Today, the Humane Society of the United States released a new undercover investigation revealing a thriving market for elephant ivory in Connecticut and showing that the weak patchwork of laws surrounding the elephant ivory trade is not enough. Connecticut urgently needs a law banning the intrastate sale of ivory and parts and products from other imperiled species.
With elephants just a step or two away from extinction, our newly released undercover investigation reveals a thriving market for ivory products in Florida, one that undermines conservation efforts and increases the pressure on this beleaguered species. Under U.S. federal law, new ivory cannot be...
Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it will be proposing a rule that would ban predator control on the National Wildlife Refuge System. When finalized, this rule will be a huge victory for countless wildlife living on refuges. The National Wildlife Refuge System is home to thousands...
Update 2/7/24: We and our co-petitioners notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of our intent to sue over the agency’s denial of our petition to protect gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains under the Endangered Species Act. The agency must make decisions based on sound science, rather...
Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized critical trade protections for African elephants. Serious threats such as poaching, habitat encroachment and climate change continue to imperil this endangered species; African elephants have suffered a severe population decline over the last 100 years. The new rule under the Endangered Species Act seeks to increase scrutiny over trade in live elephants, like those imported for zoos and captive settings, and their parts, including trophies imported from trophy hunting expeditions.
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...
Breaking: We’re asking the SEC to investigate world's largest meat company's animal welfare promises
Today, we filed a complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against the largest meat and poultry company in the world, JBS and its subsidiary, Pilgrim’s Pride. Together with the Center for Biological Diversity, and in partnership with the Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School, we allege that these companies are misleading investors about how they treat animals and about their climate and environmental impacts.
Today, with our allies, we sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its decision to not reinstate federal protections for wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains. In 2022, most wolves in the U.S. regained their federal protections under the Endangered Species Act when a federal judge ruled in their favor in response to a lawsuit we filed with other groups—most wolves, but not all. Wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains, including in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, lost federal protections years ago, and the 2022 court decision did not impact their status.
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...
Petland is once again in the news for all the wrong reasons, this time in connection with a multistate outbreak of a superbug that has sickened 30 people in 13 states. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported today that four people have been hospitalized after being infected with a...
The Department of Transportation today announced its plan to issue new regulations that would prohibit airlines from banning certain breeds of service dogs. This represents a much-needed move toward ending discriminatory policies by individual airlines that cause unnecessary and cruel hardships for...
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 York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has just signed into law a groundbreaking bill that makes the Empire State the first in the nation—and the world—to designate giraffes as a vulnerable species and ban the trade in their body parts. The bill also offers similar protections to other animal species fast...
The U.S. House just said a decisive and resounding “no” to the terrible shark fin trade, in which fishermen cut the fins off sharks and dump them back into the waters to drown, be eaten alive by other fish, or bleed to death. House members voted 310 to 107 to pass the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act...
A federal judge has rejected an attempt by the factory farming industry to overturn a landmark California law that’s the strongest farm animal protection law in the world. The lawsuit dismissed yesterday by Judge Thomas Whelan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California was...
A California judge has rejected an attempt by the meat lobby to stop Proposition 12, the state’s historic law that would ban the extreme cage confinement of egg-laying hens, mother pigs and baby veal calves, from going into effect. This is an important win for farm animals: Prop 12 has been called...
A panel of trophy hunters appointed by the Trump administration to advise the federal government on international wildlife trade policy has bitten the dust. Following a lawsuit filed by a coalition that included Humane Society International and the Humane Society of the United States, the Department...