Our work with law enforcement agencies across the country has allowed us to crack down on a wide array of animal cruelties — like cockfighting. Photo by Meredith Lee/The HSUS
Yesterday, we hosted John Thompson, the deputy executive director of the National Sheriffs’ Association, at our national headquarters and bestowed upon him a Humane Leadership Award for helping bring humane sensibilities into the consciousness of the nation. Thompson is straight out of central casting as a law enforcement man, yet his heart is just as . . .
Taiwan’s legislature took a huge step in ending the global dog meat trade by amending its anti-cruelty law and banning the trade and the consumption of dogs. In addition they were the first to include a ban on the cat trade. Photo by Jean Chung/For HSI
This week, our fight against the global dog meat trade got an enormous lift with Taiwan’s legislature amending its anti-cruelty law and banning the trade and the consumption of our best friends. Taiwan becomes the latest nation in the region to make an emphatic statement and to curb the trade and the first to include . . .
farm operation in Cattaraugus County, NY, is not difficult
—
but it is still hard. It is hard because it is painful to think that the beautiful beings we now know so well came from this hell on earth.
It is hard because these loving, caring, and kind individuals were living in darkness — some never seeing the light, feeling the sun, or touching the earth for years on end.
Matilda, whose original rescuers took her babies away, was suffering from horrible mastitis, emaciation and exhaustion. Now. at Farm Sanctuary, she is happy and thriving.
All of the animals living in the barns were living in darkness with no opportunities to venture into the sun or fresh air.
It is hard because these fragile, gentle creatures went without care
− some without shelter in the dead of winter.
The geese were left outside without shelter in the dead of winter, but mud season was actually worse. Due to improper housing, and living in areas with multiple deceased animals, the girls arrived with a rare and very difficult to treat parasite.
It is hard because mothers, who we know love their children, had to see them taken away to be sold for food, and then were forced to reproduce and create more children to love and lose.
From a birthing pen, where baby after baby is taken, Izzy and Daniella had their next babies at our sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY. These babies, as you can see, are as big as mom and still with their family.
So we remember. We cry for those who never had a chance to get out
− for the hundreds who died on that farm. We feel pain for the babies sold for lamb as their mothers were forced to let them go.
When we arrived to pick up the sheep and goats, many were being removed or had been removed by local farmers. We could only take some of the remaining animals. Gabby, above back left, was one who made it to Farm Sanctuary.
We remember those who were left to survive in barns so filthy that humans were not allowed to enter without respirators; where our eyes and throats burned from the ammonia in the air.
Beeley Pippin, before and after. Arriving dirty, emaciated, and in poor feather condition, this girl has made a huge change for the better.
But we also celebrate. We celebrate because those who are at sanctuary are feeling the earth, soaking up the sun, protected by shelter, able to live with their loved ones, and seen as someone, not something. We celebrate because we know them as the individual beings that they are
Gabby, seen in the photo above where she was penned since being born, now enjoying freedom and love.
And we celebrate because their stories will be told over and over again, so that future generations will know that these animals’ lives were worth living.
Orcas are complex creatures with strong family bonds, and killing even one member of a pod can have devastating effects on the others. Photo by iStockphoto
You’ll sometimes hear apologists suggest that whaling is compatible with whale watching, and that the two can flourish together. But the fact is, they really can’t, as a staggering incident last week, off the coast of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, made plain. There, according to local media reports, tourists on a whale-watching expedition were . . .
Three rhinos are poached every day for their horns. Above, armed game wardens watch over an endangered northern white rhino at a nature conservancy in Kenya. Photo by Alamy
It’s an alarming and revealing photo – a group of four game wardens in Kenya, guns in hand, surrounding a large adult male northern white rhino. That picture tells two stories: one revealing human avarice, but the other reminding us of human grace and resolve to stop the savage, serial killing of one of the . . .
The nation is waking up to cruelty as an indicator of social pathology. First offenders typically start on animals, and then turn their violent instincts to people. Photo by iStockphoto
I’ll get to that matter, but some background first. In 2014, South Dakota became the 50th state to adopt felony-level penalties for malicious cruelty. That action puts an exclamation point on the notion that opposition to the worst forms of cruelty is a universal value in the United States and that people who commit such . . .
In The Humane Economy, I argue that we are at a turning point in our relationship with animals, and when we look at animal issues through an economic lens, there’s a more compelling argument than ever to do right by animals.
It’s fitting, it seems, that on the launch day of the paperback version of The Humane Economy: How Innovators and Enlightened Consumers Are Transforming the Lives of Animals in bookstores, Burger King and Tim Horton’s announced new policies concerning the welfare of chickens raised in meat production. These major food retailers are announcing new space . . .
Ending dog-meat eating, and shuttering thousands of dog meat farms, is a top priority for Humane Society International. Estimates suggest that butchers kill 30 million dogs a year across Asia. Above, a dog on a dog meat farm in South Korea. Photo by Jean Chung/For HSI
If we are going to ask the rest of the world to end the era of dog- and cat-meat consumption, we have to establish a bright-line legal standard against the practice in the United States. We took one big step toward achieving that goal today by working with some of our strongest congressional allies. U.S. . . .
As much as we might disagree with the court’s decision, it provides an unfortunate but nonetheless compelling argument for Congress to keep its nose out of ESA listing and delisting actions. Photo by Alamy
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to strip Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in Wyoming was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals on Friday, all but clearing the way for the state to allow an open season on the small population of wolves surviving in the state (only the wolves who . . .
Hunters and anglers deposit tens of thousands of tons of lead in our environment, and it is estimated that between 10 and 20 million birds and other animals die each year from lead poisoning. Above, an eastern screech owl with lead poisoning being cared for at one of our wildlife care centers. Photo by Cassie Langtry/The HSUS
So much for sober-minded consultation, careful study of the data, and thoughtful analysis from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists and other experts on his staff. Before the chair in his office was even warm, and just after he dismounted from his horse, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke undid a director’s order to phase out the . . .
