Category: Wildlife/Marine Mammals

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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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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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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South Dakota will allow trophy hunters to kill 30 percent of its mountain lions

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

The commission also voted to extend the hunting season by an additional month, through April of each year, and they increased the number of permits in Custer State Park, where hunters can use hounds to hunt mountain lions. Photo by Jim Zuckerman/Alamy Stock Photo

South Dakota has a notorious history of mismanaging its mountain lion population and playing into the hands of trophy hunters. In past years, the Mount Rushmore state has repeatedly increased its hunting quota for the animals, despite evidence that its lion population is on the . . . 

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Breaking news: European court upholds strong protections for wolves

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

Wolf populations were wiped out in parts of Europe because of indiscriminate hunting, and it is only recently that they have begun to rebound. Photo by Jamcgraw/iStock.com

Europe’s highest court has ruled that wolves in the European Union cannot be hunted, except in the rarest cases where member countries can prove there is no other option to end human-wolf conflict. The European Court of Justice ruling followed a challenge to a decision . . . 

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Breaking news: California leads the nation by banning fur sales, bobcat trophy hunting

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

The California law, which will go into effect in January 2023, is a monumental victory in the Humane Society of the United States’ decades-long campaign to end this cruel and unnecessary trade. Photo by Dreamstime

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson Moments ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom made history by signing into law two landmark bills: one banning the sale and production of all new fur products in California, and another prohibiting the trophy hunting of bobcats in his state. California, . . . 

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