Animal Studies Commons^™

Hsus Exposes Livestock Transportation Cruelty

Close Up Reports

After a massive investigation covering nine months, twenty states, and more than 20,000 miles, The HSUS has documented that every day and every night, thousands of cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, and other animals are being crowded, beaten, electrically shocked, trampled--or even killed--during miserable journeys that ultimately end at the slaughterhouses of this country.

Animals are injured during loading, then forced to negotiate dark truck interiors, steep ramps, narrow doorways, sharp turns, and slippery flooring. They are loaded so hurriedly that they knock down or climb onto those animals ahead of them and are crowded so tightly that they injure or …

Hsus Uncovers Cruel Puppy Mills

Close Up Reports

It is estimated that puppy mills grind out more than half a million puppies every year to be sold almost exclusively in pet stores. But it is not only puppies--who, after all, escape the squalor and crowding after six or seven weeks that suffer. Of equal concern is the fate of the puppy mill breeding stock-living, breathing, feeling adult dogs-used to produce these "valuable" puppies. These dogs often are forced to spend their entire lives in cramped cages or pens, with not enough food or water and no shade from the scorching midwestern sun or shelter from the brutal winter …

Illegal, Secret Dogfights And Cockfights Rampant In The U.S.

Close Up Reports

Early in July, a team of more than 30 local, state, and federal law enforcement officers led by HSUS investigators made a raid on a secret cockfight arena on the outskirts of town. More than 100 people were caught inside the building. All were violating Wyoming state law and possibly federal law.

Unlike cockfighting, dogfighting is expressly prohibited in all 50 states. It, too, is a violation of the animal fighting ventures section of the Animal Welfare Act. HSUS investigators are continually following up leads and providing information on illegal dogfights to local animal welfare groups and law enforcement agencies.

Hsus Raids Save Suffering Dogs

Close Up Reports

In two raids separated by more than 1,000 miles, HSUS investigators seized several hundred suffering dogs, arranged for their care, and spurred legal action against the collector and breeder. Describing the two places as "cesspools", Frantz Dantzler, chief HSUS investigator, said "These two places were chosen for raids because they are typical of the many substandard puppy mills and kennels found in rural out-of-the-way America."

Both the Roseboom, New York Kennel and the Columbus, Kansas puppy mill had similar violations of humane standards and everyday common sense. Most of the seized animals had advanced cases of mange. Many animals had …