Social Compassion

Social Compassion A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of animals worldwide.

09/03/2026

This episode of Because They Need Us features an in-depth discussion with Congressman Mike Levin and Social Compassion in Legislation’s Judie Mancuso & Nick Sackett about the rollback of federal wildlife protections, threats to state laws like California's Proposition 12, expanded hunting and drilling on public lands, threats to endangered species, wild horses, and migratory birds, and what Congress can do to restore and strengthen these protections.

Congressman Levin also discusses the political challenges surrounding environmental legislation and the importance of courts, public advocacy, bipartisan cooperation, and continued pressure on elected officials.

This episode covers "the most anti-environment administration in modern American history” including:

• The Trump administration's rollback of the Endangered Species Act

• Expanded hunting in national parks, reduced protections for species like grizzly bears and migratory birds

• Elimination of federal protections for wild horses

• California's animal protection laws and weakening of wildlife protections

• Profit over environmental protection, like the potential development in national parks

• Concerns about FBI hiring practices and ICE raids in regards to animal rights

Judie, Nick, and Representative Levin discuss strategies for addressing these issues, including relying on courts and public communication while in the minority, investigating corruption, and working toward legislative solutions that could pass both the House and Senate with sufficient bipartisan support.

They note that while some Republicans privately oppose the administration's actions on public lands and wildlife, many are hesitant to speak out publicly due to concerns about retaliation from the president.

Learn more about Social Compassion
www.socialcompassion.org

Dear Friends,Once a year, we come together to support our work for animals, and this year’s event will be truly extraord...
08/29/2026

Dear Friends,

Once a year, we come together to support our work for animals, and this year’s event will be truly extraordinary. We’ll honor the elected officials who championed groundbreaking animal protection laws alongside the boots-on-the-ground heroes who refused to give up.

We are especially honored to recognize Jennifer Raymond and Jenna Moore as Animal Heroes for helping expose what was happening at Miranda’s Rescue in Humboldt County. Public records show that more than 2,700 dogs from 21 public shelters were transferred to Miranda’s Rescue since 2020, with the fate of many still under investigation.

We will also honor Sascha Knopf, Darcy Smith, and Ashli Shore, who worked tirelessly with Social Compassion and others to expose the years-long suffering of animals at Howard Berkowitz’s so-called “Duck Sanctuary.” Their persistence helped lead to the July 2026 seizure of more than 800 animals and Berkowitz’s arrest on animal cruelty charges.

Please join us on Saturday, September 19, 2026, for Justice for Animals in Brentwood, Los Angeles, CA.

We’ll celebrate 19 years of saving animals through groundbreaking legislation, rescue, spay and neuter programs, anti-cruelty efforts, emergency preparedness, shelter research, and plant-based initiatives — and recognize the extraordinary people who make this work possible.

Most importantly, your donation directly funds the work ahead. There are more animals who need us, more cruelty cases that demand action, and more laws we must fight to change.

Please RSVP today and help us continue saving animals, one law at a time
https://tinyurl.com/justice-for-animals

I look forward to seeing you.

With gratitude,
Judie Mancuso

08/28/2026

“AB 2344’s unanimous 38-0 Senate passage is a major step toward ensuring animals seized in cruelty cases do not spend months or even years languishing in shelters while criminal cases drag on.

This bill strengthens existing law so these animals can move toward adoption sooner, while giving animal control officers a clearer and more workable process. We are deeply grateful to the entire Senate for its unanimous support, and especially to Senator Jesse Arreguín for presenting the bill on the Senate Floor today.

AB 2344 now returns to the Assembly for a concurrence vote, and we are very close to sending this important animal protection measure to the Governor’s desk!”

Judie Mancuso, Founder and President of Social Compassion in Legislation, co-sponsor of AB 2344.

08/26/2026

🐺‼️ Contact Governor Newsom right now and tell him to protect California’s endangered wolves by vetoing AB 1722!

Fill out the contact form here:
https://www.gov.ca.gov/contact/

Or call:
916-445-2841

08/25/2026

CALL TO ACTION! Now is the time to contact the Governor to sign AB 1999 into law!

AB 1999 is a comprehensive piece of legislation to update California’s Veterinary Medicine Practice Act to expand access to care, and strengthen animal welfare protections across the state. Find the fact sheet here for more information.

Please either call or use the Governor's contact page to send your support.

If you choose to call, the general switchboard number is: 916-445-2841

When you call, please say: Your name, city, and that you strongly urge the Governor to sign AB 1999 into law.

OR

Better yet, go to the Governor's website, and follow the steps below.

https://www.gov.ca.gov/contact/

Step 1:

In the first pulldown, click: "An Active Bill"

In the second pulldown, click: "AB 1999 - Veterinary medicine."

Click "Leave a Comment" and the "Next" button

Step 2:

Next screen, click on: "Pro"

Then, in the "Message subject," please type: "Request for Signature"

In the message window, feel free to say something simple, like the message in the picture below, but you may elaborate if you would like to share your own reasons for urging AB 1999 to become law.

Step 3:

In the next screen fill in your name and email and then submit. That's it! Simple!

Special thanks to ...

Author, Assemblymember Ash Kalra
and co-author, Assemblymember Marc Berman

Our Co-Sponsors
California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA)
California Veterinary Medical Board (VMB)
San Diego Humane Society

And to everyone who put compassion into action
with a donation or a support letter!

New! From SCIL's volunteer data scientist, Michael Loizos Mavrovouniotis PhD, "Shelter Dog Census Changes Track Intakes...
08/24/2026

New! From SCIL's volunteer data scientist, Michael Loizos Mavrovouniotis PhD,
"Shelter Dog Census Changes Track Intakes but Resolve Slowly via Outcomes and Especially Adoptions."

🐶 Simple Summary

Animal shelters take in dogs and later find outcomes for them, such as adoption or returning them to an owner. When more dogs arrive in a month than leave, the number of dogs in care—the census—goes up. We asked two questions: which arrivals and departures explain the month-to-month swings in the number of dogs in care, and how does a shelter work off a build-up of dogs once it has occurred? Using three years of monthly reports from shelters across the United States, we found that month-to-month swings track arrivals more closely than departures.

A build-up of dogs, however, is worked off mainly by moving dogs out, especially through adoptions, over a period of several months. Shelters therefore appear to increase their efforts to secure live outcomes when they are fuller, and the number of adoptions a shelter achieves is not a fixed quantity. Understanding these typical patterns may help shelters respond to changes earlier and more effectively.

Read full article: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/16/15/2400

Essential details about the Trump administration's latest assault on nature, reported on by the New York Times: “About 7...
08/23/2026

Essential details about the Trump administration's latest assault on nature, reported on by the New York Times:

“About 73,000 wild horses roam federal public lands in the West, where they are protected from hunting or capture. For decades, in an attempt to keep the population sustainable, the bureau has rounded up 9,500 on average each year and offered them for adoption. But it finds adopters for only about half.�

The rest go into a labyrinth of feedlots and pastures that the bureau calls “the holding system.” The system now stores 58,000 wild horses at an annual cost of $100 million. Caring for them eats up most of the bureau’s $142 million wild horse budget.��

Over the years, bureau leaders have floated various lethal proposals for reducing the herds, including using sharp shooters, selling horses directly to slaughterhouses and building a gas chamber. But Congress — aware that the public wants mustangs protected — has barred the bureau from spending any money to kill healthy wild horses.��

[…]��

While the bureau can’t kill wild horses, it can use a series of bureaucratic maneuvers and financial transactions to transform them on paper into domestic livestock, stripping their legal protections.��

[…]��

“It used to be rare that we’d see a mustang at the auctions, and if we did, they were usually old,” said Ms. Staples, from the Skydog Ranch sanctuary. “But now we’re seeing a huge influx, and most of these horses are young — 2 or 3 years old. They are the easiest to train and should be easy to adopt.”�

She bought three mustangs at one of the auctions and put them on her Oregon preserve.��“We are only able to save a few,” she said. “Most go to the kill buyers.”��

Please read the full article |�https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/20/us/trump-wild-horses-legal-loophole-slaughter.html?

Social Compassion in Legislation Welcomes Nicole Rechtszaid to our Board of Directors!"We are excited to have Nicole’s e...
08/21/2026

Social Compassion in Legislation Welcomes Nicole Rechtszaid to our Board of Directors!

"We are excited to have Nicole’s experience, talent, compassion, and enthusiasm added to our team," said SCIL’s founder and president, Judie Mancuso.

SCIL is proud to announce our new board member, Nicole Rechtszaid. Nicole is a Los Angeles-based animal welfare advocate who has spent years fighting the shelter crisis on the ground as a foster, volunteer, and community organizer. By day, she works in Communications at Instagram. By night, she runs , turning her platform into a hub for grassroots rescue education and hands-on advocacy that has helped save over 170 animals through networking, fostering, and volunteering.

A vocal champion of cruelty-free living and vegan accessibility, Nicole speaks widely on how social media can mobilize communities, amplify rescue stories, and drive systemic change in animal welfare. We are thrilled to have her as our new board member.

We love a happy ending! The famous West Hollywood pig, aka Wilbur, has found a happy forever home with renowned music st...
08/21/2026

We love a happy ending! The famous West Hollywood pig, aka Wilbur, has found a happy forever home with renowned music star and animal rights icon, Diane Warren! Thank you to Diane for giving Wilbur his forever home. And, love the shout out to our mutual friend, and Social Compassion in Legislation board member, Simone Reyes, who is another animal rights superstar.

We look forward to seeing you both at our upcoming Justice for Animals event on September 19th in Los Angeles!

Excerpt from Variety:
“A lot of my friends were sending me footage of this poor little pig running through the streets of West Hollywood,” Warren told Variety. “I called my friend Marcia Zwilling who runs my Animal Foundation. We agreed that we gotta save this pig! It reminds me that five years ago when my animal activist good friend Simone Reyes and I saved a cow which was known as ‘free the cow.’ Marcia went this morning to the shelter where they were auctioning the pig, and as Marcia said, ‘Whatever it takes we gotta get this pig and give him a safe, wonderful home.’ So BY ANY MEANS we did! Wilbur is the cutest little thing, and he’s a celebrity now! We are all in love with him. Animals are precious sentient creatures. Welcome Wilbur!!!” Warren said via email.

Read the full article here: https://variety.com/2026/music/news/diane-warren-adopts-runaway-pig-wilbur-1236839382/

AB 2344, The Justice for Seized Animals Act, will be on the Senate Floor for a vote any day now. Please CALL your Califo...
08/19/2026

AB 2344, The Justice for Seized Animals Act, will be on the Senate Floor for a vote any day now. Please CALL your California State Senator in support now!

1. Find your Senator
https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov

2. Call them and say ...
"AB 2344 would allow prosecutors to petition the court for the forfeiture of animals seized in abuse cases when the accused owner fails to appear for a scheduled court hearing. Therefore, abused animals will not linger in the shelter for days, months or years! Please Vote Yes on AB 2344!"

----------------------

Sending our sincere gratitude to you, bill author Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) and to our co-sponsors at the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for your support.

Swipe to read Fact Sheet >>>

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Laguna Beach, CA
92652

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