Earlier this month, nearly 90 wild horses rescued from abuse and neglect arrived at the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Texas, where they are receiving the care they desperately need — both medical and rehabilitative — from HSUS dedicated animal care teams.

The horses were among more than 200 mustangs The Humane Society of the United States helped rescue from a Nebraska farm, where they were found suffering from starvation, severe parasite infestation, and other ailments. All the horses were taken from the range by the Bureau of Land Management and then sold to the highest bidder — a controversial practice we’re all working to stop.

The horses are on the mend, but they have a long way to go. Because they’re in such terrible shape, the Humane Society of the United States is in desperate need of support to care for these horses over the next few months and beyond.

Watch the video to meet these beautiful horses, and then please make a special gift to help HSUS care for them.

Your support is needed to help make the horses healthy and whole again so that when the time comes, they’re ready to be adopted into a loving — and permanent — home of their own.

Your help and support is always greatly appreciated

The morning of May 20, the USDA announced that it will implement a complete ban on slaughter for human consumption of cattle unable to stand and walk unassisted. The decision comes after The Humane Society of the United States documented horrible abuses of downed cows in a series of undercover videos.
For far too long, sick and crippled animals have been allowed into the food supply, subjecting them to needless torment and putting consumers at risk. Thanks in part to many thousands of animal advocates who emailed and called public officials about the scandalous mistreatment of these animals, the USDA is moving to close the downer loophole. We are calling on the agency to expedite the process and ban the slaughtering of downers without delay.

Once the loophole is closed, we’ll push for additional reforms. Stronger federal legislation is needed to ensure humane euthanasia of downers and protect all farm animals from this kind of abuse. We’ll continue to lobby for further reforms and keep you updated.

New Law Cracks Down on Animal Fighting and Puppy Mills

The U.S. Senate yesterday followed the lead of the House of Representatives and overrode President Bush’s veto of the Farm Bill, ushering in key new protections for animals. The final bill — which is now considered law, except for one section excluded due to a technical glitch — bans the import of puppies from foreign puppy mills for commercial sale in the U.S. The law spares young, unweaned, and unvaccinated pups from harsh, long-distance transport — during which they are exposed to extreme temperatures and often die in cargo holds — and will keep foreign breeders from adding to the tragic overpopulation of pets in this country.

The Farm bill also adds a provision to federal law to make almost any form of animal fighting a federal felony. It’s also now a federal crime to knowingly possess or train animals for fighting, and the maximum prison time for a single violation of any section of the law goes from three years to five years. It is hard to overstate what a blow this is to dogfighters and cockfighters, and it brings us one step closer to eradicating these criminal industries.

The law also authorizes an increase in potential fines — quadrupled from $2,500 to $10,000 — for violations of the Animal Welfare Act, fines that haven’t been upgraded in more than 20 years. Such penalties will more effectively deter abuses at puppy mills, laboratories, circuses, and other facilities that use animals.

Animal Fighting Magazine to be Pulled from Amazon.com

On Tuesday, in another blow to animal fighters, we reached a settlement with one of the defendants in our federal lawsuit challenging the sale of two criminal animal fighting magazines on Amazon.com in violation of the federal Animal Welfare Act. The publishers of “The Gamecock” magazine agreed to permanently change the magazine’s format to exclude all ads for fighting animals, knives, and other illegal paraphernalia, and to stop selling the magazine on Amazon.com until it has demonstrated full compliance with federal law for one year.

Sadly, Amazon.com has vowed to fight on in the case, arguing that the First Amendment gives it the right to sell illegal animal fighting contraband. It wants to remain the only online retailer selling “The Feathered Warrior,” soon to be the sole remaining cockfighting trade publication sold on Amazon.com in violation of federal law. Tell Amazon.com what you think of its decision to continue profiting from illegal animal fighting.

All these victories were made possible by your emails, phone calls, letters, and donations. Thank you for standing with us, and for all you do for animals.

Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States

One year ago today, authorities raided Michael Vick’s property in Virginia, gathering evidence that led to his imprisonment on charges related to dogfighting. Although The Humane Society of the United States has battled animal fighting for more than fifty years, your actions last summer and into this year have helped us make great strides in bringing more animal fighters to justice.

These are just a few of the many milestones we’ve already reached in 2008.

- Raids on dogfighting operations increased from 27 between January and April last year to more than 67 raids to date in 2008 — more than doubling the number of reported arrests for this crime.
- Wyoming and Idaho made dogfighting a felony offense — and these two states had been the last holdouts with weak penalties for fighting crimes. Lawmakers in Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Oregon, and Virginia also passed stronger laws against dogfighting, as part of a wave of 26 states considering legislation to increase penalties.
- Our program granting awards to people helping us bust animal fighters, made possible by the Ware Foundation and our donors, precipitated dogfighting raids in half a dozen states. We paid out 20 rewards and have several pending. The cases range from a Texan who reported on his neighbor and his six scarred pit bulls to major busts with dozens of animals confiscated.
- In February, we worked with the Pima County sheriff to bust two of the nation’s most notorious dogfighting kingpins, Pat Patricks and T.L. Williams, in Arizona. Officials seized more than 150 dogs and arrested six people.
- Our press conferences announcing the reward program — held with five state attorneys general, the Chicago Police Department and the Los Angeles County district attorney — have shined a bright spotlight on dogfighting. We plan more conferences with attorneys general in three additional states.
- We trained more than 700 law enforcement officers on animal fighting and produced a new video about dogfighting. Tens of thousands of our rewards posters are helping ferret out animal fighters across the country.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of dogs are exploited by dogfighters and countless vulnerable animals suffer hunger, thirst, malicious wounding, and death.

I’m proud to report this progress, and I thank you for helping to make it all possible.

Thank you so much for standing with us in our fight to end the cruel Canadian seal hunt.

Over the past few weeks, the world has watched in horror as Canadian sealers brandished clubs and rifles, brutally slaughtering thousands of defenseless pups, most only a few weeks old. As you read this today, the commercial seal hunt has moved farther north where the killings will resume — with sealers allowed to kill 275,000 seals this year.

Because of your support, we have achieved many landmark victories in our campaign to save the seals — and our efforts are reaching a critical mass. This year, it is clear that the end of the seal slaughter is finally in sight.

Here’s the most exciting piece of news: the European Environment Commissioner has announced a plan to ban the trade in all seal products originating from inhumane hunts. This builds upon the historic declaration by the European parliament in 2006. If an EU-wide ban is enacted, the fashion houses serving the main markets for seal skins today — China and Russia — would be forced to stop, and millions of baby seals would be saved from cruel slaughter. In the meantime, many nations have either banned seal product trade or announced their intentions to do so. They include: Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia, Austria, Slovenia, Panama, Mexico, and the United States. Just the potential for an EU ban on seal products has saved thousands of seals already. Prices paid for seal skins this year have declined so much that most sealers have chosen to stay home.

And we have more good news! The HSUS-led boycott of Canadian seafood in the U.S. has attracted more than 618,000 individuals, 3,500 restaurants, and major grocery chains such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. With more than 80% of Newfoundland’s fishing revenue coming from shellfish and less than 3% from the seal hunt, we have tremendous leverage as consumers to end this hunt! Fishermen are fast realizing they stand to lose more from killing seals than they will ever hope to gain.

To tell the EU that you strongly support a total ban on trade in seal products, please sign our petition here.

Remember, we’ll continue to apply the heat as long as the hunt continues. It’s a ghastly practice, and the scale of the cruelty requires our persistence and perseverance.

Thank you for your continued support during this tragic time on the ice floes of Canada.

HSUS MySpace Page | Stop Puppy Mills Website

The puppy mill industry will thrive as long as consumers are kept in the dark about the “mass production” of purebred and designer dogs. With your help, we’ll shed light on the cruelty of puppy mills and put them out of business for good. We can’t do it without your help!

7 Things You Can Do:

1- If you are thinking of bringing a new dog into the family, or know someone who is, request a free copy of our puppy buyer’s guide for information on how to find reputable breeders, shelters, and rescue groups.

2- Ask your federal legislators to crack down on puppy mills.

3- Get the word out about puppy mills: write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Visit StopPuppyMills.org to educate yourself.

4- Download one of our Stop Puppy Mills campaign badges or banners to your own MySpace or Facebook page, blog, or website.

5- Did you adopt your canine companion from a rescue group or shelter? Then order our Proud to Adopt care package.

6- Download Puppy Mill Cruelty flyers and post them or give them out at your neighborhood dog park, to engage fellow dog owners and help spread the word.

7- Help us place advertisements and billboards to spread the word about puppy mill cruelty.

The Think.Act.Unity Team has signed the pledge to help end Canada’s Cruel Seal Hunt … Join us!

The Canadian seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on Earth. In the past 4 years more than one million baby seals have been killed for their fur. You and Us, together we can help stop this atrocity!

Watch known fashion photographer Nigel Barker’s video of the interaction between him, his crew and the seals in their natural habitat.

SIGN THE PLEDGE NOW

We received an email from HSUS where Nigel Barker wrote:

Thank you for signing the pledge to boycott Canadian seafood until the seal hunt is stopped. Now, I invite you to take my Pledge Challenge — a contest to see who can recruit the most new pledge signers to help the seals!

The person who recruits the most new pledge signers will win a fabulous seal-themed prize pack from me. This prize pack includes a signed photo, my new T-shirt (see photo to the right), a campaign hoodie, and cute seal mug and baby seal plush toy. Ten runners-up will receive a signed photo and the baby seal plush toy. The more people you get to sign the pledge between now and midnight March 24, the greater the chance you’ll have to win!

After what I have witnessed these past several days, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to help prevent these defenseless baby seals from being brutally slaughtered for their fur — most of which is exported to Europe. You see, I’ve just returned from the ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where I joined my friends at The Humane Society of the United States in viewing an extraordinary sight — the birth of thousands of harp seal pups across a pristine and peaceful winter landscape. View my photos of this amazing place here. It’s painful to think that in only a few weeks’ time, this beautiful seal nursery will be transformed into a scene of bloody carnage.
Your continued involvement these next few weeks is critical — because our campaign is starting to achieve real results. Since the ProtectSeals boycott began, the value of Canadian snow crab exports to the United States has plummeted $465 million (in Canadian dollars)! Help us keep the pressure on Canada’s fishing industry by asking your friends to join you and more than 545,000 people who have already signed the pledge!

It only takes a few minutes to speak up for baby seals. If we all act now, this may be the last commercial seal hunt any of us ever has to witness.

Sincerely,

Nigel Barker

Wayne Pacelle, President & CEO of The Humane Society of the United States wrote:

Last year was a very productive year for The Humane Society of the United States’s Chimps Deserve Better campaign and we wanted to share some recent, exciting news to get you energized for 2008.

On December 26, President Bush signed the Chimp Haven is Home Act into law. The Act, which was championed by Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.), amends the CHIMP Act of 2000 to ensure that chimpanzees retired into the federal chimpanzee sanctuary system will be given permanent protection with no chance of being recalled back into research. This amendment fixes a serious flaw in the original legislation that allowed chimpanzees to be returned to research if certain requirements were met. Fortunately, no chimpanzee was ever returned to the lab.

This legislation is fabulous news for the chimpanzees who are currently living in the federal sanctuary system and those who will join them in the future. This news also gives us great momentum for the campaign as we continue to work towards our goal of ending invasive research on chimpanzees and retiring those in laboratories to suitable sanctuaries.

We appreciate your support so far and hope you will stay tuned because we will need your help more than ever in 2008!

Thanks to your actions and support, The Humane Society of the United States saved thousands of animals from the cruelty of animal fighting, built even more worldwide support for our campaign to end Canada’s seal hunt, and rescued pets threatened by California’s wildfires.

Here are just a few of the extraordinary achievements you and I can savor as 2007 draws to a close:

* The last two states — New Mexico and Louisiana — outlawed cockfighting, and Congress passed a seminal law strengthening penalties for animal fighting. HSUS supporters like you also pressured Nike to drop a multi-million-dollar endorsement deal with Vick after his role in illegal dogfighting was uncovered.

* Horse slaughter was finally eliminated on U.S. soil when Texas and Illinois shut down the last remaining slaughterhouses in the nation.

* We rescued animals from natural disasters, providing care for hundreds of pets and farm animals threatened by California’s recent wildfires.

* Some of the worst cruelties of factory farming were stopped when the largest veal and pig producers committed to abandon the use of tiny crates and cages, more companies and consumers switched to cage-free eggs, and Oregon’s legislature made history by passing legislation outlawing the use of gestation crates to confine breeding pigs.

Many more challenges lie ahead in 2008, and we desperately need your continued commitment to confront animal cruelty in all its forms.

Visit The Humane Society Of The U.S.

But our mission is not only to see Michael Vick brought to justice. His case is a symptom of a larger problem: Dogfighting is a surging underground enterprise involving an estimated 250,000 dogs. The Humane Society of the United States wants to wipe out this industry and save these dogs from the violent fate that awaits them in the dogfighting pit. But to do so, we desperately need your continued support.

Dogfights kill and injure thousands of animals a year. You can help stop this torture. Today, please make a special donation to our campaign to end animal fighting in America. Click here

Thank you so much for the actions you have already taken as part of this campaign. I look forward to keeping you updated on our progress.

Sincerely,

Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States