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By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson It may be hard to believe, but some of the most malicious acts of animal cruelty — including crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating and impaling animals and sexually exploiting them — are not felonies under federal law. Today, a bipartisan group of lawmakers

The annual running of the bulls at Pamplona has just come to a close in Spain, where I am traveling for work. With the San Fermin festival now over, the world can once more take account of the scores of bulls chased, tormented and killed for the most frivolous entertainment and thrills. This year

In the midst of a nationwide heat wave, with excessive-heat warnings and advisories in place for more than 20 states, it’s natural for those of us who care about animals to worry about their welfare and the risk of their being locked in cars. In just the last few weeks, several reports of pet

The latest controversy surrounding lurid social media posts by trophy hunters has prompted a predictable response -- global outrage and a wave of tweet storms directed at the individuals involved. This time around, it’s a Canadian couple who posed for a kiss over the dead captive lion they’d just

Only a few years ago, it may have appeared unfathomable for McDonald’s to make a commitment to use 100% cage-free eggs in its restaurants, or for poultry giant Perdue to announce game-changing reforms for chickens raised for meat. One might have never imagined entire states, including California

Despite growing awareness about the havoc wreaked upon elephants by ivory poachers, our country – and our nation’s capital – are among the world’s biggest markets for ivory. Today, we’re releasing our latest investigation that has uncovered hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ivory objects for

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson We have terrific news to report in our long-running fight to protect Tennessee walking horses and related breeds from the cruel practice of soring. The House of Representatives has just approved a bill to end this heinous practice in which violators intentionally

Romania, which halted trophy hunting of its native carnivores in 2016, this week said it will allow the killing of 140 bears. The hunting quota was announced in response to reports of bear-human conflicts, with videos shared on social media showing people getting very close to wild bears to feed

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson There was a time when sharks were routinely portrayed by popular media as aggressive and ruthless predators -- animals to be afraid of and to avoid, or even worse, to kill. But today, with growing awareness and increasingly positive public attitudes toward these

It’s a difficult video to watch: a mob of men armed with sticks and spears repeatedly strike a tiger lying on the grass with shouts of “kill, kill.” They beat the animal so badly, according to media reports, that she died of shock hours later as a result of blood loss, broken bones and numerous

As mom to an animal-loving daughter, it warms my heart to see stories of children who are working to make the world a better place for animals. We have all seen these on social media or maybe in our own homes and neighborhoods – children who ask for donations to animal shelters instead of birthday

Brazil this week announced sweeping changes to its requirements for animal testing of agricultural pesticides, including eliminating the requirement for a controversial one-year toxicity test conducted on dogs. The move will potentially spare the lives of tens of thousands of animals used each year

With so much global attention focused on the dog meat trade in a handful of Asian countries, it’s important not to overlook the fact that there is a regional cat meat trade as well. The best one could say is that it’s smaller than the dog meat industry, thankfully. Otherwise, it’s got the same

I talk to the media pretty regularly about issues and threats facing animals today and about all that we’re doing to help them. The reality of the media world, though, means that these discussions often get boiled down into 10-second sound bites! Happily, for those who want a deeper look at both the

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson Just weeks after the U.S. House of Representatives’ historic passage of the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act (H.R. 693), there’s more good news for Tennessee walking horses. The Nashville, TN Metro Council has approved a resolution supporting passage of PAST and

Today, I’ve turned the blog space over to my colleague, Stephanie Boyles Griffin, Senior Scientist in the HSUS’s Wildlife Protection Department, to relay some news about an important conference concerning non-lethal wildlife management taking place in Montana this week. The gathering is focused on

We have just secured another monumental win for hens confined in tiny cages in the egg industry. Moments ago, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed legislation championed by the HSUS to require all eggs produced or sold in her state to come from cage-free facilities. With Oregon’s new law, the entire

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson In the past two years, our federal government has waged war against the Endangered Species Act, the bedrock law that protects endangered and threatened animal species and their habitats. Today, despite our hopes that it would take the steps necessary to enforce our

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson The United States has moved one step closer to ending unnecessary cosmetics testing on animals, as Illinois becomes the third U.S. state to enact a marketing ban preventing companies from selling cosmetics that have newly been tested on animals. On August 9, Governor