Our fight to stop the sale of puppy mill puppies in pet stores is one of our biggest, one we’re waging against fierce industry opposition across the country. The pet store and puppy mill interests are out in force right now, and we’re taking them on in flashpoint battles in Florida and Texas. The...

When you’re a passionate animal welfare advocate, you might sometimes feel like a bit of an outsider. Friends, family members and co-workers who don’t share your passion might not grasp why you spend your weekends trapping community cats to get spayed or neutered. Or why you foster animals from the...

Earlier this month, we reported on a gut-wrenching story out of Wyoming, about a man who injured a wolf by running her down with a snowmobile, taped her mouth shut, paraded the terrified animal around a local bar and posed for photos with her before killing her. I’m often hesitant to share such horrific cases because the violence and indifference to animal life can feel gratuitous, even hopeless. And the authorities’ handling of this case reinforced that feeling for me. The alleged perpetrator of these vile and depraved acts was fined $250, a veritable slap on the wrist, for “illegal possession” of a wild animal.

With so much global attention focused on the dog meat trade in a handful of Asian countries, it’s important not to overlook the fact that there is a regional cat meat trade as well. The best one could say is that it’s smaller than the dog meat industry, thankfully. Otherwise, it’s got the same...

For the past five years, Pham Quoc Doanh has been making his living by running a cat meat restaurant and slaughterhouse in Thai Nguyen, Viet Nam. But the work has weighed heavily on him, especially since he knew that many of the cats brought to him by cat meat traders were stolen pets. He decided to...

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...

Round 5 of Spayathon TM for Puerto Rico, a strategic initiative that aims to reduce pet overpopulation on the island, concludes today. As always, it’s been a joyful but incredibly busy time for our staff and volunteers who are working round the clock at seven clinics to bring free high-quality, high...

The pandemic has hit so many Americans so hard. Among them is Liliana, a single mother in Los Angeles who lost her job as a seamstress in March. She couldn’t find employment despite her best efforts and then, to make matters worse, she became sick with the coronavirus.  Liliana and her daughter...

Many communities hit hardest by the coronavirus crisis are those that were already underserved. These are the communities that have high rates of poverty and limited access to veterinary and other pet care services but where we see so much love and heartwarming bonds between people and their animals...

Last week, the HSUS Pets for Life program provided its 100,000 spay/neuter surgery at no cost to pet owners. Since early 2012, PFL has provided over 400,000 essential veterinary services, supplies, and medications to people and pets in need. PFL is a trailblazing program based on two simple premises...

I am participating in round 3 of Spayathon™ for Puerto Rico, an initiative launched to change the landscape for animals of the island by providing high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter services to the pets here, all at no cost to their owners, caregivers and guardians. The energy here is infectious...

In a disturbing trend, pet stores say they are selling more puppies than ever before during the coronavirus pandemic that has forced many non-essential businesses to close doors. A phone survey of 34 puppy-selling pet stores in 14 states conducted by the Humane Society of the United States found...

The freeze in Texas this month turned up a surprise for authorities in Bexar County as they scrambled to get people and pets out of harm’s way: a tiger cub wearing a harness and living as a “pet” outdoors. A neighbor had reported what sounded like a crying tiger. When they came upon Elsa --- as the...

Not so long ago, for a golden retriever now known as Chewbacca (nicknamed Chewy), the whole world was the small, dirty space inside the four wire sides of his pen. The first five years of Chewy’s life were spent on a dog meat farm in South Korea. But Chewy was lucky. The farmer favored him and so...

For decades, the Humane Society of the United States has advocated on behalf of animals raised and killed for meat. One of our earliest campaigns, back in the 1950s, was to ban the worst forms of slaughter , which culminated in passage of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act . In recent years, we...

Dozens of dogs are now safe after police raided an illegal dog meat slaughterhouse in Indonesia just moments before the slaughter began. Just as a truck loaded with 53 terrified dogs arrived at the slaughterhouse, in the early hours of November 24, the sting operation took place. The dogs were...

One of the most important aspects of animal advocacy is ensuring that changes to policy translate to meaningful actions that save lives. What happened on a street in Indonesia earlier this month signals remarkable progress, bringing much-needed hope to the more than one million dogs who are sold for...

Our Animal Rescue Team is on the ground in parts of Florida that were ravaged by Hurricane Michael. We are coordinating the movement of adoptable dogs and cats out of shelters affected by the storm and to shelters in other parts of the country, making room for animals who started to flow in before...

At the now defunct Newseum in Washington, D.C., one of the most popular exhibits used to be a photographic display on presidents and their dogs. It was impossible to get in edgeways through the crowds milling around it, and almost everyone had smiles on their faces as they read about the companion...

Fewer animals will suffer in experiments in California laboratories thanks to a bill sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States and signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on Sunday. AB 357 was authored by Assemblymember Brian Maienschein, D-San Diego, and received wide bipartisan support...