Taking the lead from NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, Chicago lawmaker Ed Burke has introduced a bill to ban horse-drawn carriages. According to the Chicago Tribune, Burke says “They’re a nuisance, they’re a traffic hazard, it’s cruel to the animals, and we should be able to beat New York City to the punch.”

Miracle Mile in Chicago

By forcing horses to pull carriages in the streets with aggressive taxi drivers, ambulances and buses, we are treating them like motor vehicles instead of living, breathing animals. For that and many other reasons, horse-drawn carriages cannot be operated humanely or safely in urban areas. Several major cities, including London, Beijing, Paris and Toronto have already banned horse-drawn carriages, and NYC and Chicago are on the brink of doing the same. But we need to help the horses pulling carriages in other cities around the world from Boston to Mumbai. To find out how you can help, please visit the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages.

After the Russian government hired a pest control company to slaughter the stray dogs of Sochi in advance of the Olympics, a Russian billionaire donated funds to build a makeshift shelter to save as many as possible. According to the NY Times, “local animal rights workers say many of the strays were pets, or the offspring of pets, abandoned by families whose homes with yards were demolished over the past few years to make way for the Olympic venues.”

Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images

The round up and slaughter of strays in Sochi shined a light on the plight of homeless animals around the world and the taxing and unending job of rescuers to save them.  All of us can help by promoting adoption and animal birth control, by volunteering at local shelters and by using our social networks to help find forever homes for homeless animals.

Land’s End is the latest clothing manufacturer to ban the use of Angora fur after viewing undercover footage of rabbits screaming while having their hair torn out by workers. According to the Huffington Post, H&M, The Gap, Tommy Hilifiger and Calvin Klein have “suspended Angora production until they can verify that the farms they contract with are not engaged in abusive treatment of animals.”

The retailers looking for Angora from animals who are not abused are never going to find it because fur production is inherently abusive — from the cramped cages where the animals go insane to the execution by gassing, anal electrocution and live-animal skinning. PETA provides more information on Angora and explains how you can help.

During the 2013 dolphin hunting season in Taiji, Japan, 834 dolphins were killed and 164 taken captive for aquariums and swim with dolphin concessions. In a ground-breaking editorial, The Japan Times calls for an end to the “herding, capturing and slaughtering of dolphins” in Taiji, challenging the government’s claims that the practice is a “tradition” that “adheres to the principles of the law.”

Slaughter in the Cove

Worldwide outrage, pressure from the U.S. Government, increased activism and resistance from within Japan will eventually lead to an end to the dolphin hunt. In the meantime, please encourage the people in your network to rent The Cove and to boycott aquariums and “swim with dolphin” concessions.

Simpson’s creator Sam Simon, PETA and the Atlanta Humane Society fought and won a battle to free 17 bears confined for years in concrete pits at a Georgia tourist attraction called the Black Forest Bear Park. The bears have been transferred to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado and are now running freely on grass. Two of the bears were pregnant at the time of the liberation, and, for the first time in their lives, they will be able to raise their cubs. In the pits, their cubs were kidnapped shortly after birth.

Being held captive in a pit is like living in a horror movie. The activists who freed these bears and the rescuers who are providing them with a sanctuary are heroes. Please visit The Wild Animal Sanctuary to find out ways you can support their work and help captive animals.