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A bill that would prohibit public contact with big cats like tigers, lions and leopards and ban the possession of these animals as pets was swiftly reintroduced in the U.S. House today, suggesting that the measure is poised for early action in Congress. The Big Cat Public Safety Act had already

Gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park have tested positive for the coronavirus in the first known cases of its transmission to non-human primates. The animals are believed to have contracted the virus from an asymptomatic zookeeper. This is distressing news on many levels. While gorillas are not

Vietnam is one of the world’s largest consumers of rhino horn for use in traditional medicine. The demand there has helped push this distinctive animal to the brink of extinction. The animals are killed for their horns and a small number remain alive and suffer in agony after the horns are hacked

Thirty-seven chimpanzees languishing at a New Mexico primate laboratory are still waiting for the National Institutes of Health to fulfil a promise it made in 2015---to retire them to sanctuary after a lifetime spent in research. Today, we’re giving these animals a helping hand by suing the federal

In October last year, the Trump administration stripped federal protections for wolves, giving state managers in the lower 48 states the ability to greenlight trophy hunting and trapping seasons on these animals. Today, we and our allies sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over this illegal and

A U.S. District Court has ordered Jeff Lowe, a notorious big cat exhibitor who took over the running of Joe Exotic’s zoo, GW Exotics, to ​surrender all big cat cubs and their mothers in his possession over allegations of mistreatment. The preliminary injunction in the Department of Justice case for

The inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris heralds a new beginning. Most Americans are looking forward to putting the challenges of last year behind them. But many are still facing the difficulties of illness, unemployment and economic uncertainty because of the global

An attempt by some Wisconsin lawmakers to ​force ​a ​rushed and unlawful wolf hunting season in the state beginning next month has been narrowly defeated by the state’s Natural Resources Board. In November, we reported how we had ​ helped stop an effort by the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board to

The Biden administration has withdrawn a deplorable pending rule that would have allowed qualifying chicken slaughter plants in the United States to permanently dial up line speeds from an already inhumane and lightning-fast 140 birds per minute to 175 birds per minute. The U.S. Department of

A groundbreaking bill introduced in California today would end all trophy hunting of black bears in the state. If successful, California would be the first state to implement such a ban, setting a magnificent precedent for the rest of the nation to follow. The bill was introduced by State Sen. Scott

One more nation, Sweden, announced today that it will suspend all mink fur farming this year to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and its mutations. Sweden’s announcement contrasted starkly with a media report in the United States this week, based on an open records request filed by the Utah

Confining chickens in cages where they cannot even spread their wings is one of the cruelest practices in industrial factory farming. That’s why we have made it our mission to free every last hen from such confinement. Recent announcements from some of the biggest corporations in the United States

The canned hunting industry is often associated with countries like South Africa, where wealthy trophy hunters can pick out and shoot captive-bred lions in enclosures for a hefty price tag. It is, literally, the equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel, and it is a practice so shameful, many hunting

Tennessee has a huge puppy mill problem and no law to fight these operations that mistreat the dogs they profit off. Just over the past year we have heard of several puppy mill rescues, including two—one in Grundy County last month and another in Madison County last June—where hundreds of dogs were

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is one of the federal agencies with the most impact on animal protection issues. Who heads it can make all the difference to the wellbeing of millions of animals, including those in puppy mills, roadside zoos, factory farms, laboratories, horse show rings and in

New York has the dubious distinction of being home to more puppy-selling pet stores than any other state in the nation. This could be about to change as lawmakers there move on legislation that would prohibit all dog, cat and rabbit sales in pet stores. Bills have already been introduced in the

The momentum to end the use of fur continues to build. As state legislative sessions get under way across the United States, bills to ban fur sales have been introduced in five states so far, including Rhode Island, Oregon, Connecticut, Hawaii and New York. A bill introduced in Washington would ban

When our responders rescue dogs from Korea’s dog meat farms, they invariably find the animals living in terrible conditions, in barren outdoor cages with no protection from the heat or the intense winters. Food is inadequate and the animals never feel the grass under their feet or a kind human touch

The annual Dallas Safari Club convention is a sickening display of the havoc American trophy hunters wreak year after year on the world’s wildlife, with their penchant for killing endangered and at-risk animals. The pandemic has forced the 2021 convention to move online this year, but that doesn’t

It is a bloody scene at the Texas weigh-in of the “De Leon Pharmacy and Sporting Goods’ Varmint Hunt #1” on a cold January morning this year. Participants in this wildlife killing contest are unloading the bodies of bobcats, grey foxes, coyotes and raccoons from their trucks, which are expensively