Elephant’s brief escape from circus in Montana underscores the urgency to end animal acts kblocher@hslf.org Thu, 04/18/2024 - 16:41 By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block Earlier this week, an elderly captive elephant named Viola escaped from a circus in Butte, Montana. Viola belongs to Carson & Barnes Circus and was in Butte performing with Jordan World Circus. According to news reports, she wandered through traffic, in front of a casino, and paused on a residential lawn. Videos show handlers with bullhooks—a tool used to hit and inflict pain on captive elephants to intimidate them—chasing and ..read more

Our fight against expanded use of monkeys in research heats up kblocher@hslf.org Wed, 04/17/2024 - 16:29 By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block We’re pushing back hard against plans to fund expanded reliance on monkeys in experiments in the U.S., plans that would see even more of these intelligent, curious animals used in outdated and unreliable tests, often at taxpayer expense. Instead, we’ve advocated for broader investments in technologically-advanced methods that don’t use live animals and can tell us more about how the human body works—instead of attempting to translate the results of animal e ..read more

Nix the Prop 12 “Fix” kblocher@hslf.org Wed, 04/10/2024 - 18:12 WASHINGTON (April 10, 2024)—As the National Pork Producers Council takes its anti-animal welfare case to Capitol Hill, the Humane Society Legislative Fund warns against inserting language into the Farm Bill that would invalidate California’s Proposition 12, a state law setting landmark prohibitions on the sale of food products from farm animals locked in cruel and extreme confinement, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld as constitutional in May 2023. Congressional opponents and the pork industry’s lobbyists have been pushing for ..read more

Horrific wolf killing in Wyoming shows urgent need for increased protections kblocher@hslf.org Tue, 04/09/2024 - 18:35 By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block Last week, reports surfaced that a man in Wyoming allegedly ran down a wolf with a snowmobile. He then reportedly taped the injured wolf’s mouth shut, paraded the helpless and terrified animal around at a local bar and posed for a photo with the injured wolf before going outside and killing the animal.  According to news reports, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department cited the man only for possession of a live wild animal and levied a palt ..read more

Breaking: We’re going to court to fight for wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains kblocher@hslf.org Mon, 04/08/2024 - 09:03 By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block Today, with our allies, we sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its decision to not reinstate federal protections for wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains. In 2022, most wolves in the U.S. regained their federal protections under the Endangered Species Act when a federal judge ruled in their favor in response to a lawsuit we filed with other groups—most wolves, but not all. Wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains, including in I ..read more

New Lawsuit Aims to Protect Wolves in Northern Rocky Mountains kblocher@hslf.org Mon, 04/08/2024 - 03:42 New Lawsuit Aims to Protect Wolves in Northern Rocky Mountains Groups Allege Fish and Wildlife Service Illegally Denied Protections to Wolves  BOZEMAN, Mont. (April 8, 2024)—Four conservation and animal protection groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today for denying their petition to protect gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains under the Endangered Species Act. “We’re back in court to save the wolves and we’ll win again,” said Collette Adkins, carnivore conservation ..read more

Presidential Candidate Profile: Donald Trump’s record on animal protection kblocher@hslf.org Thu, 04/04/2024 - 19:21 With the Super Tuesday primary elections behind us, and the Democratic and Republican Party nominations nearly settled, we wanted to provide a review of the animal welfare records of President Biden and President Trump.   As the leading voice in animal protection politics, we provide an objective analysis of candidates, free from judgements based on political party affiliation or on the candidates’ positions on any other issues. HSLF evaluates candidates for political offi ..read more

Presidential Candidate Profile: Joe Biden’s record on animal protection kblocher@hslf.org Thu, 04/04/2024 - 17:26 With the Super Tuesday primary elections behind us, and the Democratic and Republican Party nominations nearly settled, we wanted to provide a review of the animal welfare records of President Biden and President Trump. On the road to November’s election, a variety of published opinions will make it harder to distinguish fact from fiction concerning the presumptive major party candidates. But we at Humane Society Legislative Fund evaluate officeholders and office-seekers based on ..read more

Breaking: US Fish and Wildlife Service issues stronger protections for African elephants kblocher@hslf.org Fri, 03/29/2024 - 17:26 By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized critical trade protections for African elephants. Serious threats such as poaching, habitat encroachment and climate change continue to imperil this endangered species; African elephants have suffered a severe population decline over the last 100 years. The new rule under the Endangered Species Act seeks to increase scrutiny over trade in live elephants, like those imported for zo ..read more

Victory: U.S. restricts the import of live African elephants and trophies kblocher@hslf.org Fri, 03/29/2024 - 05:36 Victory: U.S. restricts the import of live African elephants and trophies The African elephant population has declined 60% over the last 50 years WASHINGTON (March 29, 2024)—Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a final rule governing import permits for live African elephants and elephant hunting trophies. This action effectively bans elephant hunting trophy imports from certain countries that serve as major destinations for trophy hunters—a win for the conservatio ..read more