Archive for 2018
USDA ponders disastrous plan to allow self‑policing by licensed breeders, zoos, and researchers
After purging thousands of Animal Welfare Act inspection reports and violation notices that used to be available to the public and were searchable online, the political operatives who took over at the U.S. Department of Agriculture a year ago say they now want to turn . . .
Steady progress against puppy mills — 250 localities now ban sales of cats and dogs at pet stores
Last week, the city of Poulsbo, Washington, became the 250th locality in the United States to enact a law prohibiting the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores, unless the animals are sourced from shelters or rescues. Cities, towns, and counties of all sizes . . .
Breaking news: HSUS sues USDA for brazen maneuver to hurt farmers and nix federal farm animal welfare rule
Today, The HSUS is suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture for working to scuttle the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices Rule – one of the most important rules to ever come out of a federal agency, affecting the well-being of tens of millions of animals . . .
Bare black bear gets an incredible second chance at HSUS animal care center
We take in thousands of animals at our wildlife rehabilitation facilities each year, but to me, the creature we took in a few weeks ago looked like no one who’d ever passed through our gates. At the Fund for Animals Wildlife Center in San Diego . . .
New Jersey lawmakers say ‘no’ to wild animal acts in circuses
The movement to end the use of wild animals in circuses secured its biggest win yet, with New Jersey lawmakers, in the waning days of their lame duck session, voting nearly unanimously yesterday to ban almost all wild animal acts in the Garden State. Assemblyman . . .
Smithfield makes more progress on gestation-crate-free pledge
Today, the world’s largest pig producer, Smithfield Foods, announced more progress in its movement away from confining mother pigs in tiny gestation crates, further acknowledging that animals built to move ought to be allowed to move. As a matter of historical import, our quest to . . .
HSUS’s successful lawsuit to protect Great Lakes wolves may hold key to restoring protections for Yellowstone-area grizzlies
Thanks to skillful work that exposed the government’s shoddy science and its inattention to the legal standards of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), we’ve been able to maintain federal protections for wolves in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin by winning two key cases in a . . .
Biting cold an extraordinary threat to all animals
With weather systems delivering punishingly low temperatures – along with ice, snow, and wind – deaths from the cold cycle are mounting, including animal victims. Heartbreaking images on social media, of dogs left outside and frozen, are almost too much to bear. Yesterday, People.com reported . . .
California, again, ranks as the nation’s most humane state, while the Dakotas, Mississippi at bottom of list
According to our Humane State rankings for 2017, California remains the most humane state in the nation, comfortably ahead of number-two finisher Oregon and then Massachusetts, which has held the third position since 2016 when it approved a sweeping measure to restrict factory farming and . . .
Ohio’s long-awaited reforms for veal calves, dairy cows kick in
Today, we are celebrating the implementation of some major reforms for farm animals that went into effect yesterday in Ohio – a ban on keeping veal calves in crates so small that the animals cannot even turn around, and a ban on cutting off cows’ . . .
