By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
The COVID relief package Congress just passed includes a number of provisions that will improve surveillance and inspection of trades where animals often endure acute suffering and that also tend to be hotbeds for disease spread.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Grizzly 399, often called the world’s most famous grizzly bear, has a fan base of wildlife watchers that numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Each year, dozens of paparazzi attempt to record her every waking moment, from the time she emerges from her den in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in the spring until the time she goes back into hibernation in the late fall. She even has two entire books devoted to her.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
A no-holds-barred carnage of wolves in Wisconsin last week, which ended with trophy hunters killing nearly twice the sanctioned quota of animals in just under 60 hours, offers a terrible glimpse into just what lies ahead for these beloved native American carnivores unless the Biden administration moves swiftly to restore their federal protections.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Update (3/6/2021): The Senate has just passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and it includes almost all of the provisions we supported and pushed for that would benefit animals. Next, the House is expected to vote on the Senate-passed package, following which the bill heads to President Biden who has confirmed he will sign it.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
The freeze in Texas this month turned up a surprise for authorities in Bexar County as they scrambled to get people and pets out of harm’s way: a tiger cub wearing a harness and living as a “pet” outdoors. A neighbor had reported what sounded like a crying tiger. When they came upon Elsa—as the sheriff’s office named the cub after a character in the movie “Frozen”—she was freezing in the Arctic temperatures.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Update (3/15/2021): The Senate has voted to confirm Rep. Deb Haaland to lead the Department of Interior by a vote of 51-40.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Mink fur farms have emerged as hotspots for the coronavirus, with 11 nations in Europe, Canada and the United States reporting such infections and, in some cases, transmissions from animals to human workers. The infections have resulted in millions of animals, including pups, on fur farms being culled by gassing—a particularly cruel way to kill these semi-aquatic animals who can hold their breaths for long periods.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
The Humane Society of the United States has helped make significant progress in ending wildlife killing contests, in which contestants massacre large numbers of coyotes, foxes, bobcats and other wild animals for cash prizes. Seven states now ban such contests and we are working with lawmakers in other states to end them. But the pandemic has added a new, insidious dimension to this cruelty, with more and more contests being held online, where they appear to be thriving.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
It is a bloody scene at the Texas weigh-in of the “De Leon Pharmacy and Sporting Goods’ Varmint Hunt #1” on a cold January morning this year. Participants in this wildlife killing contest are unloading the bodies of bobcats, grey foxes, coyotes and raccoons from their trucks, which are expensively outfitted for the killing with raised decks, comfortable chairs and gun mounts. Sixty or so animals have been slaughtered over the contest’s 21-hour period, using assault rifles and other powerful weapons.
