Tens of millions of unemployed Americans are now struggling with the possibility of losing their homes because they cannot pay rent. The situation is even more heart-wrenching for those who have companion animals at home and are faced with the impossible choice of keeping their best friends or...

As Hurricane Michael barrels into Florida, having turned overnight into a category 4 storm, our Animal Rescue Team has been reaching out to shelter partners and allies, as well as emergency management officials, to encourage them to move unowned shelter animals out of harm’s way and secure pet...

Maryland recently became the second state to enact legislation that prohibits the declawing of cats. The first to do so was New York, in 2019, and a handful of municipalities have done the same over the last several years. That declawing (the amputation of the last bone of each toe) is cruel...

For Alex and Loki, our two resident tigers at our Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Murchison, Texas, spring brings lots of new opportunities for fun and play. Loki, especially, loves hunkering down in the tall grass in his enclosure at the sanctuary, says Noelle Almrud, the director of Black...

It was an incredibly moving sight: My Humane Society International colleagues and their local partners marked the end of the dog and cat meat trades at Indonesia’s most infamous market, Tomohon Extreme Market, by rescuing those who would have been the final victims of this reprehensible commerce...

Last month, 10 dogs rescued by our Humane Society International responders from a Korean dog meat farm arrived at a special animal shelter near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Pen Pals, Inc. is housed at the Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson, and it is the only prison-based animal shelter in the world...

Cat declawing – the practice of surgically removing a cat’s claws -- is a cruel procedure that can be likened to having the last bone of each of your toes amputated. It is unnecessary because there are more humane ways to keep cats from scratching furniture. And for the animal the consequences last...

A beautiful story came out over the weekend in the Washington Post about an 11-year-old beagle named Hammy. Adopted in 2013 after living in a research laboratory for his first four years of life, Hammy became the beloved pup of journalist Melanie D.G. Kaplan. As often happens, both the human and the...

So many of us were saddened this week to learn about the death of Beulah the elephant, who spent most of her 54 years in captivity and chains, working for a Connecticut-based traveling petting zoo. Beulah was just six years old when she was sold to the R. W. Commerford & Sons Traveling Petting Zoo...

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...

Our campaign to stop puppy mill cruelty just reached an important milestone with the passage of the 400th local ordinance prohibiting the sale of puppy mill puppies in pet stores. And this is something to celebrate, as it shows so many people coming together to make the world a more humane place for...

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson Thousands of tigers, lions, leopards and other big cats are kept in private homes and poorly run exhibits across the United States. These wild and dangerous animals are forced to spend their lives in inhumane conditions, locked up in small cages that are as far from...

Nevada, one of the last remaining states without a ban on the ownership of exotic wild animals as pets, is now moving to pass a law to do exactly that. A bill, SB 344, recently passed the Senate and now awaits action in the Assembly. It would, among other measures, end the private ownership 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...

I was happy to see that so many viewers enjoyed watching the fun video of animals enjoying the summer at our Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Texas. You can watch it here. As it turns out, when it’s hot out, bears, gibbons, horses, monkeys, pigs and tigers in sanctuary are not different from us...

Something extraordinary happened just outside a dog slaughterhouse and dog meat restaurant in Viet Nam where thousands of dogs and cats had been killed over the past five years: The owner of the facility approached the sign that advertised dog meat and started to tear it down. The work that led up...

The fortunate 34 dogs who arrived in the United States earlier this month have come quite a long way since our animal rescue responders first encountered them as victims of the dog meat industry in South Korea. Back in July, I told you about 21 dogs, whose fate was uncertain after government...

In a crushing blow to puppy mills and their pet store sales outlets, New York just became the sixth state in the U.S. to prohibit the sale of puppies in pet stores. Dozens of puppy-selling pet stores—about 10% of all such stores in the nation—currently operate in New York, and they’ll have to...

Update 12/23/22: President Biden has signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law, which removes the U.S. from the cruel shark fin trade and helps to combat wildlife trafficking. There have been some massive wins for animals recently in the U.S., as the Congress acts to pass some...

On the outside, it appeared to be a well-maintained property in Jones County, Mississippi, with several buildings, a neatly mowed lawn and pine trees scattered around 161 sprawling acres of land. But what our Animal Rescue Team and local law enforcement officials from the Jones County Sheriff’s...