildlife conflict and its too-often fatal “solutions.” Where the threats are many, dexterity is essential. We are proud that our work to end cruelties that afflict wildlife involves a multitude of strategies designed to ensure their protection. Here are just some of the pro-wildlife practices and policies we pursued in 2024.
Right now, as they do every year, our opponents are mobilizing in state legislatures around the country to halt the march forward for animal protection. Even as we have worked with countless stakeholders to win passage of hundreds of bills and local ordinances year after year, our opponents have dug...
While the human world is marked by borders between territories and nations, the animal world in its natural state knows no such boundaries. Migratory animals—who travel thousands of miles on land, through sea, and in the air—not only play a crucial role in ecosystems, but are living, breathing testaments to the interconnectedness of all our lives on earth. A new United Nations report, the first-ever on the state of the world’s migratory species, reveals that nearly half of these species (44%) are suffering population declines, and some are under severe pressure, including many species of migratory birds, whales, sharks, elephants, jaguars and other big cats. No wild species are safe from the threat posed by the global biodiversity crisis.
Our Animal Protection Litigation team plays a critical role at the Humane Society of the United States, filing lawsuits and legal petitions to support our major campaigns, drafting language for state and federal animal protection bills and ballot measures, and defending animal protection laws once...
The year 2019 was one of extraordinary gains for animals trapped in the cruel business of fur, for companion animals who are the victims of malicious cruelty, for wild animals at risk of extinction because of trophy hunting and the wildlife products trade, and for farm animals forced to spend their...
