Right now, Congress is acting on its FY 2026 appropriations bills to provide funding and direction to federal agencies, and we are campaigning hard to help the countless millions of animals whose fate depends on this process.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Pangolins are sometimes called the “guardians of the forest” because they hold termite destruction at bay. Yet they are also the world’s most trafficked mammal, and so they bear the burden of being something of an ambassador species in the wider campaign against wildlife trafficking.
Pangolins proposed for U.S. Endangered Species Act protections
WASHINGTON (June 16, 2025)—The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed listing seven species of pangolins as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, a move that would strengthen trade and import restrictions within the United States and underscore the species’ critical conservation status.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Macey Mullins bought a little Jack Russell terrier from a Petland store in Ohio in 2020. According to Mullins, when she purchased the dog, she was assured that the dog was healthy, had been examined by a veterinarian and had come from a responsible, small-scale breeder. Mullins named her new dog June. Shortly after they arrived home, June seemed constantly thirsty and was urinating excessively, Mullins said, and when she followed up with Petland, Petland claimed this was normal puppy behavior.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
It’s a long way from the arid desert habitat where a wild horse now named Smoke was born, but now Black Beauty Ranch, in Murchison, Texas, is home. The journey to our sanctuary has made all the difference for this handsome grey horse who has traveled all the areas of the sanctuary, bonding with the other mustangs. Smoke grazes peacefully watching over his friends who were once separated but are together again. No one can harm him here.
Trump budget puts wild horses and burros on the chopping block, paves way for mass slaughter
Congress should reject severe proposal that abandons bipartisan protections and ignores humane, proven alternatives
By Amanda Wight
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
There are leaders in the U.S. Congress stepping up to meet the need for enhanced Animal Welfare Act enforcement through the Better Collaboration, Accountability, and Regulatory Enforcement (CARE) for Animals Act.
There’s a new chance to strengthen the Animal Welfare Act’s enforcement in the U.S., and such progress cannot come soon enough for animals currently languishing in facilities such as research laboratories, roadside zoos and puppy mills that aren’t meeting minimal standards of care.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Our fight to end puppy mill cruelty has reached a milestone well worth celebrating: 500 localities across the U.S. have banned the sale of puppy mill puppies in pet shops.
By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
At a property in Illinois buzzing with hundreds of flies, a water bucket stood empty in an enclosure where three puppies were living. When the bucket was finally refilled, a federal inspector observed the puppies as they desperately “climbed on top of each other trying to get water.” At another breeder’s property in Iowa, state inspectors found dogs who were limping and dogs with matted fur living in a “nearly overwhelming” odor of waste.
