Advocating on behalf of animals at the ballot box is not for the faint of heart. It requires a kind of strength, determination and stamina. Sometimes we win big—think of our California ballot measure, Proposition 12, that passed in 2018 and became the strongest law for the protection of farm animals in the U.S., which even the U.S. Supreme Court upheld—and sometimes we don’t.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Some fights for animals are a long-game—and that’s certainly been the case for everyone’s favorite long-necked animal, the giraffe. After years of advocacy, we are thrilled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed listing all four species of giraffes under the Endangered Species Act. This overdue proposal comes thanks to a petition and lawsuit brought by us and our allies.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Keeping wild animals in small, bare cages inside a retail shopping mall is absurd and abhorrently cruel. Yet this is the business model of SeaQuest, a for-profit chain of shopping mall-based wild animal petting zoos that has been plagued with controversies and cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture more than 110 times for violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Finally, 23 chimpanzees who are owned by the U.S. government and who were previously used in painful biomedical experiments will soon be moved to Chimp Haven sanctuary where they belong, according to an announcement made today by the National Institutes of Health in a New York Times article. After years of advocating for sending these chimps to sanctuary, we are thrilled by this news.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
The flood of inspection reports detailing animal neglect and suffering at puppy mills, wild animal attractions and animal laboratories in the U.S. regulated under the federal Animal Welfare Act continues to be overwhelming. Strengthening the ability of the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene in cases involving welfare violations would do a world of good for animals.
In every election, animal protection is on the ballot. At HSLF we know that pro-animal policies are only enacted if we have humane candidates in office at every level of government—that is why we work so hard to get them elected—and that’s something that we couldn’t do without your help. Thank you for making your voices heard this year and thank you for your support.
Our democratic system and processes empower citizens to act on the issues they care about at the ballot box, and animal protection is no exception. For three decades, we have seen critical successes for animals at the state and local level that are the result of direct votes on ballot initiatives by engaged citizens.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Election Day—Tuesday, November 5th—is just around the corner. But in-person voting doesn’t only happen on Election Day. In fact, an increasing number of election officials and political campaigns around the country are treating November 5th as the last day to vote. In many states, it is possible to use the next week to vote in person on your own, best schedule.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
