Today I’m turning the blog over to my colleague Rebecca Aldworth, executive director of Humane Society International/Canada. For nearly two decades, Rebecca has been on the literal front lines of the fight to save animals, traveling to the ice floes of the Northwest Atlantic to document Canada’s...

Wyoming’s crusade to declare open season on grizzly bears hit an unprecedented low this week when Gov. Mark Gordon signed into law a statute that gives state officials the authority to open a trophy hunting season on grizzly bears and relocate bears to other states without federal authorization. The...

Most Americans do not support the wanton killing of wolves and other wildlife by trophy hunters and want them protected. But state wildlife managers, instead of respecting the majority and the science, are often eager to appease a shrinking population of trophy hunters and trappers. Nowhere is this...

Back in the 1940s, when government scientists were asked to check cosmetics for safety, they turned to rabbits. Dr. J.H. Draize and colleagues at the Food and Drug Administration dropped chemicals into the animals’ eyes and applied them to their skin, then assigned scores to the redness, swelling...

A Manhattan Supreme Court judge has imposed a remarkable $3.9 million in fines on the now-closed Chelsea Kennel Club and its former owner, found liable for pushing sick puppies upon an unsuspecting public, and ordered them to set up a restitution fund for the consumers the pet store betrayed. This...

As a Massachusetts native, I’m excited about my home state’s latest positive action for animal protection, the passage of a comprehensive omnibus anti-cruelty bill, “PAWS II,” a few days ago by both chambers of the state legislature. PAWS II, which awaits the signature of Governor Charlie Baker...

Just recently, I had the pleasure of meeting virtually with our organization’s summer intern cohort and the opportunity to meet several interns in person at our Taking Action for Animals conference. I look forward to these meetings in every internship cycle, and so do the senior colleagues who...

Missouri has proposed a hunting season on its small and still-recovering population of black bears, who were once nearly wiped out because of overhunting and logging, which decimated their habitat. The Missouri Department of Conservation estimates that there are now approximately 540 to 840 bears in...

The Missouri state wildlife commission will vote this Friday on whether to allow trophy hunters to target the state’s small and still-recovering black bear population. If the proposal passes, up to 500 individuals could get permits to kill bears, including cubs unaccompanied by their mothers. Only a...

The past four years have seen a tragic, record-breaking spike in the numbers of grizzly bears killed in conflicts with humans in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. In fact, more than 70 percent of grizzly bear deaths in this region are now caused by human activity, and almost all are preventable...

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson Just weeks after the U.S. House of Representatives’ historic passage of the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act (H.R. 693), there’s more good news for Tennessee walking horses. The Nashville, TN Metro Council has approved a resolution supporting passage of PAST and...

Last week, a trophy hunter killed a mountain lion in Nebraska and posted a photo of himself on social media with the dead animal, a one-and-a-half-year-old male. While most Americans would find this unnecessary killing of a majestic native carnivore horrifying by itself, the facts behind this...

A decade ago, our undercover investigation delved into the bizarre world of Joseph Maldonado-Passage (aka Joe Exotic) and his roadside zoo, GW Exotics. For years, Joe and his band of untrained workers kept hundreds of big cats and other wild animals in captivity in barren conditions, bred them to...

New Jersey is poised to allow trophy hunters to kill the state’s beloved black bears starting next month using barbaric methods like baiting the animals with piles of rotting sugary food. The plan would also allow hunters to chase bears off state lands, where bear hunting is not allowed, and onto...

Florida authorities are now considering a proposal to manage the state’s black bear population, including a plan that could open the animals to the sights of trophy hunters. But a new statewide poll shows that more than two-thirds of Floridians are against the idea of killing bears, with the...

In recent years, our nation has witnessed an epidemic of people acquiring exotic wildlife as pets. Wild animals, including lions, tigers, bears, chimpanzees, monkeys, venomous snakes, alligators and other dangerous species are readily available from breeders and even over the Internet. In private...

We’ve known “Joe Exotic” (Joe Schreibvogel) for a long while, and we know him well. This week, we’re releasing additional footage from the Humane Society of the United States investigations focusing on Joe, Doc Antle and other wild animal breeders and traders that began in 2011. For those fighting...

Last week, Israel became the first country in the world to ban the sale of new fur products used for fashion. We want to share why this is meaningful progress for animals and for advocates around the globe fighting for a fur-free future. A strong recognition of the inherent cruelty to animals in the...

You’ve seen those cute videos and heartwarming news stories: kangaroos hopping through the streets of Adelaide, Australia; penguins exploring Cape Town, South Africa; deer grazing on the lawn of an apartment complex in London; bears stretching their legs in Yosemite National Park; and coyotes...

Less than 24 hours after a court order restored Endangered Species Act protections for Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bears, the mischief in Washington, D.C. has begun again. The ink was hardly dry on Judge Dana Christensen’s order before Congresswoman Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., last night advanced...