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A Gathering of Exponential Proportions
I’m in Las Vegas for our annual Animal Care Expo—four days of training and workshops and networking for more than 1,600 attendees. It’s the nation’s premier gathering for shelter professionals, animal rescuers, and others who work every day to help companion animals.
Ducking Foie Gras
Despite common sense and overwhelming science showing that routinely force-feeding animals vastly more than they’d eat is detrimental to their welfare (not to mention potentially harmful to consumers of the product), a few journalists lately have defended the foie gras industry.
The Animals’ Emmys
More and more, we at The HSUS celebrate people who use their talents to show us a kinder pathway, and we have a wide range of programs that recognize the good that people are doing.
A Rancher’s Critique of Animal Agriculture
Whether it was Wendell Berry or Wes Jackson, it’s nothing new to have ranchers and enthusiasts of living off the land offer strong critiques of factory farming. Traditional ranchers and other animal producers have always done things differently than factory farmers. But Nicolette Hahn Niman’s . . .
How to Say Spay
Here in D.C., we are getting our first sightings of the messengers of spring—crocuses, daffodils, and songbirds, with cherry blossoms soon to come. But for animal shelters and rescues in D.C. and elsewhere throughout the nation, other harbingers of spring are baskets and boxes of . . .
Hovering Over Hell
Rebecca Aldworth, our lead campaigner against Canada’s cruel slaughter of baby seals, has just returned from a difficult day of documenting the hunt. I asked her to share her thoughts, since it’s so important that we tell this story to the world. Here’s her report. . . .
Cockfighting: Banned and Busted
About six months ago, Louisiana became the 50th state to ban cockfighting—an historic marker in our fight against malicious animal cruelty. On Saturday, Louisiana State Police raided the Little Bayou Club, a large cockfighting pit in the southwestern part of the state, charging 37 people . . .
Talk Back: Jumping for JCPenney
It seems many of you are JCPenney fans, now that the company has gone fur-free. You express your enthusiasm better than I could have! Here’s what some of you had to say. Yeah JCPenney! You give us the greatest reason of all to shop at . . .
Penney for Your Thoughts on Fur
Today, another milestone in our campaign against fur. JCPenney, with more than 1,000 stores in 49 states, has become fur-free, making it the first multiple location, traditional department store to be fur-free in stores and on its website. The company is currently fur-free and has . . .
Talk Back: Leona’s Last Wish
Yesterday’s blog prompted a flood of comments from those of you who shared my disappointment about the decision allowing Leona Helmsley's trustees to set aside her declared interest in seeing the money used for the care and welfare of dogs, in favor of other causes . . .
Couriers of Compassion
We had a very special event on Capitol Hill last night. The HSUS honored U.S. Reps. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.) for their efforts in uniting military families with the dogs who had befriended their fallen loved ones during deployments in Iraq. After . . .
Doctor’s Orders: Create Change
Last January here on the blog I announced the creation of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association (HSVMA), an HSUS affiliate that allows veterinarians with a keen interest in animal welfare to advance hands-on and advocacy programs to help animals. While we enjoy strong relations . . .
