2023: A winning year for dogs, cats and other companion animals

Two people pose with a dog

In November 2023, HSI/India's Lucknow program crossed a major landmark and sterilized its 70,000th street dog.

Shruti Singh

Many people experience their first connections with animals through relationships with dogs, cats or horses. Just as these bonds are powerful and pervasive, so must our advocacy be since companion animals face myriad injustices and difficulties in the U.S. and around the world. We’ve already detailed the incredible progress made against the dog and cat meat trades in 2023, but there is much more to say on other fronts. Here are just some of the ways we created a more humane world for companion animals in the past year:

Stopping puppy and kitten mills

Each year, more people learn about the mistreatment suffered by dogs and cats at massive commercial breeding facilities, where dog and cat mothers and fathers are treated as little more than money-making machines. And each year, more people choose not to support this trade. We are heartened by how much happened in 2023 to bring this cruel industry to heel.

Keeping families together

Housing insecurity contributes to poor health, homelessness and other profound difficulties. We recognize the importance that stable and secure housing holds for people and their animals. Our work to preserve and honor the human-animal bond extends to fighting for better accessibility to pet-inclusive housing, as one of the most cited challenges for people with pets is finding housing that can accommodate their entire family, including companion animals.

Protecting equines

Horses are often admired for their grace and strength, and yet they also suffer unique abuses. Our advocacy follows the cruelty, from show rings to racetracks to slaughterhouses, to eradicate it at its sources.

Helping dogs and cats around the world

Around the world, we focus on delivering veterinary services to rural and remote communities. We work to build local capacity by training veterinarians and working with local governments. Our community engagement teams empower the individuals they encounter in the course of their work, allowing them to provide better care to their animals.

In India,

In Latin America,

And in Bhutan, we celebrated the culmination of a 14-year partnership with the government on a program in which nearly 100% of the street dog population has been successfully sterilized and vaccinated, a major win for dogs and people.

None of this work would have been possible without the steadfast support of animal lovers all over the world. We look forward to all the good we can continue to achieve together in the coming year.

Sara Amundson is president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund.