Wildlife/Marine Mammals
Fortune of Animals in China
As the Beijing Olympics wind down, and after four related blog postings (on the fur industry, tiger trade, ivory, and consumer power), I want to offer the floor to HSI’s China Policy Consultant, Dr. Peter J. Li, of the University of Houston-Downtown. Peter’s optimism has . . .
Grabbing Tiger Trade by the Tail
China has a staggering 1.3 billion people. But throughout all of Asia, there are fewer than 4,000 tigers remaining in the wild. Even with a small percentage of Chinese citizens coveting tiger products in traditional Chinese medicine, there is enormous pressure on the declining species . . .
Ivory Irony
China and the United States are two Olympic powerhouses, and they’ll be competing for the highest medal count over the next two weeks. Athletics aside, the two countries are also in dubious competition for the dishonor of being known as consumers of vast amounts of . . .
Treading Water
At one time, millions of sea turtles migrated along America’s coasts and laid their eggs. Today, all six species found in U.S. waters are listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Sea turtles may face extinction during our lifetimes—primarily due to . . .
Talk Back: Protecting Places
A number of you have been gratified by our work to preserve wildlife habitat through conservation easements. Here’s what one reader experienced, right in her own backyard: I thoroughly enjoyed your blog on Saving Lives by Saving Land. I have a few bird feeders and . . .
Every Dog Has His Day (In Court)
After we joined forces with The Fund for Animals in January 2005, The HSUS formed an in-house Animal Protection Litigation unit—which now boasts more than a dozen full-time attorneys who do nothing but offensive litigation. I wanted a vibrant legal team focused on enforcing animal . . .
Take Home the Gold, Not Ivory
The 29th Summer Olympics are set to open this week in Beijing, and millions of non-nationals are trekking there to watch the games. It is a nation known notoriously to animal advocates for its harsh and exploitative treatment of wild and domesticated animals, and it . . .
Saving Lives by Saving Land
© The HSUSA loon skims across Shin Pond in Maine. I spent Saturday and Sunday at an HSUS property not far from the northeast corner of Baxter State Park. Percival P. Baxter, a strong animal advocate, served as Governor of Maine from 1921-24 and then . . .
Your Yard Goes Grassroots
Each of us can collectively make major strides for animals through individual efforts. Our dietary decisions, the products we purchase, our outreach to elected officials, hands-on work in our communities—cumulatively these actions and more add up to a powerful force in moving toward a more . . .
Sharks Through a Different Lens
The remarkable Nigel Barker is exhibiting his photographs of seals this week at a studio in New York. But his compassion for animals extends to all animals, including sharks, and he’s a man willing to confront cruelty wherever it occurs. Last weekend, Nigel Barker joined . . .
Stop Sniping, Start Problem Solving
Any large advocacy organization with an agenda encompassing a variety of cutting edge social issues is bound to become a target for criticism, and The HSUS is no exception. As the nation’s most effective animal protection organization, we challenge long-standing forms of institutional cruelty across . . .
Whale of a Fight
I was saddened and more than a little awestruck by the remarkable story last year of a bowhead whale who was killed in a June 2007 hunt by Inupiaq whalers off the Alaskan coast. Embedded in the whale’s layer of blubber, between the neck and . . .
