Connect with us

Technology

Annual ASPCA Report on Puppy Mill Cruelty Reveals the USDA Failed to Protect Vulnerable Dogs

Published

on

In 2024, more than 800 animal welfare violations were documented at USDA licensed commercial dog breeding facilities but not a single dog was removed

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) released its annual report on puppy mill cruelty, which provides an analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data on inspections, documented violations, and enforcement actions against Animal Welfare Act licensed facilities. Based on the ASPCA’s analysis of USDA data, federal inspectors documented over 800 instances where licensed dog dealers failed to meet the minimum standards of care in 2024, with violations that included failure to provide dogs with shelter, clean food and water or veterinary care. Forty-five percent of commercial dog dealers licensed in 2024 never had a compliance inspection, and of the ones that did receive inspections, one out of every five inspection uncovered failures.

“The USDA saw over 200,000 dogs in licensed commercial facilities in 2024, many of whom were suffering as a result of a dealer’s failure or unwillingness to provide appropriate care. Despite having the authority to issue penalties and warnings, revoke licenses and remove animals, the agency’s overwhelming response was to do nothing,” said Robert Hensley, Senior Counsel, ASPCA Legal Advocacy and Investigations. “No federal agency impacts animals more than the USDA, and with Brooke Rollins expected to be confirmed as the new Secretary of Agriculture soon, we hope she will take this opportunity to strengthen the agency’s Animal Welfare Act enforcement to ensure animals in federally licensed facilities get the protections they deserve.”

There are a quarter of a million dogs in USDA licensed commercial breeding facilities, and countless examples of facilities where dogs were suffering, yet in the vast majority of cases, the USDA took no action at all. Examples of the USDA’s failure to act in 2024, include:

Dogs without shelter, clean food and water, or veterinary careDogs who could not walk, dogs living in waste, dogs with painful wounds, and dogs suffering contagious and deadly diseasesDogs who died in barn fires, in fights with other dogs, from the cold, or with no explanation at all

To address the USDA’s ongoing failures, a bipartisan team of federal lawmakers led by U.S. Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Chris Smith (R-N.J.), and Zach Nunn (R-IA), re-introduced Goldie’s Act (H.R. 349) in January. Named after a Golden Retriever who suffered and died in an Iowa puppy mill, this bill would require the USDA to conduct more thorough inspections, impose penalties for violations, and report suspected cruelty to local law enforcement. Last year, Goldie’s Act was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and endorsed by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, while also garnering support from nearly 150 animal welfare, law enforcement and shelter organizations.

To read the ASPCA’s report, please visit www.aspca.org/puppymills2024.

About the ASPCA® 
Founded in 1866, the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) was the first animal welfare organization to be established in North America and today serves as the nation’s leading voice for vulnerable and victimized animals. As a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation with more than two million supporters nationwide, the ASPCA is committed to preventing cruelty to dogs, cats, equines, and farm animals throughout the United States. The ASPCA assists animals in need through on-the-ground disaster and cruelty interventions, behavioral rehabilitation, animal placement, legal and legislative advocacy, and the advancement of the sheltering and veterinary community through research, training, and resources. For more information, visit aspca.org, and follow the ASPCA on FacebookXInstagram, and TikTok.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/annual-aspca-report-on-puppy-mill-cruelty-reveals-the-usda-failed-to-protect-vulnerable-dogs-302376159.html

SOURCE ASPCA

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

Mastech Digital to Announce Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results; Participate in Upcoming Investor Conference

Published

on

By

PITTSBURGH, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Mastech Digital, Inc. (NYSE American: MHH) (“Mastech Digital”), a leading provider of Digital Transformation IT Services, today announced the date for the release of its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026, and its participation in an upcoming investor conference.

Second Quarter 2026 Earnings:

Mastech Digital will report its financial results for the second quarter 2026 before the market opens on Thursday, August 6, 2026. Management will host a live conference call and webcast at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on that day to discuss the Company’s financial performance and operating results.  The conference call will be hosted by Nirav Patel, President and CEO, and Kannan Sugantharaman, Chief Financial and Operations Officer.

Those wishing to participate via webcast should access the call through Mastech Digital’s Investor Relations website at https://investors.mastechdigital.com. Those wishing to participate via telephone may dial in at 1-800-715-9871 (USA) or 1-646-307-1963 (International) with the passcode 7506988. The replay will be available via webcast through Mastech Digital’s Investor Relations website.

Upcoming Investor Conference:

Mr. Sugantharaman will host a fireside chat at the Sidoti Micro-Cap Investor Conference on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, at 9:15 a.m. Eastern Time.

Mastech Digital management is scheduled to host virtual one-on-one and small group meetings with investors during the conference on August 19-20, 2026. Investors interested in arranging a meeting should contact their Sidoti representative or reach out to the Mastech Digital investor relations team at investors@mastechdigital.com.

About Mastech Digital, Inc.

Mastech Digital (NYSE American: MHH) is a leading provider of Digital Transformation IT Services. The Company offers Data Management, Analytics & AI Solutions, and IT Staffing Services with a digital-first approach. A minority-owned enterprise, Mastech Digital is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, with offices across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and India. Visit us at www.mastechdigital.com.

Investor Relations Contact:
investors@mastechdigital.com 

 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mastech-digital-to-announce-second-quarter-2026-financial-results-participate-in-upcoming-investor-conference-302834421.html

SOURCE Mastech Digital, Inc.

Continue Reading

Technology

SOLAI Limited Announces Extraordinary General Meeting

Published

on

By

AKRON, Ohio, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SOLAI Limited (NYSE: SLAI) (“SOLAI” or the “Company”) (previously known as “BIT Mining Limited”), a technology-driven personal AI and digital infrastructure provider, today announced that it will hold its extraordinary general meeting of shareholders at 428 South Seiberling Street, Akron, Ohio, US on August 14, 2026 at 10:00 a.m., New York time.

Holders of record of ordinary shares and preference shares of the Company at the close of business on July 20, 2026, New York time (the “Record Date”) are entitled to receive notice of, and to attend and vote at, the extraordinary general meeting or any adjournment thereof. Holders of the Company’s American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) who wish to exercise their voting rights for the underlying ordinary shares must act through the depositary of the Company’s ADS program, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas.

The notice of the extraordinary general meeting, which sets forth the resolutions to be submitted to shareholder approval at the extraordinary general meeting is available on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at https://ir.solai.com

About SOLAI Limited

SOLAI Limited (previously known as “BIT Mining Limited”) (NYSE: SLAI) (previously traded under “BTCM”) is a technology-driven personal AI and digital infrastructure provider. Building upon its historical legacy in digital asset mining and blockchain network operations, the Company is leveraging extensive experience in large-scale hardware deployment, data center operations, and high-performance computing to build the foundational infrastructure for personal AI computing and digital asset ecosystems globally.

For more information:

SOLAI Limited
ir@solai.com
ir.solai.com
www.solai.com 

Christensen Advisory
Jason Ng
Tel: +852-2117-0861
Email: solai@christensencomms.com 

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/solai-limited-announces-extraordinary-general-meeting-302834034.html

SOURCE SOLAI Limited

Continue Reading

Technology

/U P D A T E — TrendAI/

Published

on

By

This release has been updated to include new information provided by TrendAI. The complete, corrected release follows, with additional details at the end:

TrendAI™ Adopts Claude Opus 5 to Advance Vulnerability Prioritization and Virtual Patching

As a participant in Anthropic’s Cyber Verification Program, TrendAI applies frontier reasoning to convert vulnerability intelligence into faster protection across hybrid environments

DALLAS, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — TrendAI™, the enterprise AI security leader from Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), today announced it is adopting Claude Opus 5, Anthropic’s latest and most capable Opus model, to help security teams convert vulnerability intelligence into immediate protection, from prioritization to virtual patching. The move builds on TrendAI’s collaboration with Anthropic on Claude Opus 4.8, extending the same defensive focus to a model that delivers step-change gains in advanced reasoning, agentic workflows, and long-horizon analysis. As AI makes finding vulnerabilities easier than ever, the harder problem becomes protecting organizations faster than software can be permanently patched, and that is where TrendAI is putting Opus 5 to work.

As a participant in Anthropic’s Cyber Verification Program, which credentials organizations for the defensive use of frontier AI models, TrendAI is positioned to apply Claude Opus 5 to defensive security as access becomes available. The model is Zero Data Retention compatible, supporting TrendAI’s governance and data-protection requirements as it scales AI across security operations.

The work extends to TrendAI Threat Research, where frontier AI models are combined with our proprietary frontier intelligence engine and human expertise to generate pre-disclosure intelligence. Those insights power TrendAI Vision One™, delivering stronger detection, deeper forensic insights, and proactive protection through virtual patching.

Rachel Jin, Chief Platform and Business Officer, Head of TrendAI™:
“With Claude Opus 5, TrendAI can move from vulnerability intelligence to action faster than ever, prioritizing what matters most by exploitability and business impact. Finding the vulnerability was always the hard part. Now the challenge is protecting organizations faster than software can be permanently patched, and frontier reasoning is what changes that equation, extending all the way to virtual patching that protects customers before a vendor fix ships. This is what it means to secure the AI age, fearlessly.”

These capabilities support TrendAI Vision One™ in helping security analysts, AppSec teams, and SOC teams prioritize exposure, map attack paths, and accelerate mitigation, including virtual patching, across hybrid environments, moving vulnerability management from a static scanning process into a faster, context-aware risk mitigation workflow.

About TrendAI™
TrendAI™, the global AI security leader and enterprise business unit of Trend Micro, empowers organizations with full AI visibility and consolidated security that inspires confidence, drives innovation, and eliminates risk. Trusted by the largest enterprises and governments across 185 countries, TrendAI™ secures the entire organization, from identities, to infrastructure, to data. Global Fortune 500 companies rely on TrendAI™ to cut risk and stop threats up to three months earlier, powered by world-leading threat and attack intelligence. Through deep ecosystem partnerships with market leaders like NVIDIA, Anthropic, AWS, Google, and Microsoft, TrendAI™ empowers your organization to securely drive forward at the speed of AI. AI Fearlessly. Learn more: trendaisecurity.com

About Anthropic
Anthropic is an AI safety and research company dedicated to building reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. Its Claude family of models, including Claude Opus 5, enables advanced capabilities across a wide range of applications, including code understanding and security analysis.

Update: The latest version of this release includes additional statements from TrendAI related to the original announcement.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/trendai-adopts-claude-opus-5-to-advance-vulnerability-prioritization-assessment-and-virtual-patching-302834362.html

SOURCE TrendAI

Continue Reading

Trending