Some farmers provide their animals with room to root, roam and roost, but the majority of eggs, meat and dairy products sold in the United States come from factory farms, where animals are kept tightly confined in spaces barely larger than their bodies. They are never allowed to express their...
If you've ever been pressed up against total strangers in a crowded elevator, you may have an inkling of what life is like for egg-laying hens in factory farms around the world. Even sharing that crammed elevator with friends would get old real fast. So imagine eight hens jammed into a battery cage...
Imagine a chicken. Picture her downy white feathers and small, intense eyes. Maybe she’s sitting on a nest, softly clucking. Perhaps she’s scratching in the dirt, a quaint red barn in silhouette behind her. Cows graze contentedly nearby; a pig snuffles in the mud. It’s an idyllic vision, familiar...
As of June 2021, 30% of egg-laying chickens in the United States are cage-free. A decade ago, that number was just 5%. “It may be the greatest reduction of animal suffering in U.S. history,” says Josh Balk, HSUS vice president of Farm Animal Protection. “That percentage represents about 100 million...
WASHINGTON—Today Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed groundbreaking legislation that will eliminate cruel cage confinement of egg-laying chickens and require eggs produced and sold in the state be cage-free. When fully phased-in on Dec. 31, 2024, approximately six million chickens each year will be...
Fresh from the trauma of World War II, mid-century Americans imagined a peaceful, prosperous future. They dreamed of moon rockets and flying cars. They envisioned house-cleaning robots. And, after years of rationing, they hoped for bountiful meals. Most particularly, they hungered for chicken. But...
In 2019, Sara Shields, in southern India for workshops with Humane Society International colleagues, drove into the countryside near Bangalore to visit industrial chicken operations. At the first farm she stopped at, she saw hundreds of white-feathered birds in long open-sided barns with burlap...
WASHINGTON—A lawsuit filed today in the federal District Court in Maryland charges the National Institutes of Health with violating federal law when it decided not to send to sanctuary 44 federally owned chimpanzees held at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in New Mexico. “Every day that goes by is...
The Humane Society of the United States will be providing over $100,000 in grants to equine rescues experiencing financial hardship as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The grants are made possible by donors and funding partners. Additionally, the Humane Society of the United States’ Responsible...
You can’t blame Eddie Garza for wondering how he got here. The plant-based chef, a food and nutrition manager for the Humane Society of the United States, is an animal welfare superstar with a focus on reaching Latino communities. He’s been featured in media outlets throughout the U.S. and abroad...
We are alive at a pivotal moment: For ourselves, for the Earth and for every animal on the planet. If we all are to survive, we must change the way we eat. Which sounds dire. But it is within our grasp. Think of it as a chance for a better world. A great and shared adventure. A journey to a place...
Kristie Middleton never thought she’d spend Thanksgiving cuddling a turkey. “I just never thought of turkeys as wanting human attention or wanting human interaction,” she says. But then again, she’d never met Kona. Several years ago, Middleton was visiting Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary in French...
As Kim Porter makes the morning rounds on her northeastern Massachusetts farm—checking in on the geese, horses and ponies—the special greeting from her burro, Nacho, entices the biggest grin, his squeaky little “hees” without the “haws.” “He stands in the back of his stall,” Porter says, “and when...
The injured foal has tried to find some respite from the harsh glare of midday, wandering into a stranger’s backyard to seek the shade of two palm trees there. Now she lies on her side, barely moving, just off the main street out of Esperanza, a pretty little town on the island of Vieques, Puerto...
The real-life story behind Harry and Snowman, a documentary by director and producer Ron Davis, reads like the plot of a fictional blockbuster: The film shares how Harry deLeyer (a Dutch immigrant who fled to the U.S. to escape the Nazis) and Snowman (the horse he saved from slaughter) became...
WASHINGTON—A coalition of animal welfare, consumer safety and worker rights organizations commend U.S. Reps. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., for introducing the Safe Line Speeds in COVID-19 Act, which would protect workers, animals, and consumers from the...
WASHINGTON – A coalition of animal welfare, consumer safety and worker rights organizations commend U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-NJ, for introducing the Safe Line Speeds During COVID-19 Act, which would protect workers, animals and consumers from the dangers posed by higher line speeds in poultry, pig...