James Hettinger

In 1966, amid a growing clamor from the American public and Congress to do something about the shady business of family pets being stolen and sold to research facilities, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act into law.

The numbers don’t tell the whole story of how HSUS disaster responders helped Florida residents after Hurricane Idalia pounded the region in late August. Before the storm hit, we coordinated and funded the transport of 75 adoptable shelter animals (60 dogs and 15 cats) to safer lodgings out of the storm’s path.

Fuerniss says all the guinea pigs—three adults and a baby—were underweight when they arrived at her house but “went right to eating like little troopers.” At the pet store, they had shared an enclosure with a group of turtles but, despite the risk of disease transmission in this dangerous setup, luckily did not get salmonella. A veterinary exam revealed that they had lice and skin infections.