In a few short months, the sweet scent of thawing soil will have me searching under trees, by streams and in gardens for new life peeking into the frosty air. During winter’s dark days, it’s hard to imagine anyone more excited about spring’s brave first blooms. But just below ground, creatures on a...
Rounding up and killing entire flocks of geese has become an all-too-common (and temporary) fix in many communities. Besides being inhumane, this also leaves room for a new flock to just move right in. Geese shouldn’t be killed for doing what comes naturally, especially when long-term, effective and...
The first time Tim Harrison rescued privately owned big cats was back in 1982. A public safety officer at the time, Harrison and other responders found a male lion pacing around a small enclosure, a lion cub who appeared severely ill, bears, snakes and other animals on an Ohio property. It was rare...
In our recent USA Today opinion piece, we wrote about the cascade of events that sparked passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act late last year. Among other factors, the pandemic-era Netflix sensation Tiger King laid bare the cruelties of the cub petting industry so devastating to animals, making...
The COVID relief package Congress just passed includes a number of provisions that will improve surveillance and inspection of trades where animals often endure acute suffering and that also tend to be hotbeds for disease spread. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 is primarily designed to provide...
Nordstrom, one of the country’s largest luxury fashion retailers, will stop selling products made with fur and exotic animal skins at all of its U.S. locations by the end of next year. Nordstrom joins a growing number of retailers like Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s that have announced fur-free policies...
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.
The coronavirus pandemic has prompted the world to acknowledge the pressing need to change our relationship with animals. From the wildlife markets implicated in the origin of the novel coronavirus to the slaughterhouses that have become clusters for its spread, we now know only too well that our...
California has once again topped our 2018 Humane State rankings list, after overwhelmingly passing the strongest farm animal protection law in the world, and by enacting a law that bans the sale of cosmetics tested on animals -- the first U.S. state to do so. Oregon, which has some of the strongest...
Today, on World Lion Day, we celebrate lions as an iconic wild cat species, and we recommit to our campaigns to halt their exploitation and destruction in the United States and abroad. We are giving it all we’ve got. In the wild, of course, this iconic species is among the most imperiled of all with...
Costa Rica’s gorgeous biodiversity has made it a haven for wildlife tourism. But in the age of social media, the impact on the wild animals themselves has not always been a positive one. In a 2017 study, Costa Rica was identified as one of the world’s top 10 countries where tourists take selfies in...
When Humane Society of the United States investigators go out to take a close look at facilities that keep captive birds—roadside zoos, animal markets and others—they almost always return with the same dispiriting reports of dismal treatment and living conditions. Owls and hawks tightly chained to...