Recently, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed 6 animal welfare bills into law. The legislation covers a wide range of companion animal welfare issues. Here’s a summary of the new legislation. SB 879, the PET (Prohibiting Extraneous Testing) Act: Prohibits product toxicity testing on dogs and cats...
4,000 Beagles destined for research laboratories were recently rescued from a mass breeding facility in Virginia. The Humane Society of the United States has been working with rescue and shelter partners around the country to help find these dogs new homes. According to HSUS’s latest update,...
American Humane has been celebrating Be Kind to Animals Week for over 100 years. For this year's awareness event, the American Humane website has lots of great resources for animal lovers of all ages. You can take the kindness pledge, find ways to celebrate by making...
Recently the country of Norway amended its existing Animal Welfare Act to emphasize the importance of breeding healthy and fit purebred dogs. They have declared that breeders who violate healthy breeding standards may be held liable. This includes breeding for extreme physical conformations and not screening...
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an animal welfare legislative package into law recently. The first law is S.4254/A.4075, which prohibits insurance companies from refusing to issue or renew, cancel, or charge or impose an increased premium for certain homeowners’ insurance policies based solely on the...
Did you know that when your dog needs a blood transfusion, the source of that blood may be a large-scale colony blood bank where many dogs are housed, and their blood is repeatedly drawn? California is taking steps to phase out colony canine blood banks. They...
A recent news story out of Minnesota highlights a potentially serious problem in many suburban communities around the US: pet rabbits, acquired during the pandemic, are being abandoned outdoors and are now multiplying. According to Debbie Mans, the CEO of Rabbit Rescue of Minnesota, the number...
Most people know that if they witness animal abuse or neglect in person, they can report it to local law enforcement or animal services. But what if you see videos or images of animal cruelty on the internet? Unfortunately, there are many instances of animal abuse...
You may have heard the term court appointed special advocate (CASA) used to describe child welfare volunteers who represent the interests of abused and neglected children. The New Jersey State Senate passed a bill that will do the same for abused and neglected animals. The Courtroom Animal...
Los Angeles recently approved a largescale trap-neuter-return (TNR) project called the Citywide Cat Program to reduce the number of homeless cats and kittens in the city. An estimated 20,000 stray cats will be spayed or neutered each year under the program. Experts say that over the...
An in-depth article on the decline of dog racing in the US published by National Geographic shines a light on the challenges faced by Greyhounds, both on and off the track. Earlier this year, the last Greyhound track in Texas closed. At the end of 2020,...
Here is a simple but powerful reminder to never leave your dog unattended in a car during the warm summer months, courtesy of the RSPCA. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO84RKZtO7c&w=560&h=315] For more information on the dangers of leaving your dog in a hot car, check out the RSPCA’s “Dogs Die...
The Humane Society of the United States recently published the 2020 edition of its annual “Horrible Hundred” puppy mill report. This report documents problematic puppy breeding and/or puppy brokerage operations in the US. You can download and read a pdf copy of the full report HERE. ...
The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) recently released its 14th annual U.S. State Animal Protection Laws Ranking Report for the year 2019. The ALDF assesses each state’s animal protection legislation and ranks them from strongest to weakest. For 2019, Illinois ranked first, followed by Oregon, Colorado,...
Kansas City Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu has teamed up with PETA to create a public awareness video on the dangers of dogs being kept outside in freezing cold weather. Tyrann stepped into a walk-in freezer to experience what it must be like for dogs left out...
The PACT (Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture) Act was passed unanimously in the US House of Representatives this week. This act would expand on a prior law that criminalizes the production and distribution of animal torture videos. Passage of the PACT Act would criminalize acts of...
This Easter marks the first year a new California animal welfare law designed to protect rabbits goes into effect. California is the first state in the US to ban live rabbit sales at pet stores—an effort to cut back on the number of rabbits that...
April 11th is National Pet Day, a great time to celebrate our pets...
Back in January, the San Diego Humane Society took part in a large-scale rescue operation of 84 cockatiels from a one-bedroom apartment. The rescue made the news and many interested adopters began contacting San Diego Humane about the birds. The cockatiels spent several weeks at the...
January 1, 2019 was the first day that a new animal welfare law went into effect here in California. Under this law (called the Pet Rescue and Adoption Act), pet stores cannot sell dogs, cats, or rabbits unless they are from animal shelters or rescue...
This week’s midterm elections saw two major animal welfare victories in the states of Florida and California. Florida’s Amendment 13, a measure to ban commercial Greyhound racing, was approved by 69% of voters in the state. Thanks to this new legislation, Greyhound racing will be phased...