By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
In yet another twist in the continuing saga of Joe Exotic, a court has awarded his roadside zoo in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, to the leader of a big cat sanctuary whom he once hired a hitman to kill.
Steve King’s (R-Iowa) cruel tenure in the U.S. Congress will finally come to an end. Yesterday, Iowa Republican voters chose Iowa State Senator Randy Feenstra to represent their party in the General Election—ensuring that Steve King will not return to Washington D.C. as a congressman in 2021. At the time we published this, Feenstra had earned 45 percent of the vote, besting King’s 36 percent. We at the Humane Society Legislative Fund could not be happier. King has been terrible for animals, to be sure.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
The 2020 Election could very well spell the end of Rep. Steve King’s (R-Iowa) political career, and as far as we’re concerned, it could not come a moment too soon. When it comes to animal welfare, King is a genuine outlier, and that’s why we’ve made him the focus of the HSLF’s first 2020 election season advertisement. And because of his erratic and contentious public positions, he’s facing serious challengers, who have raised more funds than he has, and seems increasingly vulnerable this year.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
The Trump administration has just delivered a one-two punch to Alaska’s wildlife: it has announced that it will release a final National Park Service rule allowing some of the cruelest practices for killing black bears, wolves and other wildlife on national preserve lands in Alaska; and it has announced it will propose overturning Obama-era protections for brown bears and other animals on two million acres of public lands in the state's Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Imagine our world and its wildlife without the protections of the Endangered Species Act. Had it not been for this bedrock federal law, the beloved American bald eagle would most likely have gone the way of the dodo or the passenger pigeon. Gray wolves and grizzly bears would be no more than relics hanging on the walls of trophy hunters. And the humpback whale would only be found in history books.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
The coronavirus pandemic has prompted the world to acknowledge the pressing need to change our relationship with animals. From the wildlife markets implicated in the origin of the novel coronavirus to the slaughterhouses that have become clusters for its spread, we now know only too well that our uncaring attitudes and indifferent practices toward animals can have grave consequences for human health.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
In a long-awaited move, the U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced important reforms to tighten licensing requirements to prevent those who mistreat animals in their care from carrying on business as usual.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
From the start, the Humane Society Legislative Fund has pursued its animal protection agenda on a strictly nonpartisan footing, for a simple reason. We are determined to bring both major political parties along for the journey of making our nation a kinder one. The situation demands no less, because as things stand, it’s hard enough for animals, who are distinctively without voice, without votes, and without political resources to defend themselves.
