Farm Animals
Organic standards under attack in the field and in Washington, D.C.
The “organic” market is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the food industry – generating more than $40 billion in sales last year alone. But increasingly, consumers want to know that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program has integrity and meaning and that . . .
Subway, Ruby Tuesday embrace reform for chickens raised for meat
Last week, the fast-food giant Subway announced a comprehensive plan to require that its chicken suppliers enhance the way they treat animals. Subway is the world’s largest restaurant chain, with more than 25,000 locations in the United States alone. Our Nine Billion Lives campaign to . . .
Animal factories exact enormous toll on local communities, taxpayers, and animals
Last week, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals nullified a Bush-era regulation that gave something of a free pass to factory farms that pollute the air and water. The regulation wrongly exempted factory farms from any obligation to report releases of toxic air emissions, including . . .
Oklahoma’s “prosperity districts” are not OK
Last November, Oklahoma voters crushed a State Question 777, a proposed constitutional amendment in Oklahoma to create a “right to farm” — a measure to deregulate agriculture in the state on a go-forward basis. Despite a multi-million dollar campaign to pass it, more than 60 . . .
Putting the campaign to help broiler chickens on the front burner
Last summer, I reported on the launch of one of The HSUS’s biggest and most important campaigns in its 63-year history: an effort to improve conditions for the nine billion chickens we raise and slaughter for food each year in this country. These birds — . . .
Ag trade groups bilk farmers out of tens of millions through diversion of check-off dollars
Two pair of ideological opposites introduced bills in the U.S. House and Senate yesterday – Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Cory Booker, D-N.J., in the Senate, and Dave Brat, R-Va., and Dina Titus, D-Nev., in the House — to reform a series of federal government programs . . .
Can the humane economy continue to advance in our challenging times?
It’s fitting, it seems, that on the launch day of the paperback version of The Humane Economy: How Innovators and Enlightened Consumers Are Transforming the Lives of Animals in bookstores, Burger King and Tim Horton’s announced new policies concerning the welfare of chickens raised in . . .
Arkansas poised to enact draconian ag-gag measure
The attack on animals – and the people who defend them – isn’t just happening on the federal level. It’s happening in some important states, too. The Arkansas Senate yesterday approved a controversial state “ag-gag” bill that allows employers in Arkansas to sue workers who . . .
HSUS 2016 annual report: Transformational progress for orcas and elephants, farm and lab animals, and others
Today, we officially release our 2016 annual report. I hope you’ll read and take pride in the progress we are making across such a wide range of issues and challenges. Below, I’ve closely reproduced my President’s essay from the report. I’m proud to note that . . .
Airplane-aided hunting, contest killing, ag-gag, tigers in the backyard, and dogs in hot cars flare up in legislative debates across the nation
Legislative activity is furious at the federal and state level. This week, lawmakers introduced three new animal protection bills (banning the sale of dog and cat meat in the United States, creating a federal anti-cruelty statute, and outlawing the sale of shark fins). Next week, . . .
Breaking news: Guatemala passes omnibus anti-cruelty law, striking blow against wide range of practices
Guatemala, Central America’s biggest and most populous nation with more than 15 million people, has adopted one of the world’s most comprehensive anti-cruelty laws – an omnibus measure that, in addition to its basic anti-cruelty provisions, creates protections for wildlife, companion animals, animals used in . . .
Breaking news: First-ever criminal charges brought against egg producer for violating California Prop 2
Eight years after voters approved the landmark ballot initiative, and two years after the law took effect, a law enforcement agency today brought criminal charges against a California egg producer, Hohberg Poultry Ranch, in southern California, with 39 counts of violating Prop 2 and 16 . . .
