Slaughterhouses have emerged as hotspots for the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, with more than 37,000 cases tied to meatpacking plants and more than 160 workers dead. But instead of curtailing practices that put workers at greater risk, like fast slaughter speeds that require them to...

Recently, the United Nations identified some of the top drivers of zoonotic diseases, like COVID-19, that spread from animals to humans. Not surprisingly, the top three factors specified align exactly with issues the Humane Society family of organizations named in May in our own global policy plan...

When a strain of bird flu sweeps through factory farms, where birds are tightly confined, the current “solution” involves immense cruelty. This is why it’s a genuine milestone in the fight against factory farming that the Humane Society of the United States, Farm Sanctuary and Mercy For Animals just...

Today, we celebrate great progress for egg-laying hens, which caps off a year of wins for farm animals across the country. Here’s some background about what just happened for hens in Massachusetts: In 2016, the Humane Society of the United States and a coalition of the leading Massachusetts and...

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak just signed a bill into law making Nevada the ninth state to ban the sale of eggs that come from hens in cages. The measure also bans the cage confinement of egg-laying hens in the state. Most hens used in the egg industry are confined to barren, wire cages called battery...

China today announced a ban on buying and selling wild animals for food, taking its most decisive action yet to halt a trade that has been implicated in the global coronavirus crisis, and that causes immense suffering for hundreds of thousands of animals each year, including endangered wildlife...

Brazil this week announced sweeping changes to its requirements for animal testing of agricultural pesticides, including eliminating the requirement for a controversial one-year toxicity test conducted on dogs. The move will potentially spare the lives of tens of thousands of animals used each year...

Colorado has just banned cages for egg-laying chickens and will require that eggs produced and sold in the state be cage-free. The bill, which passed both chambers of the state legislature in June, was signed moments ago by Gov. Jared Polis. The new law will spare approximately six million chickens...

A federal judge has just shut down the latest challenge to California’s foie gras ban, in an important ruling that reaffirms the right of states to enact legislation that protects animals in agriculture. Today’s district court ruling is the latest in a long-running saga that began in 2004, when...

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson The federal government has filed a brief strongly defending a law that would expand the ban on cockfighting in the United States to Puerto Rico, Guam and other U.S. territories. Cockfighters seeking to overturn the ban have challenged it in federal court, claiming it...

The nation’s most authoritative voice on infectious diseases today sounded a stern warning about the dangers of the wildlife trade and its relationship to pandemic diseases like COVID-19. In an interview with Fox News, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci called for the global community to pressure China and other...

We have just secured another monumental win for hens confined in tiny cages in the egg industry. Moments ago, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed legislation championed by the HSUS to require all eggs produced or sold in her state to come from cage-free facilities. With Oregon’s new law, the entire...

In a victory that will likely prevent significant suffering for millions of farm animals, the Supreme Court today snuffed out efforts by the factory farming lobby and associated interests to overturn landmark laws against cage confinement in California and Massachusetts, and a California ban on the...

The U.S. House has just approved provisions that would make highways safer for wildlife to cross and create safer conditions to transport horses across the country, as part of the Moving Forward Act, a package of reforms designed to restore America’s aging infrastructure. The measures approved today...

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson Slaughterhouses in the United States are already allowed to kill pigs at a lightning speed of up to 1,106 animals per hour. Under a new federal rule announced today, some of these facilities can dial up those speeds even further, with no limit whatsoever, creating an...

Utah has just passed a law prohibiting the confinement of egg-laying hens in tiny wire enclosures known as “battery cages,” becoming the eighth U.S. state to do so. Just moments ago, Gov. Spencer Cox signed the bill—which the state’s legislature passed earlier this month—marking another major...

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has just signed into law the strongest protections for egg-laying hens ever passed in any state legislature. This historic win will benefit approximately eight million hens each year, freeing them from cage confinement by the end of 2023. The measure builds upon our...

Animals are on a winning streak. Over just the last two days, we’ve had four terrific victories in U.S. federal courts that pave the way for progress for millions of animals. These include wildlife in the United States and overseas most often targeted by trophy hunters, animals in the fur industry...

Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it will be proposing a rule that would ban predator control on the National Wildlife Refuge System. When finalized, this rule will be a huge victory for countless wildlife living on refuges. The National Wildlife Refuge System is home to thousands...

Today, we filed a complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against the largest meat and poultry company in the world, JBS and its subsidiary, Pilgrim’s Pride. Together with the Center for Biological Diversity, and in partnership with the Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School, we allege that these companies are misleading investors about how they treat animals and about their climate and environmental impacts.