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Author: Wayne Pacelle

The HSUS unites with family farmers and food retailers to drive positive reforms in animal agriculture

Animal Rights & Environment, The Humane Society of the United States

The National Pork Producers Council and other players in Big Ag are frightened by the idea of animal advocates and thousands of American farmers uniting to call for agricultural practices that make more sense for animals and for rural communities. Photo by iStockphoto

Since a dozen or so hoofed mammals and the red jungle fowl were domesticated for use in agriculture starting 10,000 years ago, humanity has put animals ever more squarely at the center of the human experience. By conscripting other species for meat, eggs, labor, and other purposes, ancient civilizations assumed duties and responsibilities to animals, . . . 

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Farm Bill should ban eating dogs and horses, along with instituting other key animal welfare reforms

Animal Rights & Environment, The Humane Society of the United States

This year’s Farm Bill presents an opportunity for Congress to pass several animal protection bills, two of which — the PAST Act and the SAFE Act — would take great strides to improve the lives of horses. Photo by Ashlei Martin/Black Beauty Ranch

Americans shouldn’t butcher dogs or horses, or enable the activity, and then sell the meat for human consumption, and Congress can make that the law of the land as it pieces together the far-flung provisions of the Farm Bill in the coming months. Our thriving agricultural sector is successful enough that we as a nation . . . 

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XOXO to Sodexo, Darden, and others for hitting their marks on animal welfare commitments

Animal Rights & Environment, The Humane Society of the United States

There has been an industry-wide shift towards cage-free purchasing practices resulting in large food service companies — like Sodexo and Darden — meeting animal welfare commitment goals well ahead of schedule. Today we celebrate these positive changes while still recognizing that there is still much work to be done to improve animal welfare conditions in industrial agriculture. Photo by David Paul Morris/For The HSUS

In 2015, Sodexo—one of the world’s largest food service companies—worked with The HSUS to announce that it would eliminate cage confinement of chickens from its egg supply by switching to 100 percent cage-free eggs. The company was an early mover in an industry-wide shift toward cage-free purchasing practices. But because conventional cage production came to . . . 

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Great Danes recuperating, NH political leaders rallying to strengthen laws

Animal Rights & Environment, The Humane Society of the United States

We’re housing the dogs, including several puppies, at a temporary shelter, where we are providing enrichment activities, including obstacle courses and scavenger hunts. Photo by Gina Lantella/The HSUS

Last month, I wrote about a startling rescue The HSUS carried out with law enforcement officials in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Eighty-four Great Danes had been living in a suspected puppy mill being run out of a mansion that looked grand on the outside but was rotten on the inside. The situation had deteriorated so badly . . . 

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U.S. House votes to end VA’s painful experiments on dogs

Animal Rights & Environment, The Humane Society of the United States

People are often distressed when they learn the details of dogs and other animals confined and suffering in laboratories. Whether it’s chimpanzees or animals used in chemical or cosmetic testing, we have worked to bring the plight of these animals to light and to end their suffering. Photo by iStockphoto

Yesterday, I called on you to take action to support a bipartisan amendment to a defense spending bill to halt federal funding of painful experiments on dogs at Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities for the upcoming fiscal year. So many of you responded, and Congress listened. The House passed the amendment last night by voice vote. . . . 

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The HSUS reports that bald eagles can’t soar with lead weighing them down

Animal Rights & Environment, The Humane Society of the United States

Gulliver, pictured above, was suffering from acute lead poisoning when he was found. He survived, but so many other birds suffer from lead poisoning, and their plight may never be discovered.

Iconic symbols of the United States and also one of the first animals to be protected under the Endangered Species Act, bald eagles are dying in alarming numbers, according to an HSUS survey of news reports. The analysis reveals that lead poisoning has afflicted more than 70 bald eagles in the last year. These, of . . . 

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Federal appeals court rules to maintain protections for Great Lakes wolves

Animal Rights & Environment, The Humane Society of the United States

Sport and trophy hunting programs targeting wolves are an anachronism, are anti-ecological, and diminish the economic health of regions with meaningful wolf populations. Photo by iStockphoto

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has sided with The HSUS and other animal welfare groups and ruled that federal protections for wolves under the Endangered Species Act should be maintained for 4,000 or so wolves inhabiting the northern reaches of the boreal forests of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. This was . . . 

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Illegal horse soring operators get shut down with their attacks on animal groups in the courts

Animal Rights & Environment, The Humane Society of the United States

Tennessee walking horse

The HSUS won’t relent in its campaign to rid the industry of the rampant practice of horse soring. Ultimately, what’s needed is for leaders in Congress to step up and pass the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act, that currently has the bipartisan support of 252 House co-sponsors. Photo by Lance Murphey/For The HSUS

Horse soring – a practice where unethical and remorseless trainers intentionally injure the front feet and legs of horses by mechanical or chemical means to exaggerate the animals’ gait in order to win ribbons in the show ring – is one of the most disgraceful forms of organized cruelty practiced in a highly organized way . . . 

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Doping scandal adds to reputational issues for greyhound racing industry

Animal Rights & Environment, The Humane Society of the United States

When it comes to greyhound racing, government should be part of the solution rather than the enabler of a problematic industry. Photo by iStockphoto

In Florida, the hub of a withering U.S. greyhound racing industry, regulators identified 12 greyhounds with cocaine in their blood at the Bestbet Orange Park near Jacksonville, according to The Washington Post and First Coast News. One trainer, Charles McClellan, handled all of the dogs, an incriminating fact pattern. Cocaine is just one of many . . . 

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California dairy cows perish, while the state’s almond growers see opportunities for disrupted milk market

Animal Rights & Environment, The Humane Society of the United States

It was the dairy industry’s own inattention to good animal husbandry that annually produced tens of thousands of downer cows – animals too sick or injured or battered to walk, and dragged into slaughterhouses to make ground beef.
Photo by Kathy Milani/The HSUS

Last week, a heat wave, in tandem with a lack of adequate housing and other safeguards for the animals, resulted in thousands of dairy cows perishing in the punishing heat of California’s Central Valley. It’s one of the worst weather-related incidents to strike dairy herds in recent memory, and rendering plants in California are so . . . 

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