Many Marches ago, as I mindlessly contorted myself to pull a deep-rooted weed from the garden patch, my thoughts turned longingly to the smell of fresh basil that would eventually grace what I saw as a still-barren vegetable graveyard. This spot was not so lifeless as it appeared, I would soon learn...
Fertility control: Essential to American wild burros and mustangs While wild burros are legally viewed in the same light as the American mustang, protected as a living symbol of the American West, the wild horses often seem to receive most of the public's attention. But burros have played a critical...
WASHINGTON - The Humane Society of the United States released today the results of a disturbing undercover investigation into two wildlife killing contests in Frederick County and in Waldorf, Maryland. Investigators documented the judging portions of the events, with participants lining up rows of...
Keith Dane, senior director of equine protection for the Humane Society of the United States released this statement in response to yet another tragedy within the horse racing industry after a horse had to be euthanized, Saturday, after the final leg of the Triple Crown: "As the third race of the...
When a snake bit Lolo, one of 62 chimpanzees Humane Society International cares for in Liberia, sanctuary director and veterinarian Richard Ssuna gave him antibiotics and pain medicine hidden in rice balls. Lolo lives on one of six mangrove islands where animals were retired from research starting...
WASHINGTON—The Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act, H.R. 3090, which aims to put an end to the cruel practice of horse soring, has been reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives with a strong bipartisan set of 185 original co-sponsors led by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Steve Cohen, D...
Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a long-awaited final rule that would help end horse soring, an extremely cruel practice in which trainers secretly and deliberately cause intense pain to show horses to produce the “Big Lick,” an exaggerated, high-stepping gait rewarded by judges...
In a quiet corner of Black Beauty Ranch, on a stone plinth beneath a maple tree, there’s an oval etching of a man and a burro. The man is Cleveland Amory, author and founder of the Fund for Animals, and the burro is Friendly, one of the first animals to call the sanctuary home. The two met in 1980...
The suspect creeping up near my front fence was a tough character—broad-leafed and thick-stemmed and threatening to invade my property and swallow it whole if I didn’t act fast. There was no hesitation that summer morning as I headed to work: Off with his head! It was a decision made all too easy by...
Soring involves the intentional infliction of pain to a horse's legs or hooves in order to force the horse to perform an artificial, exaggerated gait. Caustic chemicals—blistering agents like mustard oil, diesel fuel and kerosene—are applied to the horse's limbs, causing extreme pain and suffering...