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.
WASHINGTON (Nov. 18, 2024)—An undercover investigator for the Humane Society of the United States worked at SeaQuest locations in Fort Worth, Texas, for 28 days and in Las Vegas for 20 days during the summer of 2024.
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.
Our annual legislative scorecard is a trusted source for evaluating the animal protection commitments of elected officials at the federal level. This preview version of our 2024 Humane Scorecard allows you to determine where your federal legislators stand now on key animal protection priorities. It also gives you a chance to encourage them to strengthen their support―and their ratings―before the 118th Congress wraps up and we publish the final version in January 2025.
WASHINGTON (September 24, 2024)—Animal protection and conservation groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today for missing its deadline to decide whether the common hippopotamus should be protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
We condemn in the strongest terms a disturbing act of cruelty caught on video by a wild horse advocacy organization at a Bureau of Land Management wild horse gather in Pershing County, Nevada.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Some threats facing animals can seem so gargantuan as to be just part of the status quo—but we are determined to change the systemic injustices that harm countless animals. In addition to fighting cruel trophy hunting practices that cause egregious suffering for target animals, we’ve been pushing for reform that could save the lives of countless animals killed accidentally because of the use of lead ammunition.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
This past weekend we held our Taking Action for Animals conference just outside of Washington, D.C., with over 450 advocates who came from all over the country to attend. At a time that may feel divisive and politically uncertain, this event was a testament to the dedication and steadfast unity that the cause of animal protection rallies.
