Archive for May, 2016
A different kind of remembrance for Harambe
No matter whom you judge culpable, if anyone, we are all grieving over the violent death of Harambe – shot in his enclosure by Cincinnati Zoo officials who took the endangered male gorilla’s life for fear that the 420-pound great ape would hurt a 40-pound . . .
Factory farms spawn immense suffering, and also immensely dangerous superbugs?
America is facing a real crisis in regard to antibiotics resistant infections, and factory farming is one of the main reasons. The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research recently reported the first U.S. case of Colistin-resistant infection, involving a patient in Pennsylvania. Also this week, researchers at USDA and Health . . .
Some states step up to prevent dog deaths in hot cars
Hundreds of dogs each year perish from searing heat in unattended cars, left there by individuals who don’t understand what a risk to the animal’s life it is. With the car windows rolled up, even on a comfortable day, temperatures can spike in a flash and a life-threatening . . .
Dog butchering raising howls in Congress and throughout the world
Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, D-Fla., introduced a congressional resolution today condemning China’s dog meat trade and the festival in Yulin, China, where thousands of dogs and cats are slaughtered each year. The resolution, which has 27 original cosponsors, doesn’t have the force of law, but it’s an opportunity for the United States to urge . . .
Supremely good news for the campaign against shark finning
The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday refused to consider an appeal to overturn legislation that prohibits the sale, trade, and possession of shark fins in California, in a major victory not only for sharks, but also for the right of states to set rules for stopping the abuse . . .
Horse racing deaths at Pimlico remind us of hazards of largely deregulated sport
With American Pharoah in 2015 becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed accomplished that feat 37 years ago, there was a buzz in the run-up to the Preakness about whether the previously undefeated Nyquist could come one big step closer to replicating the biggest . . .
USDA Shuts Down Major Animal Testing Enterprise, While Other Reforms Loom
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Santa Cruz Biotechnology have come to the largest settlement agreement in the history of the enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act. SCBT, one of the world’s largest suppliers of antibodies for biomedical research, will lose its license to operate as a . . .
Breaking News: Key Committee Acts to Sustain Horse Slaughter Ban in the U.S.; Senators Also Decide Not to Subvert Organics Rule
Today the Senate Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment, advanced by Senators Tom Udall, D-NM, Mark Kirk, R-Ill., Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., Lindsey Graham, R-SC., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Christopher Coons, D-Del., to bar any horse slaughter plants from opening in the United States. This Senate action mirrors the . . .
Confronting Dog Meat Horrors and Other Cruelties on the International Stage
Today’s New York Times reports on Humane Society International’s major campaign to end the dog meat trade in South Korea, the only nation that eats dog meat and raises dogs on farms for the plate. There, in the run-up to the 2018 Winter Olympics, we’ve . . .
Finding Evidence of the Humane Economy in All Sorts of Surprising Places
Stanford University has long been rated as one of America’s top academic institutions, and it’s been widely known for incubating top innovators in the domains of programming, engineering, medicine, and other sciences. In The Humane Economy, readers briefly meet Dr. Pat Brown, a Stanford biochemist who . . .
Nothing Organic or Natural About Effort in Congress to Block Organic Farm Animal Care Standards
Yesterday, Nicholas Kristof wrote an extraordinary column on my new book, The Humane Economy, celebrating the enormous range of progress we’ve made in driving reform for animals in so many different sectors of industry. The New York Times columnist noted, of course, that our work isn’t done, and . . .
Millions of Animal Lives Hang in the Balance as TSCA Reform Bill Goes Down to the Wire
In a very unlikely and surprising circumstance for animals, Rep. Frank Pallone, a long-time friend to The HSUS, has been standing in the way of an opportunity to reduce animal testing for chemicals, contained within legislation to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act. But it’s . . .
