88 research outputs found
An HSUS Report: The Impact of Animal Agriculture on Global Warming and Climate Change
The farm animal production sector is the single largest anthropogenic user of land, contributing to soil degradation, dwindling water supplies, and air pollution. The breadth of this sectorās impacts has been largely underappreciated. Meat, egg, and milk production are not narrowly focused on the rearing and slaughtering of farm animals. The animal agriculture sector also encompasses feed grain production which requires substantial water, energy, and chemical inputs, as well as energy expenditures to transport feed, live animals, and animal products. All of this comes at a substantial cost to the environment.
One of animal agricultureās greatest environmental impacts is its contribution to global warming and climate change. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), the animal agriculture sector is responsible for approximately 18%, or nearly one-fifth, of human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In nearly every step of meat, egg, and milk production, climate-changing gases are released into the atmosphere, potentially disrupting weather, temperature, and ecosystem health. Mitigating this serious problem requires immediate and far-reaching changes in current animal agriculture practices and consumption patterns
Update Report: Missouriās Dirty Dozen
Late last year, researchers at The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) spent weeks poring over state and federal inspection reports, investigatorsā photographs, and enforcement records to compile a list of some of the worst puppy mills in Missouri, known as āMissouriās Dirty Dozen.ā The report included direct quotes detailing horrific care violations documented in the facilitiesā federal and/or state kennel inspection reports. The violations included thin-coated breeds like Italian greyhounds found shivering in the cold in temperatures as low as 9 degrees, dogs with open, oozing or bleeding sores, underweight dogs with their entire skeletal structures showing, and sick or dying puppies who had not been treated by a vet.
This update follows some of those kennels to see whether they are still licensed in 2011. As detailed in this report, the majority of the āDirty Dozenā kennels are still state-licensed to this day, indicating the ongoing need for the protections that Proposition B, The Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act, will provide
Estimate of USDA Licensed Breeders 2014
A state-by-state breakdown in map format showing the number of licenses for: Class A Commercial Breeders Facilities that breed companion animals, primarily dogs, for resale into the pet trade; and Class B Brokers / Dealers Middlemen who obtain animals from breeders and then resell them
Taking Animal Welfare Seriously: Minimizing Pain and Distress in Research Animals
Pain and distress caused by specific research models and techniques raise serious concerns for those in the animal welfare community as well as in the scientific community. Yet good estimates of how much animal pain and/or animal distress is caused by particular techniques or methods are not yet available. The HSUS has compiled a preliminary list of research models and techniques that cause pain and distress. Analyses by the USDA and HSUS indicate that the majority of the animals reported in Column E are used in various testing procedures, with vaccine testing prominent among them. More data are needed to discriminate amongst research models and specific techniques in terms of the pain and distress they typically induce. Pain and distress may be specific to a particular research model, species, or gender and may affect the extent of suffering caused in that particular animal model. Such information is critical to informed decision-making by researchers, IACUCs, and others
Puppy Mill Closure: The Economic Impact on a Local Community
When a substandard dog-breeding facility (a puppy mill) closes, removing the dogs can drain the financial resources of a community, local animal welfare entities, and large humane organizations. Towns rarely derive any benefit from puppy mills, as they employ few staff, often donāt pay required taxes or license fees, generate much animal waste and pollution, and cause unpleasant odors and noise. Once a major puppy mill enterprise is discovered, many communities donāt have the necessary resources to handle the situation. Prevention is the key, and communities should discourage large scale breeding facilities from locating in their area
An HSUS Report: The Implications of Farm Animal-Based Bioenergy Production
As the current and potential impacts of climate change become more evident and increasingly urgent, entities such as governments, corporations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are seeking out non-fossil fuelbased sources of energy to mitigate those effects. In addition, many governments are investigating ways to promote their own domestic energy sources as a result of rising oil prices. Bioenergyāmade from recently living organic matter, such as plants, agricultural waste and crop residue, meat processing wastes, or farmed animalsā fats and manureāhas quickly become one of the fastest growing, and controversial, alternative energy sources. Globally, production of biofuels, generally used for transport, only accounts for 1% of total fuel production, but that percentage may rise as the costs of petroleum-based fuels increase, encouraging greater numbers of countries to increase biofuel production. While corn and sugarcane are well-recognized sources of biofuels, agribusiness is also using less well-known sources, including manure and fats from animals raised on factory farms, as well as litter from these production facilities, to generate energy. The industrial animal agriculture sector, however, typically ignores the environmental, social, animal welfare, and public health costs of its inputs and practices, and bioenergy production from factory farm-based biofuels will exacerbate the problems inherent in industrial animal agriculture
The Horrible Hundred 2017: A Sampling of Problem Puppy Mills and Puppy Dealers in the United States
This report is a list of some of the nationās dog breeding kennels that are of high concern to The HSUS due to repeated problems with animal health or animal care. It is not a list of all puppy mills, nor a list of all problematic facilities. The list does not include other problematic puppy mill dealers, such as brokers and pet stores, unless the operators are also breeding dogs
Facts About Cage Stacking
One of the most troubling conditions seen at puppy mills is overcrowding, which can lead to sanitation problems, stress, and disease. Puppy mills commonly use stacked cages to house more animals than a given space should reasonably hold
A Horrible Hundred 2013: Problem Puppy Mills in the United States
This report is a list of some of the nationās dog breeding kennels that are of high concern to The HSUS due to repeated problems with animal health or animal care. It is not a list of all puppy mills, nor a list of all problematic facilities. The list does not include other problematic puppy mill dealers, such as brokers and pet stores, unless the operators are also breeding dogs
HSUS Investigates: New York Puppy Stores
In response to concerns about the sources of puppies in New York pet stores, The HSUSās Investigations unit conducted a hidden-camera investigation of 11 New York pet stores, visited many of their puppy suppliers, and studied interstate puppy shipping documents for more than 100 New York pet stores in all. Our investigation concluded that, regardless of what pet storesā sales staff tell shoppers about their puppy sources, all of the stores investigated were buying from inhumane mass-breeding facilities known as puppy mills -- including some of the worst known puppy mills in Missouri and other top puppy mill states
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