Archive for July, 2013
Step by Step Progress for Walking Horses
We are making steady progress in our campaign to crack down on trainers and owners who injure the feet and legs of Tennessee walking horses to induce an unnatural, high-stepping gait in the show ring. Yesterday, a federal court in Texas rejected a legal claim . . .
75 New Animal Welfare Laws This Year, and Counting
I thought Nicholas Kristof was right on point yesterday in his wide-ranging column about animal protection as a critical moral question in our society. We will indeed look back on our time, as Kristof says, and wonder how we could have been so callous and cruel . . .
Ag-Gag Bills Bite the Dust
As our society makes continuing progress on animal welfare, exposing cruelty and creating social, corporate and public policy standards, there’s an inevitable backlash from the industries that want to continue to do things just the same as always. I’ve written about the funded brand attack . . .
Steve King on Mules – and Pigs and Puppies
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, is again in the news for embarrassing, offensive statements – this time for his rants about immigrants and immigration policy. He told an Iowa radio show host that undocumented immigrant children are often drug mules who carry illegal substances across the . . .
Terns of Endearment
Birds don’t smile. Neither do turtles. Not at least that we can see. But they can make me smile – and never so much as when the spark of life that exists in all creatures meets up with the big hearts of people at The . . .
Dramatic Animal Rescue in Arkansas
A few months back, The HSUS’ Animal Rescue Team received a call from a law enforcement officer, Cpl. Robert Alcon, of the Arkansas State Police, who’d discovered almost 100 animals in need of rescue. Cpl. Alcon was determined to help, and described appalling conditions to . . .
Sundance Kid Rides in to Help Horses
When your business is horse slaughter, you don’t attract many fans. It’s a transactional business, with ruthlessness and profit driving the enterprise. The people who work with you aren’t idealists or even hobbyists, but hired guns – people who lobby or file lawsuits or send . . .
New Interior Secretary Can Turn Around Broken Wild Horse Program
Those of you who regularly watch our good friend Jane Velez-Mitchell’s show on HLN may have seen me last night in a brief segment talking about a potentially dangerous situation for 1,800 captive wild horses at a Bureau of Land Management facility near Reno, Nev., where . . .
Turn Up the Heat
I know it’s plenty hot in these dog days of summer, but we need to turn up the heat even more in our fight to ensure that the King amendment isn’t part of a final Farm Bill or any other legislation that may end up . . .
Spreading the Word for Animals
Look at any major social movement and it has communications platforms to disseminate ideas, review books in the field, dig deep into issues, release research or investigations, and allow debate and discussion within the fraternity. The left, for example, has magazines like Mother Jones and . . .
Japanese Whaling Tried in International Court
The late Sir Peter Scott, one of the world’s most famous conservationists, once said ”Many people now regard whales as a symbol. If we can’t save the whales, then we begin to wonder if we will be able to save anything – including ourselves.” By . . .
“Blackfish” Is a Must-See Film for Summer
Three years ago, Tilikum, a captive orca at SeaWorld Orlando, killed whale trainer Dawn Brancheau by dragging her under the water and battering her to death. The killing happened in front of a large crowd of patrons who quickly realized that the whale decided to . . .
