Whether you’re a bison, a Western box turtle, a burrowing owl or any other wild creature of the prairie, a refuge belonging to the Southern Plains Land Trust is an awesome place to be. Why? One of the newest members of the Humane Stewardship Alliance, the Southern Plains Land Trust manages a growing...

It’s not easy to accept that all things must eventually come to an end. We often go into denial in the face of the inevitable and airbrush away the aftermath when it does occur. So it probably shouldn’t have surprised me to read about a gardener who glossed over the demise of an entire tree with...

As monarch butterflies and hummingbirds headed south this fall, I dreamt of following my favorite snowbirds to Mexico and Central America. But I stayed home instead, where I have a window onto the spectacular world of winter wildlife: northern flickers tossing maple leaves with their beaks in search...

The mountain lion known as P-47 survived fires, freeways and hostile ranchers. But in March, the 3-year-old big cat—tracked by California biologists since his kitten days—succumbed to a hidden hazard: an insidious form of food poisoning. Six anticoagulant compounds—chemicals used to kill rodents...

As the world stopped turning and the fires started burning this summer, there was a hole in my heart that only a chipmunk could fill. Shy at first, the distant object of my affection warmed to my presence, until one day we even had breakfast on the patio together: a coffee for me and a snail for Mr...

While soaking her raised beds in preparation for tomato planting last summer, Gail Goldman was startled to see a tiny, waterlogged creature pop up out of the soil. Later another one briefly poked out his head. “Basically, I was watering shrews,” the Seattle gardener says of her foiled vegetable...

Prairie dogs are one of the most controversial and widely misunderstood wildlife species in North America. Since early European migration onto the North American grasslands, prairie dogs have been celebrated as an essential keystone species for healthy grasslands ecosystems, but also vilified and...

By some human standards, my pond is a hot mess. Underneath and around the water lilies are fallen leaves, branches and other debris of decomposing plants. Along the edges, sea oats, sedges and swamp sunflowers hug the rocks. But if humans are picky in their desire for orderliness, frogs are just as...

Springfield, ILLINOIS─Today, the Humane Society of the United States released the shocking results of a February 2023 undercover investigation at Nuggets Night Vision Coyote Hunt, a wildlife killing contest in Mendon, Illinois. The HSUS investigator attended the weigh-in event that followed the 45...

CARSON CITY, Nevada─Today, the Humane Society of the United States released the disturbing results of two January 2023 undercover investigations of wildlife killing contests in Nevada, demonstrating the need for a state law to ban them. The HSUS investigator attended the contest weigh-ins at which...

In March, as people struggled to understand how the precursor of the virus that causes COVID-19 emerged from horseshoe bats in southern China and reached humans in the central city of Wuhan, Humane Society International policy specialist Peter Li fielded one question again and again: “Why do Chinese...

If you spot a coyote in your neighborhood, relax: Most coyotes avoid people. “Seeing a coyote out during the day is not a cause for alarm, especially in the spring and summer when they’re out looking for food for their pups,” says Lynsey White, HSUS director of humane wildlife conflict resolution...

The Humane Society of the United States works with community leaders and animal care and control agencies to create Wild Neighbors communities, where humane and non-lethal solutions are given priority.