It’s hard to reconcile the overwhelming support in this country for protecting elephants from poaching and slaughter for their ivory tusks, with the idea that some politicians in Congress are working to stymie efforts to address the crisis. The Interior appropriations bill passed by the House of Representatives includes a harmful provision that would block any rulemaking by the Obama administration to crack down on the ivory trade. 

Amtrak announced today that it is expanding its Pets Aboard program and passengers will now be able to travel with small pets on select trains along the east coast and northeast corridor.

September is National Preparedness Month, and with Hurricane Joaquin approaching the Bahamas and possibly impacting the East Coast, it’s more important than ever to have a disaster plan ready to keep your family (including your pets) safe.

There’s a growing public awareness about the suffering of captive whales, especially since the release of Blackfish in 2013, and latest reports indicate that Sea World’s profits have dropped 84 percent. It’s perplexing, then, that some companies would still fight so hard to try to capture wild whales from the oceans and import them into the U.S. for an outdated and failing business model.

It’s a government program that’s more than 100 years old, uses outdated and ineffective practices, costs tens of millions of tax dollars, and kills and maims tens of millions of animals, including unintended victims such as endangered and threatened species, and beloved family pets.

Two-thirds of American households have pets. They are cherished members of our families, with 83 million dogs and 96 million cats living with us. We trust that the food we buy for them is safe and nutritious, and will contribute to their long and healthy lives as beloved family members.

The U.S. Forest Service has sparked a national outrage with its new plan to remove all of the horses from one of the nation’s most iconic herds—the Salt River horses—from Tonto National Forest in Arizona. 

The tragic death of Cecil the lion—senselessly shot by an American dentist with a bow and arrow and left to suffer for hours before being shot again—has exposed the pay-to-slay subculture of wealthy people who spend a fortune to kill the grandest, most majestic animals in the world. The public outrage shows no signs of slowing down.  

Yesterday was a mixed day of results for animals on Capitol Hill, with some setbacks and some progress on a number of different fronts for companion animals, wildlife, and farm animals. 

What good news there was came in the Agriculture Appropriations Bill that passed the House Appropriations Committee.

If you want evidence that animal research in the country has gone off track, you don’t need to look very far.