By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Images of a lion so thin that ribs, spine and hip bones were prominently visible. Inspection reports noting a lioness confined to a dark den with no light, ventilation or bedding, instead an accumulation of water, urine and feces. A male chimpanzee housed in isolation for nearly a year and a half, which must have been a torment for an animal of such a social species.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
We watched with dismay this week as the House Natural Resources Committee passed the Grizzly Bear State Management Act (H.R. 281), sponsored by Representative Harriet Hageman (R-Wyoming), by a party-line vote of 20-19.
Update August 1, 2025: The Senate passed the FY 2026 federal funding bill for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration with a bipartisan vote of 87-9. The bill awaits further action in the U.S. House of Representatives.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
No political stunt will bring down the cost of eggs, which is still badly affected by an avian flu epidemic that has decimated the hens in the egg industry across the U.S. and caused severe market shortages. And yet, in a lawsuit filed last night, the U.S. Department of Justice has tried to resurrect—without warrant and without real facts—a long-ago settled legal fight over California’s cage-free egg laws that have been supported by voters, farmers and advocates for animal welfare and other causes across the board.
The 2025 Colorado state legislative session, which adjourned in May, brought key victories for companion animals, animals used in laboratory research and testing, and threatened and endangered wildlife. As we celebrate this progress, we ask our readers in Colorado—did your lawmakers choose to support these protections for animals? And if not, what can we do to engage them in the future?
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
More than 94.9 billion land animals are kept and killed for food worldwide. This is staggering. And it’s a number that has continued to rise in recent years.
Fighting to change the lives of all these billions of animals—who are essentially born or hatched into the world just to suffer before they are killed—is an issue many people find overwhelming. And fighting to prevent more animals being born just to suffer and feed this cruel system seems like a goal too out of reach.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
A decade ago, an American trophy hunter shot an African lion just outside Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park with an arrow. Like many hunters before and after him, he was seeking a trophy, a part of his kill that he could lawfully import back home to the United States. He could hang it on his wall, and have a story to tell, too. To his family. To his friends. To fellow hunters at Safari Club International conventions.
Right now, Congress is acting on its FY 2026 appropriations bills to provide funding and direction to federal agencies, and we are campaigning hard to help the countless millions of animals whose fate depends on this process.
On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of Virginians headed to the polls and participated in the commonwealth’s primary elections. We at Humane World Action Fund, formerly known as the Humane Society Legislative Fund, were thrilled to see all our endorsed candidates advance to the general election. Now, we have less than 150 days to rally around pro-animal champions in Virginia.
