Category: Public Policy (Legal/Legislative)

House votes to end shark fin sales in the U.S.

Animal Rights & Environment, Humane Society International, Public Policy (Legal/Legislative), The Humane Society of the United States, Wildlife/Marine Mammals

Sharks are now being killed 30 percent faster than they can reproduce. It is estimated that between 2000 and 2011, 16,815 metric tons of shark fins were traded worldwide. Photo by Ricardo Azoury/ostock

The U.S. House just said a decisive and resounding “no” to the terrible shark fin trade, in which fishermen cut the fins off sharks and dump them back into the waters to drown, be eaten alive by other fish, or bleed to death. House members . . . 

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Louisville, KY, urges Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul to stop blocking efforts to end horse soring, pass PAST Act

Animal Rights & Environment, Public Policy (Legal/Legislative), The Humane Society of the United States

Soring is the intentional infliction of pain on a horse’s legs or hooves to make the animal perform an artificial, high-stepping show ring gait known as the “Big Lick.” Photo by the HSUS

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson Council members of the largest city in Kentucky last night adopted a resolution with a strong message for the state’s two U.S. Senators, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul: co-sponsor and help enact the Prevent All Soring Tactics Act to . . . 

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New Mexico votes to end trapping of cougars

Animal Rights & Environment, Public Policy (Legal/Legislative), The Humane Society of the United States, Wildlife/Marine Mammals

Cougars, who once ranged from coast to coast, are now found in only 16 states and are considered endangered in Florida. Their numbers have been decimated by trapping, trophy hunting and habitat loss. Photo by Jim Zuckerman/Alamy Stock Photo

New Mexico will no longer allow trophy hunters to prey upon its cougars with cruel snares and leghold traps. The State Game Commission just now voted to pass a proposal that would end all recreational trapping of these majestic animals, as well as limit trophy . . . 

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New poll shows more Floridians than ever oppose hunting of black bears

Animal Rights & Environment, Public Policy (Legal/Legislative), The Humane Society of the United States, Wildlife/Marine Mammals

During the 2015 hunting season in Florida, 304 bears were killed in just two days, including 179 female bears. Approximately 38 of those were lactating, meaning these bears had cubs they were still feeding and caring for. Photo by Anton Sorokin/Alamy Stock Photo

Florida authorities are now considering a proposal to manage the state’s black bear population, including a plan that could open the animals to the sights of trophy hunters. But a new statewide poll shows that more than two-thirds of Floridians are against the idea of . . . 

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HSUS, HSI and partners threaten to sue U.S. for failing to protect pangolins

Animal Rights & Environment, Humane Society International, Public Policy (Legal/Legislative), The Humane Society of the United States, Wildlife/Marine Mammals

More than a million pangolins were killed by poachers between 2004 and 2014. The demand has been driven by the fact that pangolin scales and meat are prized for their use in traditional “medicines” and as a culinary delicacy in Asia.
Photo by Prof. Ray Jansen Francois Meyer/African Pangolin Working Group

Pangolins are the most illegally trafficked mammals in the world. For decades they have been poached indiscriminately throughout their range in Africa and Asia, driving their numbers in the wild to dangerously low levels. That’s why, four years ago, the Humane Society of the United . . . 

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PACT Act passes U.S. Senate two weeks after clearing House; Bill now awaits Trump’s signature

Animal Rights & Environment, Public Policy (Legal/Legislative), The Humane Society of the United States

The PACT Act is a no-brainer for most Americans and this is the third time that the full Senate has voted to pass it. Photo by ConstantinCornel/iStock.com

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson A long-awaited law that would make some of the most brutal acts of animal cruelty federal felonies is just one signature away from becoming reality. The U.S. Senate moments ago unanimously passed the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) . . . 

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ProTECT Act introduced in Congress to ban trophy hunting horror show

Animal Rights & Environment, Humane Society International, Public Policy (Legal/Legislative), The Humane Society of the United States, Wildlife/Marine Mammals

A 2017 nationwide poll showed that 69 percent of American voters oppose trophy hunting altogether. Voters also oppose allowing American trophy hunters to bring home the bodies or parts of the elephants and lions they kill abroad by a margin of more than five to one. Photo by Johan Swanepoel/Alamy Stock Photo

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson President Trump has called trophy hunting a “horror show,” but on his watch, the Department of the Interior has dismantled regulations to protect wildlife and made it easier to import trophies of endangered and threatened animals. We have been . . . 

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Shocking HSI investigation reveals terror, suffering of foxes and mink on Finland’s fur farms

Animal Rights & Environment, Humane Society International, Public Policy (Legal/Legislative), The Humane Society of the United States, Wildlife/Marine Mammals

Photos taken during the investigation show animals with eye infections and gaping wounds, including a mink with a large, bloody hole in the head. Photo by Kristo Muurimaa/Oikeutta Elaimille

Every day, we are making groundbreaking advances in our fight against fur. Major fashion houses and retailers, from Gucci to Burlington, have gone fur-free and just last weekend, California became the first U.S. state to ban fur sales. But today, in a sad reminder of . . . 

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Illegal government advisory panel touts “benefits” of trophy hunting

Animal Rights & Environment, Public Policy (Legal/Legislative), The Humane Society of the United States, Wildlife/Marine Mammals

The panel criticized the Endangered Species Act, the bedrock U.S. law protecting at-risk wildlife, for getting in the way of trophy hunters importing their animal kills. Photo by the HSUS

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson It may be hard to believe that a group of celebrity and professional trophy hunters, a director of the National Rifle Association, and the president of the world’s largest trophy hunting group are advising our government on wildlife conservation. . . . 

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U.S. House passes the PACT Act, cracking down on extreme animal cruelty

Animal Rights & Environment, Public Policy (Legal/Legislative), The Humane Society of the United States

The PACT Act builds on the federal animal crush video law that was enacted in 2010 and banned the creation, sale and distribution of obscene videos that show live animals being crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled or subjected to other forms of heinous cruelty. Photo by Denis Zbukarev/iStock.com

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson The U.S. House has just voted overwhelmingly to crack down on some of the worst and most malicious acts of animal cruelty, including crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating and impaling live animals and sexually exploiting them. The watershed vote takes . . . 

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