Four Chinese provinces will offer farmers a government buy-out or other financial help to stop breeding wild animals like civets and cobras for food. This move is part of a continuing crackdown by China and its individual provinces and cities on the nation’s rampant wildlife trade for food in the...

The appropriations bill and accompanying coronavirus relief/stimulus package for fiscal year 2021 now advancing through Congress will bring critical and much-needed support to millions of Americans. We are also pleased to report that the package, which funds federal agencies, includes a number of...

The U.S. House has just passed the Farm Bill, and we’re celebrating great wins for animals. Most importantly, the bill does not contain the reckless King amendment, which could have nullified state and local laws that address, among other issues, prohibiting horse slaughter for food, the extreme...

Our Animal Rescue Team is on the ground in Kansas right now, assisting the Kingman County Sheriff’s Office with the rescue of approximately 30 dogs, two cats, a horse and two burros from an alleged cruelty situation. The sheriff’s office sought our assistance after concerns surfaced about the...

The bizarre saga of a former Oklahoma roadside zoo owner, whose menagerie of hundreds of dangerous exotic animals was exposed in a 2011 HSUS undercover investigation, reached a dramatic conclusion yesterday when a federal jury found him guilty on charges that included killing five tigers and hiring...

New Jersey has made history by becoming the first state in the country to ban the use of numerous wild animal species, including elephants, tigers, lions, bears and primates, in circuses and traveling shows. Governor Phil Murphy today signed into law a measure that recognizes both the animal welfare...

A Petland store that was the subject of an HSUS undercover investigation released this week appears to be closing down. After news of our investigation, which showed more than a dozen rabbits had apparently died at the Virginia store without medical care, and following an HSUS tip-off, police...

A second city in mainland China has banned dog and cat meat, striking the latest in a series of blows against this cruel trade that causes immeasurable suffering and pain for millions of animals each year. The city of Zhuhai announced that dogs and cats are not livestock meant for consumption, as...

Update! The U.S. Senate has just voted to approve the Farm Bill by a vote of 87 to 13. The bill did not include the dreaded King amendment that had the potential to nullify important state and local laws protecting animals, but senators approved three key measures that benefit companion animals. The...

President Trump’s pardon of Joe Exotic is an affront to animal-loving Americans, Republican, Democrat and independent, and it will be viewed with outrage today and for many years to come. Joe Exotic, a.k.a. Joseph Maldonado Passage is a serial tiger abuser/killer who was serving a 22-year sentence...

For many years now, Humane Society International has been at the forefront of a hot war against the dog and cat meat trade across Asia. We have taken on many high-profile fights and we’ve made tremendous progress, from pushing back hard against China’s Yulin dog meat festival to shuttering dog meat...

In a long-awaited move, the U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced important reforms to tighten licensing requirements to prevent those who mistreat animals in their care from carrying on business as usual. All dealers and exhibitors, including puppy breeders and roadside zoos will now need...

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson The U.S. Department of Agriculture today proposed a new rule to close a loophole in the law that allows puppy breeders and roadside zoo exhibitors whose licenses have been revoked for severe and multiple Animal Welfare Act violations to continue doing business as...

This week, our Animal Rescue and Response team was dispatched to Indiana to help rescue dozens of cats from a house in Muncie. I had the honor of being with them, on the ground, seeing the first moments these cats got the love and care they so desperately needed. When I first entered the house, a...

If you’ve been online at all in the past week, chances are you’ve seen the footage of an alarmed off-duty police officer pointing a gun at an approaching tiger in a sleepy residential neighborhood in Houston. The tiger’s name is India and, after a mysterious disappearance and a week of dramatic plot...

Today, Governor Jay Inslee signed the Humane Pet Sales Bill, making Washington state the fourth in the nation to prohibit the sale of puppy mill puppies in pet stores. Washington joins California, Maryland, Maine and over 380 localities across the country in taking a strong stand against cruel puppy...

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...

A federal judge has dismissed a court challenge to Maryland’s landmark law prohibiting the sales of puppies and kittens in pet stores, giving animals and consumers a huge victory in the fight against puppy mills. The ruling today means the law, which went into effect in the state at the start of the...

New Mexico will no longer allow trophy hunters to prey upon its cougars with cruel snares and leghold traps. The State Game Commission just now voted to pass a proposal that would end all recreational trapping of these majestic animals, as well as limit trophy hunters to no more than two cougars...

It’s a difficult video to watch: a mob of men armed with sticks and spears repeatedly strike a tiger lying on the grass with shouts of “kill, kill.” They beat the animal so badly, according to media reports, that she died of shock hours later as a result of blood loss, broken bones and numerous...