Around the world, animals used for meat, eggs and dairy often suffer on factory farms where they are treated as units of production rather than living, feeling creatures. The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International present comprehensive reports on animal agribusiness and...
The following is a list of suggestions we recommend to help keep your livestock safe during an emergency. Make a disaster plan to protect your property, your facilities and your animals. Create a list of emergency telephone numbers, including those of your employees, neighbors, veterinarian, state...
Yesterday, the United States Department of Agriculture took the first step to rectify a decision made during the previous administration which negatively impacted farm animal welfare standards. In January 2017, the USDA issued a sweeping rule that would have strengthened standards for animal welfare...
Around 2014, Kristie Middleton walked through a cafeteria at the University of California, hoping to see students chowing down on some of the healthy plant-based options she was encouraging food service providers to adopt. Middleton, then with the Humane Society of the United States, figured that...
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...
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...
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...
Video evidence (below) compiled by the Humane Society of the United States shows inhumane handling methods that may have endangered the health of children. A shocking undercover investigation by the Humane Society of the United States reveals widespread mistreatment of "downed" dairy cows—those who...
Time and again, undercover investigations and whistleblowers have documented rampant animal cruelty and other abuses in our nation’s factory farms and slaughterhouses. But instead of working to solve those problems, Big Ag is trying to simply cover them up. Whistleblowing employees have long played...
The Humane Society of the United States today released the results of an undercover investigation documenting shocking animal abuse at a Vermont slaughter plant. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture took decisive action today based on the information provided by...
Today, Gov. Steve Sisolak signed legislation that requires eggs sold in Nevada to be from cage-free facilities, no matter where the eggs were produced. It also bans the caging of egg-laying chickens in the state. The legislation also requires enrichments for egg-laying hens —like perches, dust...
Sheltering in place If evacuation is not possible, a decision must be made whether to confine large animals to an available shelter on your farm or leave them out in pastures. Owners may believe that their animals are safer inside barns, but in many circumstances, confinement takes away the animals'...
Our food system has major impacts on the environment. Agriculture occupies half of all ice-free land on Earth, and the global food system is responsible for 20%-37% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Animal products have a much larger environmental footprint than plant-based foods, using more...
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...
Most animals in our food system live in dismal conditions. Mother pigs are locked in gestation crates so small they can’t turn around. Egg-laying hens are crammed into cages so tightly they can’t even spread their wings. And chickens in the poultry industry are bred to grow so large so fast that...
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—The Supreme Court of the United States rejected a challenge by the North American Meat Institute to California’s Proposition 12, a Humane Society of the United States-led voter initiative that passed in 2018. Proposition 12 is the strongest law in the world addressing farm animal...