COVID-19 and rabies are both zoonotic diseases, with the viruses originating in non-human animals and then infecting people after a transmission event. In the last 17 months, COVID-19 has infected nearly 35 million Americans, with more than 600,000 dead. In the same period, there have been zero cases of rabies in humans in the United … Read more
Unproven, Untested Vaccination Program on Mink Farms Will Not Be Feasible or Effective Against an Evolving Virus (Washington, D.C.) — Today, the Center for a Humane Economy, Animal Wellness Action, and other partnering organizations unveiled a 96-page comprehensive scientific report detailing risks posed by mink farms to public health, native wildlife populations, and U.S. ecosystems … Read more
Center for a Humane Economy Releases Scientific Report Revealing How Intensive Mink Farms May Incubate New Virus and Also Threaten Animal Welfare and Wildlife Health (Washington, D.C.) – High-ranking U.S. House lawmakers, led by Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced legislation to ban mink farming, working with Animal Wellness … Read more
COVID-19 is the most recent in a long line of epidemics caused by a disease that has jumped the species barrier from wildlife to humans Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Reps. Mike Quigley, D-Illinois, and Fred Upton, R-Michigan, re-introduced the Preventing Future Pandemics Act, which would direct the U.S. Department of State to work with … Read more
More so even than live wildlife markets — which incubated and then launched COVID-19 across the globe — mink farms around the world are turning out to be present-day gathering places for the highly contagious virus. From British Columbia to Denmark to Lithuania, COVID-19 is methodically infiltrating mink farms throughout North America and Eurasia, being … Read more
Washington, D.C. — Animal Wellness Action, the Animal Wellness Foundation, and the Center for a Humane Economy have called on Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker to coordinate with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to coordinate a government buy-out program for the state’s mink farms, after COVID-19 outbreaks have infected and killed tens of thousands of … Read more
The race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, with the runners sent down the wrong path by the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) archaic animal-testing regulatory requirements, is putting wild animals through a sort of meat grinder in our laboratories. Researchers may kill upwards of 500,000 sharks for a single moon-shot vaccine, while hundreds of other … Read more
The globally unmanageable hopscotching of COVID-19 between living beings is today putting a spotlight on one of the most obscure, ruthless, and frivolous of animal use industries: the production of wild animals on fur farms, particularly mink raised for their pelts. Seemingly more susceptible to getting COVID-19 than dogs or cats or most other mammals, … Read more
With COVID-19 Surging Across the Country, No Time to Waste on Revamping Drug Development Regulations There are 536 counties in the U.S. with COVID-19 case densities that are equal to or exceeding New York City’s peak in April. Our national crisis has not only been severe, but enduring. What started as mainly a respiratory virus, … Read more
He says that’s just one reason to oppose federal anti-poaching bill One thing that’s always baffled me are the mental contortions exhibited by some animal-use industries to justify cruelty. Cockfighters, for example, say the birds love to fight, even though the hapless creatures are trapped in a cordoned-off pit and have deadly knives strapped to … Read more