Recently, the United Nations identified some of the top drivers of zoonotic diseases, like COVID-19, that spread from animals to humans. Not surprisingly, the top three factors specified align exactly with issues the Humane Society family of organizations named in May in our own global policy plan...

Last week, the Trump administration fired its latest salvo in an ongoing war on wildlife by finalizing regulations that significantly weaken the Endangered Species Act. Today, a group of environmental and animal protection groups, including the Humane Society of the United States, filed a lawsuit...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a final rule to stop a strange, persistent and deeply disturbing cruelty that has survived more than a half century’s legislative attempts to suppress it. In a huge win, the new rule bans the use on Tennessee walking and racking horses of devices and substances integral to soring, including tall, high-heel-like horseshoes (known as “stacks”) and chains that bang against a horse’s chemically sored ankles, all used to cause excruciating pain. The rule also assigns sole responsibility to the agency’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to screen, train and authorize inspectors, and creates an inspection system that relies on veterinarians, veterinary technicians or others employed by government agencies to enforce relevant laws and regulations. We believe that the rule puts the government on a much stronger footing to finally eliminate soring.

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...

The U.S. Department of Justice just announced that Inotiv will pay more than $35 million, including an $11 million fine for violating the Animal Welfare Act, the largest in the Act’s history, because of violations that occurred at a facility that bred dogs for use in animal testing in Cumberland, Virginia. Inotiv is the parent company of Envigo RMS, which owned the breeding facility. As a result of these violations and a federal investigation, during 2022, our team removed more than 4,000 beagles in a monumental effort.

A major win for animals in Italy caps off a year of remarkable progress toward a fur-free future. Today, the Italian Senate Budget Committee approved an amendment that will shutter the country’s 10 remaining fur farms within six months and enact a permanent ban on fur farming throughout Italy. This...

Today, a three-judge panel in the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit unanimously denied an attempt by the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation to strike down California’s Proposition 12, considered the strongest farm animal protection law in the...

It wasn’t long ago that I witnessed the first van full of beagles arrive at our care and rehabilitation center in Maryland. On July 21, I was on hand to help welcome these dogs into a new and beautiful chapter of their lives, and I had the honor of carrying the first beagle off the transport van...

When a strain of bird flu sweeps through factory farms, where birds are tightly confined, the current “solution” involves immense cruelty. This is why it’s a genuine milestone in the fight against factory farming that the Humane Society of the United States, Farm Sanctuary and Mercy For Animals just...

This year has already been historic for animals, as the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of upholding the strongest farm animal protection law in the country, California’s Proposition 12. This landmark law, approved by voters via ballot measure in 2018, prohibits the in-state...

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...

Today, we celebrate great progress for egg-laying hens, which caps off a year of wins for farm animals across the country. Here’s some background about what just happened for hens in Massachusetts: In 2016, the Humane Society of the United States and a coalition of the leading Massachusetts and...

Last week we wrote about the briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court by the Humane Society of the United States, our allied animal welfare organizations and the state of California in a lawsuit brought by the National Pork Producers Council, aimed at overturning vital provisions addressing animal...

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...

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak just signed a bill into law making Nevada the ninth state to ban the sale of eggs that come from hens in cages. The measure also bans the cage confinement of egg-laying hens in the state. Most hens used in the egg industry are confined to barren, wire cages called battery...

Today marks a critical turning point for thoroughbred racehorse safety, and it comes just in time for the upcoming Triple Crown season. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority just launched its Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program, ushering in a new era of safety and welfare for...

African leopards are magnificently powerful animals who can take down prey animals ten times their size. But despite their strength, leopards are no match for trophy hunters, who go to great lengths to lure the animals to their deaths and bring back their body parts as trophies. Here’s how a typical...

There’s new hope for ending the painful practice of horse soring: a long-awaited new administrative rule from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one that’s badly needed and long overdue. Horse soring is an undeniably cruel practice in which trainers covertly and deliberately torment show horses by...

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources voted in favor of six bills and resolutions that threaten to remove protections from grizzly bears and gray wolves and weaken the Endangered Species Act. This “grab bag” of danger includes: The Trust the Science Act, H.R. 764...

Today Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation to ban wildlife killing contests in New York state. This is a wonderful moment for wildlife, as New York has been the scene of more than 20 of these senseless spectacles each year. The contests targeted a broad range of animals including coyotes, foxes, bobcats, squirrels, raccoons, crows, rabbits and woodchucks. The new law, to take effect in November 2024, will prohibit cash-for-wildlife competitions in which the objective is to slaughter animals for money and prizes.