A federal judge has dismissed a court challenge to Maryland’s landmark law prohibiting the sales of puppies and kittens in pet stores, giving animals and consumers a huge victory in the fight against puppy mills. The ruling today means the law, which went into effect in the state at the start of the...

New Mexico will no longer allow trophy hunters to prey upon its cougars with cruel snares and leghold traps. The State Game Commission just now voted to pass a proposal that would end all recreational trapping of these majestic animals, as well as limit trophy hunters to no more than two cougars...

It’s a difficult video to watch: a mob of men armed with sticks and spears repeatedly strike a tiger lying on the grass with shouts of “kill, kill.” They beat the animal so badly, according to media reports, that she died of shock hours later as a result of blood loss, broken bones and numerous...

Dr. Katherine Polak, the vice president of Companion Animals and Engagement for Humane Society International, recently returned from HSI’s dedicated veterinary training center in La Paz, Bolivia, the only such center in the country. In this guest blog, Dr. Polak gives us an inside look at how the...

A bill introduced in California this week would end all trophy hunting of bobcats, making the Golden State the first in the union to move decisively to protect one of our country’s most iconic native carnivores. Assembly bill 1254, introduced by Assembly Member Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles...

Millions of renters in the U.S. have pets, but pet restrictions is a primary barrier for many in securing housing. We are sponsoring a bill, AB 2216, with Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, that would create better to access rental housing in California by prohibiting blanket pet bans and requiring landlords to have reasonable justification for not allowing a pet in a rental unit. The bill would also prohibit landlords from charging additional pet rent and fees, one more way in which it supports more pet inclusive options for tenants.

California, which took the pioneering move of banning mountain lion trophy hunting three decades ago, is still standing strong for these iconic animals. This week, California lawmakers passed groundbreaking legislation to ban the use of certain rodenticides that have been held responsible for the...

As a bill to outlaw chemical tests on dogs that are not required by law advances in California, we are releasing a new poll today that shows overwhelming support among the state’s residents for ending such procedures. The poll, commissioned by the Humane Society of the United States and conducted by...

California has once again topped our 2018 Humane State rankings list, after overwhelmingly passing the strongest farm animal protection law in the world, and by enacting a law that bans the sale of cosmetics tested on animals -- the first U.S. state to do so. Oregon, which has some of the strongest...

Today, on World Lion Day, we celebrate lions as an iconic wild cat species, and we recommit to our campaigns to halt their exploitation and destruction in the United States and abroad. We are giving it all we’ve got. In the wild, of course, this iconic species is among the most imperiled of all with...

Each year, millions of homeless pets enter U.S. shelters and approximately two million dogs and cats are euthanized. This is a huge improvement since the 1970s when it was closer to 15 million, but it’s still too many. That’s why ending pet homelessness is a key goal for the Humane Society of the...

Several years ago, I was invited to speak at the Blessing of the Animals on World Animal Day at the Washington National Cathedral. After the talk, what came next was by far the best part of the event. Walking out into the courtyard, it was great to see so many dogs with wagging tails, cats in...

Last night at our Humane Awards event on Capitol Hill, we celebrated the work of lawmakers whose dedication to our cause made 2022 a banner congressional year for animals. In particular, we recognized the passage into law of the Big Cat Public Safety Act, and the lawmakers who led it. This was a...

India is home to more than 75 million street and community dogs, many of whom live in relative harmony with people. But there is still a high incidence of dog bites across the country. For more than a decade, our Humane Society International colleagues in India have been working toward humane alternatives to cruel and indiscriminate culls, promoting peaceful co-existence between street dogs and people and vaccinating and sterilizing more than 200,000 dogs and cats across the country. A new pilot project expands on this success in a fun and innovative way.

In recent months, China has made rapid progress toward quashing its infamous wildlife and dog meat trades. Last week, we got more good news on this front: China officially confirmed that dogs are pets and are not livestock for eating; and Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus is believed to have...

There is unprecedented focus on the challenges of animal welfare in China in the wake of COVID -19. The sharpening international scrutiny of its wildlife markets and wildlife trade will shake up animal protection policy in China and around the world. The news that a new classification scheme issued...

An act of bravery has saved 68 dogs just hours before slaughter, and we have local animal activists in China to thank. The rescue happened outside the city of Yulin, the site of the infamous dog meat “festival,” which takes place each year as the summer solstice begins. Activists flagged down a...

In China and a few other East Asian nations, there is a civil war playing out over the dog and cat meat trade. It is a war of ideas, attitudes, behaviors and worldviews. It is a fight that pits citizens of these nations who love dogs and cats as companion animals and want the best for them, against...

The Chinese city of Shenzhen has put forward a groundbreaking proposal to ban the consumption of dogs and cats, as well as several wild animals, as the coronavirus crisis continues to make headlines around the world. The coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 2,700 people and sickened more...

Each year, trophy hunters and trappers kill around 2,000 of Colorado’s bobcats, either for fun or to sell their furs overseas, usually in Russian and Chinese markets. The animals are hunted down with radio-collared dogs and shot at point-blank range, or they are trapped in cage traps with no...