Our  fight to stop the sale of puppy mill puppies in pet stores  is coming to a head in Florida, a state in which we’ve helped to pass over 80 local ordinances prohibiting those sales. A new bill in its state legislature, SB 994/HB 849, would void popular  pet store ordinances recently enacted in...

Note: This blog is part of a series highlighting how we fight—and win—for animals. For this post, I join with Sara Amundson, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, to tell the story about how we tackle institutionalized animal suffering by changing laws and government regulations. “Why...

The holidays were busier and happier in at least three HSUS households this season, as colleagues stepped up to care for three puppies relinquished by the American Kennels pet store in New York City. The relinquishments of Rocky, an Akita, Rosie, a Morkie and Pogo, a Jack Russell terrier, came on...

Last week, members of our Animal Rescue Team assisted law enforcement authorities with the rescue of more than 20 dogs and puppies from an alleged neglect situation at a residential property in Vidalia, in northeast Louisiana along the Mississippi River. This situation was one of many our Animal...

Lovie Langston’s complaint came to our Stop Puppy Mills team in December 2022. “I am paying $7,000 for ashes,” she stated. Langston said she purchased a Maltese puppy whom she named Ziva Girl as a holiday gift for herself and her family at the Petland (Bellaire) store in Houston, Texas in November...

UPDATE 11/22/22: The lawsuit has been amended with another complainant who claims she was sold a sick puppy by Petland Webster. Additional claims may be added to the lawsuit in the coming weeks if more potential plaintiffs come forward. When Stephanie Gonzalez and her 7-year-old son went to the...

This week, Indianapolis became the 450th locality in the nation to prohibit the sale of puppy mill puppies in pet stores. The passage of this ordinance also means that half of the 20 largest cities in the nation won’t allow puppy mill puppies to be sold in retail pet stores—a strong statement to...

The mistreatment of animals is a matter of injustice, and so it’s only fitting that the U.S. Department of Justice stepped in to stop cruelty at Even Keel Exotics in Temperance, Michigan. The DOJ’s recent resolution of a complaint against the facility’s owner, animal dealer Zachery Keeler, resulted...

In a country where political tempers often run hot, agreement can seem incredibly rare. But, regardless of party affiliation, a consensus is emerging that our companion animals should be treated with basic decency—and this is not how kitten and puppy mills treat dogs and cats. While we advocate for...

Our fight to stop the sale of puppy mill puppies in pet stores is one of our biggest, one we’re waging against fierce industry opposition across the country. The pet store and puppy mill interests are out in force right now, and we’re taking them on in flashpoint battles in Florida and Texas. The...

When you’re a passionate animal welfare advocate, you might sometimes feel like a bit of an outsider. Friends, family members and co-workers who don’t share your passion might not grasp why you spend your weekends trapping community cats to get spayed or neutered. Or why you foster animals from the...

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about Proposition 12, California’s landmark law to address animal cruelty and public health issues stemming from the worst factory farming practices, such as confining pregnant pigs in gestation crates so small they can hardly move. Jon Lovvorn...

When sheriff’s office deputies entered Tree of Life Kennels in Sumner County, Kansas, last month they were shocked at what they saw—and smelled. Dozens of dogs, including golden retrievers, French bulldogs, terriers and other breeds, were found in filthy and decrepit living conditions, many of them...

When Jaqueline Villegas met her family’s new puppy at Denver International Airport, she knew right away the puppy was not the healthy Shar-Pei she had seen on PuppyFind.com, a huge online marketplace for puppies with over 50,000 puppies listed for sale. PuppyFind is also a site that the Humane...

It truly gave me a lift to watch the Weather Channel’s two-part feature on our animal rescue work ( here and here ). I’m immensely proud of my Animal Rescue Team colleagues. I am also grateful to them, and I admire them for their courage, compassion and calm in the face of emergencies that upend the...

In recent years, we’ve made incredible progress for dogs in puppy mills by raising broad awareness of their plight and by advocating for the passage of local ordinances and state laws that prohibit the sale of puppies in pet shops . Fighting this progress are those who benefit from selling dogs in...

Breeding dogs at puppy mills rarely get to retire. Most of the mother dogs are considered spent at just 6 years old because they can no longer reliably produce litters. They’re only halfway through their lives, and if given a chance, they could live into their teens, but too often, the end of their...

It was November 2022 when, at the request of the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office, our Animal Rescue Team arrived at a property in Ohio that seemed abandoned. Inside two ramshackle barns, filled with cobwebs and feet of filth and manure, there were animals struggling to survive. The horse who would later be named Magnolia had a ruptured eye that had scarred over and was pacing anxiously in her pen as rescuers surveyed the conditions of all the horses.

It’s no secret that puppy and kitten mills treat dog and cat mothers and fathers like moneymaking machines , bred over and over with little to no regard for their health or well-being. It is simply no way for a dog or cat to live. The suffering of these animal families is what drives us in our work...