It's hard for most Americans to imagine, but the slaughter of dogs for food still goes on in some parts of the world. The practice is illegal in the Philippines, but the industry continues operating underground.

Humane Society International, the international arm of the Humane Society of the United States, recently rescued 100 dogs bound for slaughter in the Philippines. Many of the dogs were friendly and well-socialized -- people's pets. Some were even wearing collars. This footage was shot by HSI during the raid. (Needless to say -- graphic images.)

HSI is calling on Americans to petition the president of the Philippines to enforce the existing laws prohibiting the dog meat trade, and to enact strong penalties against those participating in this illegal industry. Send a message to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

To help support the work of HSI, you may send a tax-deductible contribution to Humane Society International.

About a thousand animal lovers, advocates and activists gathered in D.C. in July for the Taking Action for Animals conference. The focus of the conference was the treatment of farm animals -- specifically issues related to factory farming, where animals are treated as "production units" and raised under horrific conditions.

The audience seemed pretty evenly divided into two camps:
-- those who felt that the phrase "humane treatment of farm animals" is a contradiction in terms and that consumption of animal products should be stopped immediately, and
-- those (including most of the event organizers) who felt that since 95 percent of Americans are going to eat meat, let's at least treat farm animals humanely while we work to reduce the demand for meat.

The gist of the message from both camps was that if most Americans saw the conditions under which farm animals are raised, they'd be outraged and would demand change. If this issue is new to you, here's a little introduction from the Humane Society Legislative Fund (contains some disturbing images).

Four mountain gorillas were found shot to death in Congo's Virunga National Park, apparently killed by someone for no reason. Newsweek covered the story. It was the seventh killing of the endangered gorillas in two months. One infant gorilla did survive the attack.

There are about 700 of these gorillas left in the wild, living in Congo and Uganda. Poachers often hunt the gorillas for their meat. The hunting of wild animals, even supposedly protected ones, is now a global, multi-million dollar business. People are eating the "bushmeat" because they want to, not because they need to in order to survive.

Many groups are working to help protect and preserve the mountain gorilla. If you want to help, you can join the International Gorilla Conservation Programme or one of its member groups. The Wildlife Conservation Society also works to protect mountain gorillas.