Fashion seasons and runway shows without animal fur. Organ-on-a-chip technologies for testing cosmetics and other products. A transition to cage-free and crate-free systems that can change the lives of countless chickens and pigs in vast food supply networks. Plant-based meals in major restaurant...
Reports from Denmark this week are making it clearer than ever that mink fur farming is a public health minefield and an animal welfare nightmare. The European nation announced that it would slaughter all 15 million mink on its 1,000 fur farms following concerns that a mutation in the virus that has...
The year 2020 has seen phenomenal progress in our work to end the use of fur. Nations moved to announce an end to fur production and/or sales, citing the “immoral” nature of this trade that results in the suffering and death of millions of animals each year for nothing more than a coat or trim on a...
Today, we released the grisly findings of three undercover investigations into wildlife killing contests in Virginia, including the largest contest held east of the Mississippi River. The heartbreaking callousness and carnage our investigators saw at the weigh-ins of the three contests, which took...
I remember when fall fashion used to be practically synonymous with fur on the runways and in the stores of many of the top luxury brands. Not so, anymore. We’ve seen a paradigm shift over the past several years, with major company after major company announcing fur-free policies, Elle Magazine no...
This week, we released footage from the most recent undercover investigation of five fur farms, this time in northern China, the source of most of the world’s fur. What we see is what we’ve come to expect with fur farm investigations: foxes, raccoon dogs and mink pacing their cages frantically, a repetitive behavior associated with mental decline, and filthy, feces-encrusted cages packed so close together that the risk of zoonotic disease spread was nearly palpable.
On the runways at the just-ended New York Fashion Week, there was pink tulle and tattered denim, black mesh and purple fringe, handmade kente cloth and 3D-printed metallic apparel. The Area brand used the opportunity to debut its faux fur gowns with imitation bones and puffer jackets printed to look...
Inscribing the humane treatment of animals into our laws takes years, and so we are heartened by some key measures at the state level taking effect in 2024, which are the result of so much rallying and advocacy, and which will contribute to shaping the humane world we envision. As of Jan. 1, 2024, California’s Proposition 12, widely considered the world’s strongest law for the protection of farm animals, now enjoys full implementation.
On Dec. 31, Florida's greyhound racetracks closed for good as a result of a ballot measure we helped pass with our partner groups in 2018. That win brought down what was once the stronghold of this "sport" and effectively sounded the death knell for greyhound racing in the United States. The work...
We recently celebrated progress toward protecting wolves, bears, coyotes, cougars, foxes, bobcats and other native carnivores living on the vast U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service advanced a rule that would protect them from lethal and flawed “predator control” programs. Until the rule is finalized, however, their lives still hang in the balance, waiting for a decision that could mean the difference between life and death. Such is the power that public policy has over the lives of animals. And it’s just one decision that we’re urging the Biden administration to make before election season stalls critical activity to finalize protections for so many species.
Our mission is to build a more humane world for animals, and over the past few weeks, I have been reflecting on our progress toward this vision by recounting 2023’s wins for animals of all kinds: wildlife, dogs, cats and other companion animals, animals used in labs, and animals farmed for food and for fur.
The cruelty of fur is on terrifying display in these scenes from a fur farm, captured on video by investigators working with Humane Society International. Foxes are pulled out of their cages, one by one, usually by their tails as they try to cling to the wire walls in terror. Each is thrown to the...
Wildfires ravaging the Australian continent have killed 25 people and are taking an unprecedented toll on the country’s rich wildlife and other animals. We have all seen these heart-wrenching images in the media: dead koalas scattered across scorched landscapes; frightened cows standing under orange...
The year 2019 saw many pioneering and major wins in our work to end the cruelty of fur, both here in the United States and across the globe. For the first time ever, lawmakers in a U.S. state voted to ban all fur sales and manufacturing. The largest clothing retailer in the United States went fur...
One of my fondest memories from this year was celebrating the monumental progress we made toward ending the fur trade at our To the Rescue! gala in New York. The event showcased the next generation of sustainable, animal-friendly materials—like leather made from mushrooms and fur made from plants...
Californians can now officially celebrate the end of fur sales in the Golden State. A statewide ban on the sale of new animal fur products went into effect on Jan. 1, 2023, making California the first state in the U.S. to implement such a ban. Its citizens have waited more than three years for the...