Jan. 4, 2018 – With weather systems delivering punishingly low temperatures – along with ice, snow, and wind – deaths from the cold cycle are mounting, including animal victims. Heartbreaking images on social media, of dogs left outside and frozen, are almost too much to bear. Yesterday, People.com reported a gut-wrenching story of a black […]
Wayne Pacelle, Humane Society of the United States
Posted inOp-Ed
Wayne Pacelle: National Park Service plan to kill bison in Grand Canyon unneeded, unwarranted
Dec. 12, 2017 – The National Park Service (NPS), with a shameful record of allowing the killing of bison who migrate outside of Yellowstone National Park and onto adjacent federal lands, is now planning on opening up a second front against these great and lumbering beasts, the biggest mammals in North America. This time, the […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Wayne Pacelle: Series of federal court rulings affirm state, local efforts against animal cruelty
Sept. 22, 2017 – In an important ruling for dogs and for the legal principle that states and local governments have a critical role in protecting animals from cruelty and mistreatment, a federal appeals court today upheld Chicago’s law requiring pet stores that sell dogs, cats, and rabbits to obtain them from an animal shelter or rescue […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Wayne Pacelle: Zinke’s Department of the Interior mounting unprecedented attack on wildlife
July 24, 2017 – The Department of the Interior, under Secretary Ryan Zinke, isn’t mincing words or hedging its political bets. At least not so far. Last week, its leaders signaled that the department may dismantle a rule to restrict ruthless predator killing practices on some 20 million acres of National Park Service lands in […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Wayne Pacelle: Trump’s agriculture team threatens to kill first-ever federal animal welfare standards for farm animals
May 12, 2017 – First, on January 23rd, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) froze an anti-horse-soring rule, years in the works and with massive bipartisan support in Congress. Then, just days later, the agency, without warning, took down thousands of Animal Welfare Act inspection reports and Horse Protection Act violations from a searchable website. […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Wayne Pacelle: Taking USDA’s Wildlife Services program to court
April 6, 2016 – Last month, a federal agent placed an M-44 cyanide bomb on public lands in eastern Idaho. As intended, it detonated, but the agent missed his target and claimed a couple of unintended victims: a 14-year-old boy, Canyon Mansfield, was sprayed as the poison shot out of the explosive device. He survived, […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Wayne Pacelle: House sanctions killing hibernating bears, wolf pups in their dens on federal refuges in Alaska
Feb. 16, 2017 – What the U.S. House of Representatives did today – actually a very narrow majority of the House – was shameful. Cruel. Callous. Venal. The vote in favor of H.J. Resolution 69, authored by Alaska’s Rep. Don Young, was 225 to 193. Those 225 members voted to overturn a federal rule – […]
Posted inUS
Humane Society challenges USDA over mass removal of animal welfare records
Feb. 6, 2017 – There’s an outpouring of anger and mistrust about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s abrupt decision late last week to delete from its website inspection reports on some 9,000 licensed facilities that use animals, including commercial dog breeding operators, Tennessee walking horse show participants, roadside zoos, animal research labs, and other operations […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Wayne Pacelle: Romania bans hunting of brown bears, wolves, while governments here push for more killing
Oct. 5, 2016 – With the largest populations for these species in all of Europe, Romania has shocked (in the very best of ways) the animal welfare and conservation communities by outlawing all trophy hunting of brown bears, wolves, and other carnivores. It’s especially remarkable given the stories of former Romanian communist president Nicolae Ceaușescu […]