Accountability is critical to our work. Just as we are accountable to our supporters and the animals we seek to defend, we work to hold elected officials accountable for their track records and their commitment to animal protection legislation.

Today we have published our annual Humane Scorecard to track key votes, co-sponsorships and other actions by federal lawmakers in support of animal protection. We hope you find it a valuable tool, and we’re heartened that many legislators work hard to achieve a high score.

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson

We begin our work in 2022 encouraged by the knowledge that a handful of significant animal protection laws at the state level have now taken effect across the country. That makes for a great start to a year in which we hope to extend the reach of our campaigns to help all animals.

On the surface, perhaps, the most important legislative packages approved in the U.S. Congress and signed into law this year—the American Rescue Plan Act (focused on COVID-19 relief) and the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—may not have seemed relevant to the mission of animal protection. But the truth is that both contained sweeping gains for us, and this was no accident.

By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block

It’s no secret that puppy and kitten mills treat dog and cat mothers and fathers like moneymaking machines, bred over and over with little to no regard for their health or well-being. It is simply no way for a dog or cat to live.

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson

Accountability is the watchword of our efforts to secure the passage of animal-friendly federal legislation. We are accountable to our supporters as well as to the animals we seek to defend, and we never forget who we’re working for. This means that we also work continuously to hold elected officials accountable for their track records wherever the interests of animals are concerned.

By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block

When Jaqueline Villegas met her family’s new puppy at Denver International Airport, she knew right away the puppy was not the healthy Shar-Pei she had seen on PuppyFind.com, a huge online marketplace for puppies with over 50,000 puppies listed for sale. PuppyFind is also a site that the Humane Society of the United States has repeatedly linked to puppy mills.

The Democratic leaders on the Senate Committee on Appropriations yesterday released a package of nine appropriations bills funding various federal departments for fiscal year 2022, and it contains some key provisions for animal welfare that we worked hard to secure. These bills haven’t been voted on by the committee; instead, the Senate and House committees will now work to reconcile their respective packages by a December 3 deadline to avoid a federal government shutdown.

By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block

By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block

By selling puppy mill dogs, some pet stores are spreading severe diseases that are dangerous to the public. We’ve been saying this for years. And now a new scientific investigation published this month by the Journal of the American Medical Association Network reinforces this fact. The pet industry is actively avoiding taking responsibility for this threat.