Tom Vilsack’s confirmation hearing to be Secretary of Agriculture was today. If he is confirmed by the full Senate, it will mark the official launch of our 2021 animal welfare agenda with the agency he will lead for a second time. But for several months already, we’ve been advancing our priorities concerning the United States Department of Agriculture with President Biden’s transition team and members of Congress.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
The canned hunting industry is often associated with countries like South Africa, where wealthy trophy hunters can pick out and shoot captive-bred lions in enclosures for a hefty price tag. It is, literally, the equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel, and it is a practice so shameful, many hunting groups disavow it.
With our final 2020 Humane Scorecard now online, we invite you to check out how your federal legislators stood on a range of key issues. Please share this scorecard with family, friends, and fellow advocates and help spread the word!
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
One more nation, Sweden, announced today that it will suspend all mink fur farming this year to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and its mutations.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
The Biden administration has withdrawn a deplorable pending rule that would have allowed qualifying chicken slaughter plants in the United States to permanently dial up line speeds from an already inhumane and lightning-fast 140 birds per minute to 175 birds per minute.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
A U.S. District Court has ordered Jeff Lowe, a notorious big cat exhibitor who took over the running of Joe Exotic’s zoo, GW Exotics, to surrender all big cat cubs and their mothers in his possession over allegations of mistreatment.
The preliminary injunction in the Department of Justice case for recurring inhumane treatment and improper handling of animals protected by the Endangered Species Act was based on shocking findings by the U.S Department of Agriculture at Lowe’s facility in Oklahoma.
In the aftermath of the terrible events of January 6, we should not underestimate the great damage done to our nation and the urgent need for healing that lies ahead. One of the most important pathways to social and political revival will be an even stronger commitment to a healthy and democratic process and governance. We can no longer take for granted the institutions that have made us proud to be Americans. We must make still greater personal and professional investments to strengthen them.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Thirty-seven chimpanzees languishing at a New Mexico primate laboratory are still waiting for the National Institutes of Health to fulfil a promise it made in 2015—to retire them to sanctuary after a lifetime spent in research.
Today, we’re giving these animals a helping hand by suing the federal agency, which has shamelessly reneged on this promise.
