AWI Quarterly » 2008 Winter

As the world's most populous country, with over 1.3 billion people and a burgeoning economy, China is quickly becoming a major player on the world stage. Cities such as Beijing and Shanghai are growing in size and opulence, featuring modern skylines that rival many of those found in America. Unfortunately, China's environmental record is miserable, with few animal protection laws, massive habitat loss and degradation, and severe air pollution. When it comes to wildlife trade, China's consumption of these products has skyrocketed.

In 2006, AWI launched the Compassion Index (CI) to provide a real-time legislative system that shows the public how elected officials rate on animal protection issues pending before the US Congress.

Though there are no US horse slaughter plants currently in operation, killer-buyers continue to purchase horses at auction—transporting them across the border to Canada or Mexico to face an even more brutal death. Recently, a horse owner in northwest Oklahoma contacted the Animal Welfare Institute to report that her two pregnant mares were purchased, by someone who sold them for slaughter.

Threats to Alaska's wilderness—such as global warming, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and destructive logging—have made news headlines in recent years, but there is another dangerous situation that has mostly been kept under wraps

Scientists Document Rare Species in Gobi Desert A petite nocturnal mammal with very large ears, appropriately known as the long-eared jerboa, has been