Wildlife/Marine Mammals
South Dakota’s grisly predator bounty program has already claimed 15,000 animal lives this spring, and counting
In the last month, South Dakota residents have trapped and killed more than 15,000 raccoons, skunks, opossums, foxes and badgers, cut off their tails, and submitted them to the state’s wildlife management agency for a $10-per-tail reward, all as part of South Dakota’s new Nest . . .
An American trophy hunter wants to bring home an endangered cheetah he killed in Namibia
By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson The cheetah, an animal capable of top speeds of 75 miles per hour, is racing toward extinction, with just 7,100 animals left in the wild. Recently, in another expression of the callous disregard trophy hunters show for the world’s . . .
New York’s pioneering bill to end giraffe trafficking now heads to governor’s desk
New York State is standing tall for giraffes. The state’s lawmakers recently passed a bill that would designate giraffes as a vulnerable species and ban trafficking in their body parts, thus leading the way toward saving this beleaguered species that is fast heading toward extinction. . . .
Urgent alert! Act now to prevent trophy hunting of gray wolves
By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson Time is running out for America’s gray wolves. The opportunity to weigh in on a proposed federal rule that would prematurely strip Endangered Species Act protections for the wolves in the lower 48 states ends soon, and it is . . .
To the Rescue! Gala celebrates work to end farm animal suffering, even as new U.N. report says industrial farming, other human actions are driving animals to extinction
A new United Nations report out today foretells a dire future for Planet Earth: as many as one million plant and animal species are at risk of extinction, mainly due to human actions, including development, the cutting of down forests and exhaustion of natural resources, . . .
Lions living in squalor highlight urgent need to end captive lion breeding industry, canned hunts
South Africa’s captive lion breeding industry is a grim enterprise, and it is one that we have been working to shut down for good. Approximately 12,000 lions are held in 200 lion breeding farms, including some where trophy hunters, including many Americans, pay to kill . . .
Preventing the lethal control and slaughter of America’s wild horses and burros
By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson In recent years, understanding our firm and absolute opposition to horse slaughter in the United States and to the cruelty and inefficiency of the Bureau of Land Management’s wild horse and burro work, frustrated members of Congress have been . . .
Breaking news: U.S. says giraffes may qualify for Endangered Species Act listing
Giraffes, whose populations in the wild have plummeted by 40 percent over the last three decades, may qualify for protection under the Endangered Species Act, according to a finding announced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today. The agency’s announcement comes in response to . . .
Proposal offers brighter future for wild horses and burros
By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson The Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Program is broken. Since inception of the program, the BLM has removed approximately 270,000 wild horses and burros from our public lands, without any significant use of fertility control tools, . . .
Canada resumes bloody seal slaughter despite crashing demand for seal products
Canada this week once again turned its peaceful ice floes into an open-air slaughterhouse, with the reopening of the annual commercial seal hunt. Sealers are expected to club and shoot tens of thousands of harp seal pups in coming weeks, despite the fact that more . . .
Lawmakers, businesses honored for their work to help animals
Each year, the Humane Society of the United States recognizes lawmakers and corporations who support and adopt humane principles in their work. This week, I was on Capitol Hill with colleagues from the Humane Society Legislative Fund to honor 173 lawmakers with our Humane Awards, . . .
Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo ends program allowing direct contact with wildlife
Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago says it has ended a program where visitors were allowed to touch or interact with wildlife, including reptiles and small mammals. The HSUS has long opposed the use of captive wild animals in public handling situations. Our undercover investigations at . . .
