USDA moves to permanently hide animal welfare records on puppy mills, walking horse shows and other regulated businesses

By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block

The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to permanently conceal crucial animal welfare records, including inspection reports and enforcement records of puppy mills and horse shows where Tennessee walking horses and other related breeds are vulnerable to the heinous practice of soring.

VICTORY: Court rejects challenge to federal cockfighting ban in Puerto Rico, Guam and other U.S. territories

By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block

A federal court has rejected an attempt to stop Congress from closing a loophole that allowed cockfighters to continue operating in U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico and Guam, despite the fact that cockfighting is a felony in all U.S. states.

BREAKING NEWS: U.S. House passes PACT Act cracking down on extreme animal cruelty

By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block

The U.S. House has just voted overwhelmingly to crack down on some of the worst and most malicious acts of animal cruelty, including crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, and impaling live animals and sexually exploiting them. The watershed vote takes us one step closer to a federal anti-cruelty statute that would allow the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute those who commit such unspeakable crimes against innocent animals.

Stop Puppy Mills Ohio

Stop Puppy Mills Ohio is a grassroots campaign working to ensure the humane treatment of dogs in commercial breeding facilities.This ballot measure will alleviate the suffering of tens of thousands of dogs languishing in Ohio puppy mills by vastly improving their standards of care. It requires commercial breeders (those with 8 or more breeding females) to provide dogs with nutritious food and clean water, proper veterinary care, housing, exercise, socialization, protection from extreme temperatures, and more.

Protect Dogs - Yes on 13

Protect Dogs - Yes on 13 is a grassroots campaign working to end the cruelty of greyhound racing in Florida. Amendment 13 will phase out commercial greyhound racing by 2020. Other gaming activities at these facilities will not be affected. It will help thousands of dogs, and reduce gambling by roughly $200 million per year.

This proposal will allow the people of Florida to do what the legislature has failed to do: rid the state of dog racing and put an end to this cycle of cruelty.

WON!

Where do the Democratic presidential candidates stand on animal protection issues?

By Brad Pyle

With the Democratic election field for 2020 in play, we thought it timely to examine the animal protection records of candidates for president. This two-part series will highlight the pro-animal commitments of the candidates. Following the order of the Democratic Party’s second presidential debate, here’s what we know:   

Pets and Cruelty

Americans spend about $60 billion on pets annually—a sign of just how important our four-legged friends are in our lives. Dogs, cats and other pets deserve protections from cruelty and abuse.

We work to stop abusive puppy mills, large-scale breeding facilities that keep animals in tiny cages often with no medical care or human interaction. We also work to ensure the laws and regulations put in place to protect animals, like dogs or roosters used for fighting, are strongly enforced. 

Members of Congress join rescue pups at U.S. Capitol to urge passage of bill ending malicious acts of cruelty like crushing animals and bestiality

By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block

It may be hard to believe, but some of the most malicious acts of animal cruelty—including crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, and impaling animals and sexually exploiting them—are not felonies under federal law. Today, a bipartisan group of lawmakers gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol, along with several rescue dogs, to urge the House of Representatives to pass a bipartisan bill to ban these acts.