Kelly Donithan, director of Animal Disaster Response for HSI, and Gaia Bonini, senior specialist for International Disaster Operations for HSI, support a weak sheep and provide her with fresh water to help clear her system after ingesting salty groundwater. HSI Since 2021, Humane Society International has been supporting drought response and mitigation efforts in the northeastern Kenyan county of Garissa in partnership with a local conservation organization, Hirola Conservation Program. Here, Kelly Donithan, director of Animal Disaster Response for Humane Society International, recounts her r ..read more

The gray wolf is one of the many imperiled species that would suffer setbacks in recovery if the U.S. House version of the Fiscal Year 2024 Interior-Environment Appropriations bill gets passed as it stands. Alamy Stock Photo Just a few weeks short of the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act’s passage, opponents in the U.S. Congress have pushed through a series of hostile amendments to undermine the landmark law during the House appropriations funding process. That’s the grim reality of the contemporary political landscape for the Endangered Species Act, which was one of the most pop ..read more

Puppies in a cage at a dog fattening and slaughter facility in Thai Nguyen, Viet Nam, just before their rescue. Minh le Chau Doan/AP Images for HSI For the past seven years, Mr. Hung has been in the dog meat business in Viet Nam. He estimates that in that time, he has bought, sold and slaughtered as many as 20,000 dogs. Every couple of months, dog meat traders delivered around 50 puppies to Hung’s facility, where they were kept in filthy raised cages without veterinary care and fattened up to reach a suitable slaughter weight. But killing animals for a living weighed heavily on Mr. Hung’s con ..read more

Dogs stand in what remains of an animal shelter on the Pacific coast of Mexico after Hurricane Otis. HSI On Oct. 25, Hurricane Otis slammed into the Pacific coast of Mexico near Acapulco. The storm unexpectedly and rapidly intensified to Category 5, becoming the strongest storm to hit that side of the country on record, according to the National Hurricane Center. Nearly 50 people were killed, and 60 more are still missing. Wind gusts reached up to 205 miles per hour, some of the strongest wind speeds recorded on land anywhere on Earth. With multiple storms making landfall in Mexico over recen ..read more

Lemurs and other animals rescued from a shuttered zoo and holding facility in Puerto Rico needed time to recover in quarantine at Black Beauty Ranch before being released into their expansive and lush new environments. Randi Salisbury/The HSUS Over the years at the only zoo in Puerto Rico, hurricanes, COVID, damaged infrastructure and alleged underfunding had taken a terrible toll. When it became clear that the facility no longer had the resources to care for its hundreds of animals and would have to close, we, along with several other groups, were asked to help. In May, our staff joined othe ..read more

In penitentiaries in Chile, cats introduced to control the rodent populations have come to play a more profound role as companions for inmates. Claudio Ramírez for HSI In the Santiago Sur Criminal Detention Center, one of Chile’s oldest prisons, hundreds of cats live alongside 4,482 inmates. It’s relatively common in prisons throughout Chile that felines roam the halls. Originally introduced into penitentiaries to control rodent populations, cats have come to play a more profound role as companions. And this goes beyond being a merely heartwarming anecdote: Evidence suggests that inmates who ..read more

Sad pigs Keywords: factory farming, pig, stock Alamy Stock Photo In a historic move, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program has issued the final Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards rule, a landmark federal regulation that strengthens and clarifies animal welfare standards. While the rule only covers animals raised in the National Organic Program, it will be the first time that producers who participate in the organic program will be required to honor specific fundamental welfare standards in their care, treatment and handling of animals under an overarching governme ..read more

A successful program in the Kingdom of Bhutan represents a hopeful model of humane street dog management and coexistence. HSI Across Asia, more than 300 million dogs live on the streets. Many battle hunger and disease, and most do not live long enough to see even their first birthday. Governments often struggle to manage dog populations. In the most heartbreaking cases, authorities resort to killing dogs in culling programs to control their populations or to rounding them up and putting them in mass shelters under inadequate conditions, neither of which are humane nor effective. But one count ..read more

The Humane Society of the United States, the Humane Society Legislative Fund, beagles and their families join U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and John Kennedy, R-La., for the Better CARE for Animals Act press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol Building on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. Here, Sen. Kennedy speaks at the press conference as attendees look on. Meredith Lee/The HSUS This week, we had the pleasure of gathering with beagles and lawmakers on Capitol Hill to show our support for a promising new bill that would usher in a new era of animal protection at the federal level in ..read more

Cats rescued from a large-scale breeder case undergo veterinary exams and relax at a care facility operated by the HSUS on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. Kevin Wolf/AP Images for the HSUS Last week, in Chesterfield County, Virginia, local authorities arrived at a residence to serve a search and seizure warrant. Our Animal Rescue Team was on the scene to help the Virginia Attorney General’s Office and Chesterfield County Animal Services rescue cats and kittens from a large-scale alleged cruelty situation. Our team found a total of 110 Maine Coon-type cats and kittens on the property and worked quickl ..read more