For over a decade, we have been fighting hard to prevent the suffering and abuse of captive big cats, confronting a dangerous industry and the individuals who take advantage of these animals. And we celebrated in December of last year when President Biden signed the Big Cat Public Safety Act into...

Thanks to a tip-off from concerned citizens, the quick response of our Chinese partners at animal group Vshine and decisive action by law enforcement officials, two illegal dog slaughterhouses in a northern province of China are getting permanently closed down and more than fifty dogs rescued from...

A bill that would prohibit public contact with big cats like tigers, lions and leopards and ban the possession of these animals as pets was swiftly reintroduced in the U.S. House today, suggesting that the measure is poised for early action in Congress. The Big Cat Public Safety Act had already...

The dog days of summer, where temperatures climb and people head outdoors, have nearly arrived. It is especially important to keep animals in mind during this active season—not just the companions in our homes but also the wild animals we may encounter while hiking in a national park or visiting a...

For many years, the modest stretch of forested land surrounding our office in Maryland has offered a refuge to wild animals whose habitat is shrinking around them. Year after year, our staff members excitedly share sightings of our wild neighbors: the mama fox who births kits in a den under our...

In Arizona, a woman’s marmoset monkey attacked her newborn grandchild, scratching and biting the baby’s face and splitting open one nostril. In New York, a neighbor’s pet capuchin monkey bit off a 22-month-old girl’s finger when the child stuck her fingers through a backyard fence. In Tennessee, an...

Update 12/20/22: President Biden signed the Big Cat Public Safety Act into law. In a major advance in our long fight against the abuse of captive big cats, the U.S. Senate just passed the Big Cat Public Safety Act (H.R. 263/ S. 1210), a bill we have championed for years because it prohibits keeping...

A backyard breeder of primates who has been on our radar for years was in the news this week for an incident that defies all common sense. Michael Poggi, who runs his operation from his home in Florida, charged a man $150 in August for a “full contact experience” with an adult leopard in his...

In recent years, our nation has witnessed an epidemic of people acquiring exotic wildlife as pets. Wild animals, including lions, tigers, bears, chimpanzees, monkeys, venomous snakes, alligators and other dangerous species are readily available from breeders and even over the Internet. In private...

We’ve known “Joe Exotic” (Joe Schreibvogel) for a long while, and we know him well. This week, we’re releasing additional footage from the Humane Society of the United States investigations focusing on Joe, Doc Antle and other wild animal breeders and traders that began in 2011. For those fighting...

Over the weekend, Americans were shocked by an incident at the Conservators Center in North Carolina, a privately run wild animal menagerie, where a 22-year-old intern who was cleaning an enclosure was attacked and killed by a lion. Law enforcement shot and killed the lion in order to retrieve the...

You’ve seen those cute videos and heartwarming news stories: kangaroos hopping through the streets of Adelaide, Australia; penguins exploring Cape Town, South Africa; deer grazing on the lawn of an apartment complex in London; bears stretching their legs in Yosemite National Park; and coyotes...

An estimated 30 to 40 million cats live outdoors in the continental United States at any given time. These are bright and intelligent creatures who are no different from your house cat, and the Humane Society of the United States has long advocated for their protection. However, outdoor cats pose a...

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson Ten years ago, Americans were stunned by a pet chimpanzee’s vicious attack on a Connecticut woman, Charla Nash. The animal bit off Nash’s fingers and toes, tore off most of her face, and left her fighting for her life. The chimpanzee, Travis, was shot and killed by a...

Shenzhen has become the first city in mainland China to ban the consumption of dog and cat meat, marking one of the biggest wins yet in the global battle to end the dog meat trade. This is China’s fifth largest city. Although not itself a major center for dog and cat meat consumption, Shenzhen is...

Like most parents in this strange moment, I’ve spent the last few months watching my daughter complete her senior year and graduation ceremony largely online. This summer she had planned to work as a camp counselor to earn spending money for college but the camp, like many around the country, was...

A poignant Washington Post story about a black bear mourning her 6-month old cub, struck dead by a vehicle in Yosemite National Park, is a reminder that even in wild spaces animals are at risk when they come into contact with humans. Since 1995, motorists have killed more than 400 bears in Yosemite...

The U.S. House has just passed a bill to prohibit public contact with big cats like tigers, lions and leopards as well as ban the possession of these animals as pets. The measure, which now awaits action in the Senate, has the potential to stop the endless cycle of breeding tiger cubs by those who...

A recent story in U.S. News and World Report highlighted a simple, creative solution to prevent conflicts with wildlife: The Parks and Outdoors Department in Chattanooga, Tennessee, coated tree trunks with a mixture of sand and latex paint to deter beavers from gnawing on the trees for food and or...

The Humane Society of the United States has been working to reduce and humanely resolve human-wildlife conflicts in urban areas for over three decades, and during this time – as development and urbanization have grown apace -- we have seen incidents continue to increase. Wild animals displaced by...