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...
With their barrel shape, huge teeth and jaws that can open to almost 180 degrees, hippos are characteristically unique and one of the world’s most recognizable animals. Hippos are also a keystone species: As “ecosystem engineers,” their behavior helps shape and maintain landscapes and habitats and...
Today, we are launching a new campaign that calls out McDonald’s for allowing extreme animal suffering in its chicken supply chain. Our goal is to get the fast food giant to join its competitors—including Burger King, Subway, Jack in the Box and nearly a hundred others—in adopting meaningful reforms...
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.
There isn’t sufficient outrage in the world to cover the depravity of the father and son who were charged with breaking Alaska state law in mid-April when they killed a mother bear and her shrieking cubs on Esther Island in Prince William Sound. The details of their wanton crime, revealed just this...
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...
By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson Recent developments in a case involving a Tennessee walking horse named Honors, who was crowned champion despite clear evidence that he was a victim of cruel soring, highlight the urgent need for Congress to swiftly pass the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act. The...
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...
A Pennsylvania court this week allowed an 18-year-old to avoid prison time for a crime that shocked Americans when a viral video of it surfaced earlier this year: in the video, the young man and his friend were seen torturing a dying deer, kicking him in the head and even ripping off his antler as...
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...
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...