Trump killed rule meant to stop soring WASHINGTON D.C.––Former U.S. President Donald Trump in January 2017 improperly blocked a new USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service rule meant to protect show horses from taking effect, ruled a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on July 22, […]
Humane Society of the U.S. secrets exposed by court order––some of them
But why were they ever secrets in the first place? WASHINGTON D.C.–– Former Humane Society of the United States policy analyst Jeff Thomas on May 25, 2022 won what is apparently the first round to go before a judge in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit brought by Thomas against eight other current and former HSUS staff. […]
USDA proposes to cover birds under the Animal Welfare Act––sort of
Disease outbreaks afflicting poultry producers lend regulatory urgency to protecting birds––some birds, anyhow––that 50 years of activism did not WASHINGTON D.C.––The worst outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza on record, ravaging European flocks both wild and domestic since 2020, now killing birds by the million in poultry barns, especially in the upper Midwest, may soon help […]
Robert Dole: why did Pacelle, Amundson, & Bershadker inflate his record?
Robert Dole, at best, had a good record on animal issues for a Trumpist––but he was no Hubert Humphrey, nor even a Richard Nixon Robert Joseph Dole, 98, the 1996 Republican presidential nominee, U.S. Senator from Kansas 1969-1996, and a Kansas member of the U.S. House of Representatives 1960-1968, died on December 5, 2021. Lauded […]
$350 million for animal crossings, but zip for roadkill avoidance education
Win for HSUS is a gain, yet not the most cost-effective way to save animal & human lives on highways WASHINGTON D.C.––The first official U.S. national commitment to preventing roadkills of wildlife appears to have been buried deep within the $1.3 trillion Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act signed into law U.S. President Joe Biden […]
“Victories” that are not, & other views of big animal groups from “The Eejit”
“Promises, promises,” to the skirl of bagpipes Soon-to-retire longtime Animal Concern campaign director John Robins, being a Scot who may never have seen a baseball game, is not known to have ever used a metaphor borrowed from baseball. (See “Eejit” John Robins shuffles off after 41 years fighting for animals in Scotland.) Robins is known, […]
Strong allegations & strange strategy in lawsuit vs. HSUS execs & Pacelle
New case builds on earlier defamation case filed by former HSUS policy analyst Jeffrey Thomas Jr. WASHINGTON D.C.––Why is the Humane Society of the United States still defending alleged actions of former president Wayne Pacelle in court, along with alleged actions of other current and former HSUS staff undertaken to protect Pacelle from claims […]
Is mink farming “too dirty to die”? Or is pending bill the coup-de-grace?
Some in the U.S. mink industry see COVID-19 as a growth opportunity WASHINGTON D.C.––Will the COVID-19 delta variant finally kill mink farming in the U.S., after COVID-19 in all forms has killed more than 633,000 Americans? Or will HR 4310, dubbed the MINKS Act as acronym for “Minks in Narrowly Kept Spaces Are Superspreaders Act,” […]
China keeps a promise on behalf of animals used in cosmetics testing
Chinese-made beauty & personal care products were already exempt from animal testing requirements. Now most imported beauty & personal care products are exempt as well. BEIJING––The National Medical Products Administration of China on March 4, 2021 quietly kept an eight-year-old promise on behalf of animals, announcing that after May 1, 2021 it will no longer […]
Anti-vivisectionism goes to the dogs
Or, “A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy, except in their capacity to raise funds.” WASHINGTON D.C.––Lest there be any doubt that antivivisection advocacy in the 21st century has gone to the dogs, the White Coat Waste Project, the Humane Society of the U.S., and Stop Animal Exploitation Now in recent […]