Newsroom

Healthy shark populations are an indicator of the health of the marine environment. Sharks play a key role in marine and estuarine environments, and people around the world rely on healthy marine ecosystems for their livelihoods.   But their decline is being driven in part by the lucrative and unsustainable...

On 14 September 2014, the listing of the scalloped, great and smooth hammerhead sharks on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II took effect.   The ability for Australia to continue to export the three listed hammerhead shark species is made...

The challenges facing Victoria’s native wildlife are immense.   Our wildlife are in the gun-sights of rapidly accumulating extinction and climate crises. Our laws are hindering and enabling the problem, not confronting it or overcoming it.   The Victorian Environment Minister announced a review of the Wildlife Act 1975 (Vic)...

Lessons from the 2019-20 ‘Black Summer’ Bushfires Climate change-fuelled extreme weather events are only going to become more severe and frequent.  HSI, along with many other conservationists and wildlife rescuers, understand that we must do more to protect wildlife in the face of future disasters. We commissioned BG Economics to...

The Australian Government is poised to hand over their national environmental approval responsibilities to states and territories, so the Places You Love alliance commissioned the Environmental Defenders Office to analyse whether state and territory laws can do the job? The clear answer is no. READ MORE

The 2020 pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 turned the world’s attention to the growing global threat of new viral diseases. On December 31, 2019, The World Health Organization (WHO) was alerted by Chinese authorities to an outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus causing severe pneumonia,1 subsequently named SARS-CoV-2, a zoonotic...

Selective Breeding to Counteract Flystrike in Australian Merino Sheep Australia's sheep deserve better methods of flystrike prevention that painful mutilation of their bottoms.  Humane Society International Australia and Four Paws International commissioned this independent survey and case studies of woolgrowers who have transitioned to plain-bodied Merinos that do not require...

The Shark Conservation Summit was a first of its kind event in Australia on 21 and 22 February, 2019 that brought together shark researchers, government and conservation NGOs. Organised by the Humane Society International (HSI) and the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS), the summit sought to address challenges and seek...

The emergence and worldwide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has had an overwhelming effect on both human health and the global economy. Understanding how this disease first arose should be of critical concern to governments around the world. Identifying, and addressing, the source of COVID-19 may be crucial in preventing...

The commercial trade in wild animals is a multibillion-dollar industry that threatens the survival of many species and results in the inhumane treatment of countless animals every year. Humane Society International is opposed to the commercialisation of wildlife because it is a key driver of species endangerment and animal cruelty....

Since recovery plans, conservation advice and management strategies have been implemented for shark and ray species listed as threatened under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) there have been no measurable improvements in their status. They all remain threatened with extinction; none have been downgraded since...