HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL
Celebrating animals, confronting cruelty
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
HSI is one of the only global animal protection organizations working to help all animals—including animals in laboratories, animals on farms, companion animals and wildlife—and our record of achievement demonstrates our global impact for animal protection. Animals are vulnerable to many forms of cruelty and abuse. Laws enshrine many forms of extreme cruelty as legal, including some standard practices in factory farming, the fur industry, cosmetics and product testing, trophy hunting and the use of animals in entertainment and competition. Animals are at risk during natural disasters and due to acts of intentional cruelty and neglect, with many communities lacking the resources needed to address their needs. Captive wildlife require accredited sanctuary. The presence of wild animals in our communities is too often and erroneously considered a problem or nuisance, with lethal results for the animals. These are the challenges that HSI takes on and succeeds at addressing.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
End the cruelest practices
We fight the worst, most institutionalized forms of animal abuse and cruelty around the world. Our current priorities include ending cosmetics testing on animals, reducing the trophy hunting of wildlife, easing the suffering of billions of farm animals by eliminating cruel systems of confinement and ending the dog-meat trade in South Korea.
Care for animals in crisis
We work with government agencies to respond to cruelty and disasters where the need is greatest, develop humane and sustainable programs to improve the welfare of street dogs and cats and advance alternatives to the use of lethal and cruel animal management approaches. We also provide lifetime care for more than 60 chimpanzees—most of whom were previously used in invasive research—in Liberia, Africa through our Second Chance Chimpanzee Refuge Liberia. We are currently increasing our capacity to respond to animal cruelty and natural disasters around the world.
Build a stronger animal protection movement
We support the efforts of allied organizations and partners—locally, nationally and globally—to advance humane work through education, training, advocacy, direct care, implementation and enforcement of laws and consumer choice initiatives. Our mission includes helping those who stand with us become stronger and better and to engage them more deeply in our campaigns.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Better Business Bureau 2019
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Percentage of global cosmetic market with laws banning cosmetic animal testing and trade
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
End the cruelest practices
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We are working to end the use of animals in cosmetic testing, including passing laws to ban cosmetic animal testing and trade.
Number of global cage- or crate-free corporate commitments
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
End the cruelest practices
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
As a part of our campaign to end the extreme confinement of farm animals, we work with companies to rid their supply chain of products that come from these conditions.
Percentage of South Koreans who support banning dog meat
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
End the cruelest practices
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We are working to end the dog meat industry in South Korea and are tracking public opposition to this industry in order to gauge the impact of our work.
Number of breeding-aged female elephants contracepted
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Care for animals in crisis
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
For years, we have worked to develop cutting edge research on the use of immunocontraception on wild elephant populations in order to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts.
Percentage of female dogs sterilized in Dehradun, India
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Care for animals in crisis
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We are working to develop humane, sustainable street dog management programs in several communities in India. One way we measure our impact is by the percentage of dogs who are spayed or neutered.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
End cosmetic animal testing and trade: Animals are still suffering and dying to test shampoo, mascara and other cosmetic products. Terrified rabbits, rats, guinea pigs and mice have substances forced down their throats, dripped into their eyes or smeared onto their skin before they are killed. Our goal is to achieve bans on cosmetic animal testing and trade in at least 50% of major global beauty markets.
End trophy hunting: Each year, hundreds of thousands of animals are killed by trophy hunters, whose primary motivation is simply to obtain animal parts for display and bragging rights. Trophy hunting is not only extremely cruel, it can also exacerbate the population decline of already imperiled species. Our current focus is to reduce the number of African lions, leopards and elephants being imported as trophies into the E.U. and U.K.
End the use of gestation crates and cages for egg-laying hens: On factory farms, egg-laying hens and mother pigs are kept in cages and crates so small they can barely move. Our near-term goal is to support passage of a policy in the E.U. to phase out all cages and crates.
End the dog meat trade in South Korea: An estimated 2 million dogs are kept and killed in cruel conditions on thousands of dog meat farms in South Korea, the only country in the world that raises dogs for slaughter for human consumption. Our near-term goal is to secure a legislative ban on the industry.
Expand our capacity to respond to large-scale cruelty and natural disasters: When disaster strikes around the world, we deploy teams of veterinarians and field responders to collaborate with local, regional, national and international organizations in providing animal rescue, relief and evacuation. We also respond to man-made disasters and large-scale situations of cruelty and neglect. Our current focus is to expand our capacity to reach and rescue animals impacted by major disasters.
Immunocontraception: African elephants are threatened with extinction due to poaching and habitat loss, degradation and destruction. They are being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas and are often threatened with lethal culling to manage the population. Since 1996, HSI has funded cutting edge research on the use of immunocontraception of wild elephant populations. Our near-term goal is to contracept virtually all breeding-age female elephants in South Africa (outside of Greater Kruger National Park, where immunocontraception is not used) to ensure their protection.
Animal law training for agencies in India: While there are strong laws in India to prevent cruelty to animals, the implementation by government agencies is a challenge. To address this gap, we have undertaken a training initiative to educate the officials with authority to implement and enforce the existing laws and help expedite work on animal welfare issues. Our near-term goal is to train all police, veterinarians, forest officers and judges in three target states.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Humane Society International addresses the root cause of animal suffering, which requires changing the legal framework governing the treatment of animals and the practices of large-scale industries, as well as winning the hearts and minds of the public.
Training and capacity building: We invest in activities that lift up the whole animal protection movement, engaging and training volunteers, animal advocates, shelter and rescue professionals, educators and government agencies around the world.
Strengthening public policy and enforcement: We’re strengthening legal protections for animals at the local and national levels around the globe. We defend those victories in court and press for robust enforcement of existing policies.
Improving corporate policy: We work with the world’s biggest food and apparel companies, cosmetics manufacturers and leaders in other industries to improve the treatment of animals. We make the case that caring about animal welfare is good for business, but we also use media coverage and other channels for evaluating and encouraging further progress in the industries we target.
Rescue and direct care: We respond to natural disasters and cruelty cases, manage a sanctuary for chimpanzees in Liberia, support humane and sustainable management programs for street dogs and cats and much more.
Education and awareness: We’re driving the wider conversation around animals, encouraging everyone to join us in creating a culture that lives up to the promise of our name: A humane society.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We have extensive internal expertise addressing challenges facing specific types of animals, as well as expertise in the tactics we employ to achieve lasting change.
Country offices: HSI has offices in 21 countries around the world and we work to advance the welfare of animals in over 50 countries.
Subject-matter experts: We employ staff specialists working on issues facing farm animals, companion animals, wildlife, animals used in research and animals impacted by disaster situations. We bring on staff specialists, including scientists and veterinarians, around the world.
Corporate campaigners: Our teams include experts in corporate campaigns, who have brokered agreements with companies and institutions to make food supply chains more humane, increase plant-based options in institutional dining, go fur-free, commit to alternatives to animal testing, adopt non-lethal management strategies and more.
Investigators: Oftentimes the most insidious forms of animal abuse happen behind closed doors and out of the public view. For those situations, we deploy investigators to expose the abuse and suffering of animals.
Outreach and training experts: We are committed to strengthening the animal protection movement and engaging more people in our work. Our outreach experts provide training and resources to government agencies, animal shelters, veterinarians and individual advocates and volunteers to make sure they have the tools they need to improve the lives of animals.
Communications experts: Our communications teams prepare and present compelling stories about animals with the goal of increasing awareness, influencing hearts and minds, and inspiring our membership to take action.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In 2022, most of our work returned to pre-COVID levels as travel limitations ended, legislatures resumed regular activities and in-person events once again became possible. Several major events required us to utilize all our resources to meet enormous challenges for animals. Here are some of our biggest areas of progress on our strategic priorities:
End animal cosmetic testing and trade: In Europe, we teamed up with other partners and cruelty-free brands, including Dove, Lush and Herbal Essences, to collect more than 1.4 million signatures in support of a European Citizens Initiative calling on the EU to uphold its cosmetics animal testing ban. Johnson & Johnson became our latest partner in the Animal-Free Safety Assessment Collaboration, which is driving science and policy change for cosmetics and chemicals worldwide, with the goal of eventually eliminating animal testing.
End the use of gestation crates and cages for egg-laying hens: HSI won 15 new commitments from retailers, restaurants, hotels or producers to implement supply change policies that require mother pigs have room to move and no longer be confined to gestation crates, as well as 14 new cage-free egg commitments from national or multinational food retailers, manufacturers and restaurants. Our wins included a global commitment from RIU Hotels and Resorts and Spur Corp., one of Africa’s largest restaurant franchisors.
End trophy hunting: As a result of HSI’s lawsuit against the South African government, all 2022 hunting and export quotas were suspended for African leopards, elephants and black rhinos pending the outcome of litigation. Following our Europe-wide campaign to raise awareness of trophy hunting, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for the cessation of hunting trophy imports of CITES-listed species to the EU.
End the dog meat trade: In South Korea, where we have been working to close down dog meat farms and transition farmers to a humane living, in collaboration with a local rescue, we saved 21 dogs left behind on a dog meat farm that was closed by authorities in Ansan, Korea and flew 152 dogs rescued from the dog meat industry to our care and rehabilitation center in the U.S. and Canada to prepare for adoption.
Expand our capacity to respond to large-scale cruelty and natural disasters: In addition to creating human suffering, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also caused immense animal suffering and HSI was one of the first animal protection groups to mount an emergency response. We handed out 65,000 pet relief packs to refugees, funded local groups with the experience and capacity to help Ukrainians arriving with pets in neighboring countries, sent shipments of pet food and supplies to Ukraine, negotiated temporary flexibility on rules governing pet transport for refugees taking flights to safety and launched Vets for Ukrainian Pets in 38 European countries to provide veterinary care to thousands of pets.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL
Board of directorsas of 07/26/2023
Susan Atherton
Leslie Barcus
Brian D. Borg
Marcelo de Andrade
Marilia Duffles
Nicholas Ibarguen
Jennifer D. Laue
Steven G. White
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
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