Contents What is the Humane Society of the United States’ Investigations Team? What do you investigate? How often do your investigations result in successful outcomes? What’s it like to be an undercover investigator? How can I become an investigator? How can I report cruelty? I work in law...

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We take on the biggest threats to all creatures, great and small. Here are some of the issues we work on.

These are exciting times for the animal protection movement, and especially for those of us who work at the Humane Society of the United States and its affiliates, including Humane Society International and the Humane Society Legislative Fund. The year 2019 has come in with a roar. Already, we’ve...

This year has seen incredible wins for animals despite a steady onslaught of Congressional threats and agency rollbacks. On the one hand, there have been attempts to roll back protections for wild animals, like native carnivores in Alaska, and attacks on the Endangered Species Act. The U.S...

As Joe Biden and Kamala Harris head to the White House, they bring with them a proven track record of protecting animals. In past years, we have worked with both the president- and vice-president-elect to strengthen laws on wildlife, marine mammals, farm animals, and so much more, and we look...

Since 2017, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan has introduced a bill that would undermine America’s war on ivory trafficking by hindering the ability of states to create laws fighting this illegal trade. The full Senate did not consider the bill the last time, and more Americans than ever before now...

Scientists and conservationists have long warned about drastic drops in African elephant populations because of habitat loss, conflicts with humans and poaching for ivory. Trophy hunters exacerbate the problem by mowing elephants down for fun. Yesterday, the International Union for Conservation of...

Today, the New York Times reported on Airbnb’s new featured offering of “animal experiences,” which will have an ethical focus and will ban any direct contact with wild animals. The announcement comes on the heels of a decision by TripAdvisor, reported just yesterday, to stop ticket sales to all...

Last month, Americans reacted with horror and outrage when an Idaho game commission official, Blake Fischer, circulated a photo that showed him smiling next to a family of baboons, including youngsters, he had killed on a hunting trip in Namibia. To most of us, it was unfathomable that anyone could...

The animal protection movement made some great progress this week when the U.K. announced new legal recognitions for animals and a plan to improve animal welfare policies. Here, Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International/U.K. , explains what this means for animals. As the...

With yesterday’s passage of an ordinance banning the sale of certain fur products, Ann Arbor, Michigan’s City Council scored a pair of firsts. The 10-member council’s unanimous vote made Ann Arbor not only the first city in the Midwest to prohibit the sale of fur, but the first in a fur-producing...

Arizona’s Game and Fish Commission has voted to ban wildlife killing contests: gruesome spectacles in which participants vie for cash and prizes for killing the most or heaviest animals within a specific time period. This is a wonderful development because Arizona has been the site for an appalling...

As black bears work extra hard to pack on the pounds and prepare for the barren winter months ahead, trophy hunters are rampaging through their habitats, slaughtering these iconic animals so they can hang their heads on walls. Some states are even allowing these hunters to use dastardly practices...

A canvas made of a whole elephant’s ear. Belts made with hippo skin. Elephant skin furniture. The annual Safari Club International convention in Reno, Nevada, had plenty on view that would shock and sicken the average person. But investigators for the Humane Society of the United States and Humane...

Whenever I see social media posts by trophy hunters gleefully posing with the animals they’ve killed, I have a feeling of deep loss, for the individual animals slain, for those animals’ families and social networks, and for our planet. And I also feel a deep outrage, because to me those images stand...

The exploitation and abuse of big cats as props for paid public interactions at roadside attractions will soon be a thing of the past. As we recently shared, the Big Cat Public Safety Act, something we’ve been working on for over a decade, passed the U.S. Senate and just became law. It’s the...

The southern African nation of Botswana may be on the verge of bucking the global trend against trophy hunting. Last week, a subcommittee appointed by the president made the recommendation to end a ban on trophy hunting which has been in effect in the country for five years now, and to create new...

Botswana today auctioned off the lives of 60 of its elephants, giving trophy hunters around the world a license to kill these gentle giants for fun. This was the first elephant auction held since the country lifted a five-year ban on such hunts last year; it was conducted by a local auction company...