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The great majority of animal use for experimental purposes can best be described as “curiosity-driven” research. Animals who have been purpose-bred, captured from the wild, or purchased from pounds, animal shelters, and animal brokers can be subject to a seemingly limitless variety of experimental

A large number of laws and regulations have been enacted worldwide to control the marketing of drugs, vaccines, food additives, pesticides, industrial chemicals, and other substances of potential toxicological concern. Such regulations often prescribe a specific regime of toxicity testing to

In the time since the most commonly used toxicity tests were conceived, there has been a revolution in biology and biotechnology. Advances in tissue engineering and robotics have given birth to rapid “high throughput” in vitro (cell culture) systems, while emerging technologies such as

As public opposition towards animal testing has grown, animal use has been broadly prohibited where alternative methods are “reasonably and practicably available” (e.g., EU Directive 86/609 and legislation in the U.S. states of California [PDF], New Jersey [PDF] and New York [PDF]). Animal testing

Some toxicity tests consume hundreds or thousands of animals per substance examined (e.g., lifetime cancer studies consume approximately 400 rats and 400 mice; a study of birth defects and developmental toxicity consumes 1,300 rats and/or 900 rabbits; and a study of sexual fertility and reproduction

When it comes to human exploitation of primates, the animals are often just as valuable dead as they are alive. Their parts may be used in traditional medicine by people in some cultures and their bodies stuffed as hunting trophies by others. Worldwide demand for primate skins, meat and body parts

Living primates, whether captive-bred or wild-caught, have been exploited by humans for exotic pet trade, for our entertainment and in biomedical research. In each case, people have put their own needs and desires first, without enough thought for what is best for the animals. The pet trade The pet

Smoking bushmeat. Heather E. Eves A woman shops for bushmeat at a local market. Richard G. Ruggiero In many parts of the world, apes and monkeys are killed for consumption by humans. Bushmeat is classified as meat from a wild animal, and while apes only make up a small percentage of the bushmeat

There are 6 billion humans on the planet today, and with that number come all of the demands of supporting life. People need land to live on and to harvest food from. There are minimal limitations on how much land each person can own, and people are playing “finders, keepers” with natural resources

When sustainable and environmentally friendly agricultural practices are implemented, both wildlife and farmers can benefit. HSI’s habitat protection and cacao program serves to educate and empower local cacao producers in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua to improve their production techniques to

Many shark species are in peril of extinction. In the Northwest Atlantic, all recorded shark species, with only one exception, have declined by more than 50 percent since 1988. In addition, there has been: An 89 percent decline in hammerhead sharks in the Northwest Atlantic since 1988. An 80 percent

Existing regulations The first multi-lateral organization to address the issue of shark finning was the UN Food and Agriculture Organization which, in 1999, produced its International Plan of Action for Sharks, recommending the full utilization of sharks. Since then, the UN General Assembly and some

At odds with the country's tradition of small, independent, rural farms, the majority of Mexico's commercial eggs, meat, and dairy products now come from large intensive confinement facilities. These operations, known as animal factories (or factory farms), fail to provide for many of the animals'

HSI's Factory Farming Campaign in India seeks to raise awareness about the conditions under which animals in India are reared, and to empower both activists and every-day consumers to live more compassionate and sustainable lives. The vast majority of commercial egg and meat products in India come

In 2004, The HSUS published a web article that examined the current global situation regarding the growth of dolphinariums and swim-with-the-dolphins (SWTD) attractions. At that time, we knew of at least 14 operational SWTD exhibits in the Caribbean, with seven or eight more in the planning stages

The Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program (AIDCP) is a legally binding, multilateral agreement that entered into force in February 1999. The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) implements and provides the Secretariat for the program. This agreement was established

Elephants in Africa are being slaughtered on an unprecedented scale. In 2012, more than 35,000 of them—or close to 100 per day—were killed for their tusks. Things turned particularly ugly in 2013, when more than 300 fell victim to cyanide poisoning by poachers in Zimbabwe. If things continue at this

Sharks are killed for many reasons: for sport, as targets of intensive commercial fisheries, and as accidental bycatch of fisheries that target other large fish such as swordfish and tuna. A variety of species of rays, which are related to sharks, are also caught by commercial fisheries. Sharks

Sharks are known as "K-selected" species, which means that they have a life history strategy featuring slow growth, delayed maturation, long gestation, and the production of few young. Many shark species grow only a few centimetres per year, reaching maturity at perhaps seven or eight years of age