Yesterday, animal welfare and conservation groups announced a reward of $15,000 for information on the poaching of the breeding female of the Wedge wolf pack. Today, Peace 4 Animals and WAN contributed $5,000 to raise the reward to $20,000 to bring justice to this slain female wolf. The mother wolf was found dead of a gunshot wound on May 26th in the Sheep Creek area of Stevens County in northeast Washington state. Biologists with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife discovered that the female wolf likely gave birth to pups ..read more

Photo credit: Saving The Wild Alleged rhino poaching kingpin, Petros Sydney Mabuza, known as “Mr. Big,” was reportedly killed this afternoon after his truck was shot an estimated 17 times in Hazyview, Mpumalanga, South Africa. While authorities have yet to share his name publicly, they did release a statement noting that “Police in Mpumalanga are looking for suspects who shot and killed a 57-year-old man, who was previously arrested on several allegations related to rhino poaching cases which are currently before the High Court.” Jamie Joseph of the nonprofit organization Saving the ..read more

Animals Asia has rescued four moon bears, also known as Asiatic Black Bears, from the Hanoi Central Circus in Hanoi, Vietnam. As a sign of a remarkable change in attitudes toward the use of wild animals in entertainment in the country, the last of the circus’ performing bears were voluntarily released to the organization which is now caring for them. Thanks to ongoing dialogue with the Animals Asia Captive Animal Welfare team, the circus finally decided to phase out wildlife performances in their shows completely. The recently rescued bears arrived at Animal Asia ..read more

Last week, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed legislation prohibiting the sale of cosmetics that have been newly-tested on animals. The measure, LD 1551, which specifically states that a manufacturer may not sell or offer to sell a cosmetic product that was developed or manufactured using animal testing on or after November 1st of this year, was sponsored by Maine Representative Vicki Doudera. The new law makes Maine the sixth state in the country to ban the sale of animal-tested cosmetics, following California, Nevada, Illinois, Virginia, and Maryland. Animals who are ..read more

Photo By: Matthew Polvorosa Kline In Defense of Animals, TreeSpirit Project, and ForElk.org are pleased to learn that the National Park Service (NPS) is finally providing some water to the Tule elk that are trapped behind fencing inside Point Reyes National Seashore. The news comes amid ongoing drought conditions. Photos by Tony Seghal, In Defense of AnimalsHundreds of activists have gathered to intervene in recent months to provide water to the Tule elk, only to have it dumped out shortly after by the NPS. The NPS has removed 10 troughs that activists provided, including two that were brought ..read more

Between June 4th and 8th, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) staff members observed three new wolf pups with their parents, collared wolves M2101 “John” and F1084 “Jane” who are known to reside in the state. It is not yet confirmed that these are the only pups as a typical wolf litter consists of between four to six pups. While these observations were necessarily made at long distance, CPW staff have recorded three separate, but similar, sightings of pups on the ground in Colorado. They conducted three separate observations of the den site from a safe distance ..read more

Beyond Meat is continuing its ongoing partnerships worldwide with KFC China, collaborating on a new Plant-Based Spicy Beef Wrap. Available for a limited time, the wrap is available now in over 2,600 stores in 28 cities throughout China. This latest product launch follows the first collaboration between Beyond Meat and KFC China last year with the release of the Beyond Burger in select KFC locations around the country. Beyond Meat is proud to partner with KFC China to help support the brand’s commitment to offering its customers more diverse and sustainable protein options ..read more

Photo By: Barbie Halaska, NOAA Permit #18786 Conservation groups and concerned citizens gathered at Crissy Field Beach in San Francisco earlier this week to honor 12 dead whales that have washed up on shore in the Bay Area so far this year. It is believed that at least four died from ship strikes. “Dead whales washing up on Bay Area beaches is a wake-up call. We answered that call at this event by demanding action to address ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, and climate change,” said Steve Jones with the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. “Whale ..read more

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate passed the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act (S. 1106), a bill that would ban the buying and selling of shark fins in the United States, as part of a broader legislative package known as the United States Innovation and Competition Act (S. 1260). Similar legislation (H.R. 2811) has been introduced in the House of Representatives and currently has more than 130 bipartisan cosponsors. “This is a great day for sharks and our oceans,” Whitney Webber, Campaign Director at Oceana said in a statement. “We are now one step closer to officially removing the ..read more

Photo by: Vincent Calmel Mercy For Animals, one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to preventing cruelty to farmed animals and promoting compassionate food choices, will hold its Mercy For Animals Hope Gala on June 10th. The event is hosted by NAACP Image Award winner, actress, and vegan foodie Tabitha Brown (Showtime’s The Chi). This year’s one-of-a-kind virtual gala, which also includes an online auction, will celebrate Mercy For Animals’ 22nd anniversary and honor leaders in animal welfare and the plant-based food industry. Actors and acti ..read more