Humane Society of the United States

The Ag-Gag War: How undercover animal-rights activists are winning it

Puppy Mills: Missouri, Worst State In U.S., Passes Bill To Block Anti-Cruelty Efforts?

Missouri has the worst puppy mills in the nation -- and lawmakers in the state are working hard to make sure it stays that way! So says the Humane Society, which announced this week that Missouri ranks No. 1 for terrible puppy farms in the United States and is now going after a piece of legislation ... More >>

Humane Society: Missouri Still Has Nation's Worst Puppy Mills

Three years after Missourians voted to crack down on disreputable dog breeding operations, the Show-Me State continues to lead the nation in the number of dangerous and unsanitary puppy mills. So says the Humane Society of the United States, which last week issued a report highlighting the nation' ... More >>

Humane Society: "Right to Farm" Bill Would Protect Puppy Mills, Block Anti-Cruelty Efforts

Is a so-called "right to farm" bill in Missouri just a front to protect the controversial puppy mill industry in Missouri? The Humane Society of the United States is going on the offense against proposed legislation -- versions of which both the Senate and House have now approved -- that the organi ... More >>

Rockville MO Horse Slaughter Plant Update: Nothing Doing So Far

In June of this year Sue Wallis, the CEO of Unified Equine, announced that a shuttered cattle processing plant in Rockville, Missouri, would soon be home to her company's first horse slaughterhouse in America. Work was to begin immediately so that horses could be processed for human consumption as s ... More >>

Hardee's Bacon Will No Longer Come From Super Sad Pigs

There are enough reasons to feel guilty about going to Hardee's. Several of their burgers approach or cross the 1,000 calorie line. Maybe Kate Upton's boobs got you there. But now. . . er, wait, starting in 2022, Hardee's customers can rest a little easier knowing the bacon and other pork bits in t ... More >>

If You Eat Horse Meat, What Are You Really Eating?

Sue Wallis, the CEO of Unified Equine, resurfaced in the media recently to hint that her plans for a horse slaughter plant in Missouri continue apace. Wallis claims that the company has designs on a shuttered cattle processing plant in "western Missouri," with the exact location being kept a secret. ... More >>

Missouri House Passes "Ag Gag" Bill Designed to Stop Factory-Farm Investigations

The Missouri House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill designed to thwart undercover investigations into big agriculture. The legislation (HB 1860) mirrors a similar bill signed into law this year in Iowa and creates the crime of "Agricultural Production Facility Fraud" for anyone who obtains ... More >>

Bill Would Repeal "Punitive" Tax on Missouri Animal Shelters

​State Rep. Jeanne Kirkton (D - Webster Groves) has proposed a bill to restore certain tax exemptions to animal shelters that were lost during the heated fight over puppy mills back in 2010. Legislators opposed to the Prop B campaign to rein-in dog breeding facilities in Missouri slipped the new ... More >>

McRib Targeted by the Humane Society

Wikimedia CommonsMcRib judgement got you down? Disguise it! ​It's the most wonderful time of the year - McRib season! But not everyone's thrilled with the pressed pork patty's annual appearance. The Humane Society of the United States has filed a complaint against pork giant Smithfield Foods, ... More >>

Animal Shelters Face Devastating New Tax in Missouri

​A fat new fee increase proposed by the Missouri Department of Agriculture would cripple non-profit animal shelters, animal welfare groups say.The new proposal would treat shelters exactly the same as for-profit breeders, requiring them to pay annual licensing fees as well as a surcharge on each a ... More >>

Group Cleared for Petition Drive to Strengthen Will of Missouri Voters

protectvoters.com​At first they considered calling it the "Voter Protection Act." Then it was to be called "Will of the People Act." And now, finally, the "Your Vote Counts Act." But in every one of the eight filings Your Vote Counts has made in recent weeks with the Missouri Secretary of State's ... More >>

Your Vote Counts: Humane Society, Grover Norquist Backing Missouri Initiative

Wayne Pacelle: The Humane Society is backing a new initiative in Missouri.​As the CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle, told us last week, his organization plans to back a constitutional amendment on the 2012 ballot in Missouri called Your Vote Counts. And Pacelle wasn ... More >>

Humane Society's Wayne Pacelle Fires Back Over Puppy Mill Compromise

Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society of the United States​Governor Jay Nixon yesterday announced new measures (and $1.1 million in funding) to monitor dog-breeding operations here, in light of the "Missouri Compromise" that he signed into law earlier this year. The compromise gutted key parts of Pr ... More >>

Nixon Signs "Missouri Compromise Solution" Version of Prop. B

Jennifer SilverbergGovernor, how could you resist those puppy-dog eyes?​Just as he said he would last week, Governor Jay Nixon signed Senate Bill 113 this morning. The bill tweaks Proposition B, the initiative to put limits on dog breeding facilities (the nice term for "puppy mills") that vote ... More >>

Governor Nixon Caves To Dog Breeders; "Missouri Solution" Weakens Prop. B

Nixon: The great compromiser solutionizer.​Yesterday Governor Jay Nixon announced that he'd brokered a "Missouri Solution" to the fight over the state's notorious puppy mills. Working with animal rights activists and commercial dog breeders, the governor forged a deal that would keep just a few pr ... More >>

Pacelle on Ellen Urging Nixon to Veto Prop B Rollback

Wayne Pacelle digs dogs.​The Missouri legislature has voted to pull most of the teeth out of Prop B, the voter-approved bill that would drastically tighten oversight of dog-breeding operations in Missouri. A bill to repeal almost all of Prop B's restrictions is now awaiting a signature or veto fro ... More >>

Dog Day Afternoon? Senate Floor Debate on Prop B Repeal Begins

​If you've been following our coverage of the Legislature's efforts to gut/repeal the voter-approved ballot proposition that would crack down on Missouri dog breeders, Prop B, you'll know the debate is a fierce one. The Humane Society of the United States-backed initiative would will almost certai ... More >>

Puppy Mill Pushback: Bill to Gut Prop B Advances in Missouri House

Kase WickmanThe legislature could undo the measure that anti-puppy mill groups spent more than $4 million to push to voters.​A bill that would repeal key provisions of the voter-approved Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act, better known as Proposition B, sailed through a committee of the Missouri Ho ... More >>

In Missouri, it's one puppy mill down, and how many more to go?

Schindlers' Veterinarian: Facility of 1,000 Dogs Had 'High Standards'

Jennifer SilverbergThis dog used to belong to the Schindlers. Was he abused?​This week's cover feature, Screw the Pooch, examines the prickly issue of puppy mills in Missouri. Though the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act -- Proposition B -- was passed by a narrow margin of voters, there is talk in ... More >>

St. Louis County Restricts Tether Time for Pets

The St. Louis County Council is okay with you smoking at the bars in Harrah's Casino -- just don't even think about tying your dog up outside while you do it.If it's less than 33 degrees outside, a new law would make this illegal in St. Louis County.​As the Post-Dispatch reports, the council took ... More >>

Terry Mills, Cop Behind Dogfighting Bust, Joins ASPCA

Terry Mills, the Missouri state trooper whose undercover work led to the biggest dogfighting bust in American history, is taking his show on the road.Keegan HamiltonTerry Mills​We're not talking about a book deal or the lecture circuit, mind you. This dude is a badass! And so he's going to keep bu ... More >>

Readers argue about dogs, hair of the dog and shocking the junkie

"Puppy Mill"/Prop B Cliffhanger: Election Night Timeline

​When all the votes were (finally!) counted early this morning, the results for Proposition B, the officially-titled "Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act," looked like the above graphic from the Missouri Secretary of State's website. Though victory was eventually grasped, the Yes! on Prop B cam ... More >>

Anti-Puppy Mill Effort Raises $3.2 Million

Supporters of a Humane Society-backed initiative to crack down on puppy mills in Missouri have put their money where the dogs are -- with $3.2 million in contributions as of September 30.The anti-puppy mill effort has been raking in contributions.​The new totals were first reported by the Missouri ... More >>

Tony La Russa Comes Out Against ... Puppy Mills

St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa may have taken a sudden turn to the right with his attendance at a Glenn Beck rally this summer.   Tony La Russa may agree with Sarah Palin about "restoring honor" -- but we're guessing they disagree about animal rights.​But La Russa's parting w ... More >>

Pupocalypse Now?: Local Blogger Imagines Disastrous Repercussions of Prop B

What horrible fate lies ahead for this little pup?​We've got less than a month to go till Election Day now, when Missourians will go to the polls and determine the fates of Robin Carnahan, Roy Blunt, Ed Martin and thousands of puppies. If Prop B, officially known as the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prev ... More >>

Anti-Puppy Mill Prop B Fundraising Goes to the Dogs

MOFed: This doxie wants you to vote for America.Fundraising in support of Proposition B, the anti-puppy mill initiative that will be on Missouri's ballot come November 2, is far outstripping the funds raised by those who oppose its passage, reports the St. Louis Beacon. The Humane Society of th ... More >>

Anti-Puppy Mill Campaign Racks Up Out-of-Town Donations

UPDATED AT 5:45 p.m. with a comment from the groupMissourians for the Protection of Dogs, the group hoping to convince Missouri voters to ban puppy mills, got a huge financial boost in the last month -- with a staggering $795,000 collected from out-of-town donors and advocacy groups in August and th ... More >>

To pull off the biggest pit bull fighting bust in U.S. history, investigators went deep undercover. So did their dogs.

Missouri Puppy Mill Initiative Makes November Ballot

At the Daily RFT, we're pretty skeptical of silly lists proclaiming that St. Louis is the sixth-manliest city in the country, or Missouri is the twenty-fifth stupidest state, or whatever.Proposition B is for the dogs.​On the verity of one survey, though, we're utterly convinced: Missouri really do ... More >>

The Golden Age of Airline Food Revisited, and the West's Gift to Southeast Asia

The state of Ohio reached an agreement with the Humane Society of the United States to enact animal-welfare legislation. The HSUS had Ohio's agriculture industry by the scruff of the chinny-chin-chin, having gathered half a million signatures on a petition to put a factory-farm ban to a public refe ... More >>

RFT readers debate the rights of animals, Dumpster divers, pregnant women and mustachioed men

The Humane Society and big agriculture slug it out over animal rights

Down on the Farm: Multimedia

​This week's feature story, "Down on the Farm," chronicles an increasingly heated national battle over "factory-farmed" food. On one side: a phalanx of corporation- and family-owned farms across the country. On the other: the Washington, D.C.-based Humane Society of the United States.Caught in the ... More >>

Well Red: Readers debate the effectiveness of traffic-light cameras and the fate of taggers

Mount My Squirrel! Local taxidermist Rick Nadeau has a lot of fun with his "little buddies"

Humane Society: Missouri Among "The Five Worst States for Exotic Pets"

http://i.treehugger.com/images/2007/10/24/white-tiger-swimming.jpgWhile the Missouri Tigers are busy clawing their way through the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Humane Society of the United States says that when it comes to keeping your neighbors from housing real, live Tigers as pets, the ... More >>

Hot Air

Unreal sees what all the inflatable fuss is about, learns why kitties are bad presents and talks to a man who loves hotties-but-smarties; plus, the second installment of Local Blog o' the Week!

Going Ape

Suzy the Chimp is dead, her teenage killer faces charges and there's bad blood all around

Letters to the Editor

Published the week of March 1

High Society

It's flush with money and has a grand new building, but the Humane Society of Missouri is doing little to prevent the growing euthanasia rate for unwanted animals

Animal Kingdom

A proposal before the Missouri Legislature seems tailored to make the Department of Conservation, already a fiefdom unto itself, even less answerable to citizens