Virgin Falls Short in Effort to Take Progressive Leadership Role to Prevent Ongoing Exploitation of Dolphins and Whales in Captivity
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Today’s statement by Virgin that it intends to continue to work with aquariums that confine whales and dolphins (cetaceans) in captivity for public entertainment has disappointed wildlife experts from leading animal welfare and conservation charities...
New Report Highlights Ten American Species Our Children May Never See
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Our children are less likely to see monarch butterflies, bumble bees, and a host of other once-common wildlife species due to farm pesticides, declining ocean health, climate change, and dirty energy production, according to a...
FBI Adds Animal Cruelty Category to Nation's Crime Report
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James B. Comey officially announced a historic change in the identification and reporting of animal cruelty crime statistics. The FBI will now report animal cruelty crimes as a separate...
Animal Protection Groups Call on American Travel Writers to Help Protect Whales in Iceland
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and WDC—Whale and Dolphin Conservation are calling on the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) to help protect whales from hunting in Iceland.
Thirty-Five Governments Call on Iceland to Stop Whaling and End Trade in Fin and Minke Whales
Monday, September 15, 2014
A formal diplomatic protest, known as a démarche, was today delivered to the Icelandic government in Reykjavik. The top-level protest registered countries’ “strong opposition” to Iceland’s continued whaling, particularly of endangered fin whales.
Governments and Retailers Must Act to Halt Iceland's Slaughter of Endangered Fin Whales
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
A new report today calls for the international community and vested commercial interests to take tough action to end Iceland’s ongoing slaughter of endangered fin whales. Slayed in Iceland: The commercial hunting and international trade...
UK and German Citizens Overwhelmingly Reject Iceland's Commercial Whaling
Tuesday, September 09, 2014
A new poll commissioned by leading anti-whaling organizations, Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Humane Society International (HSI), International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), OceanCare, Pro Wildlife, and Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC)...
USDA's Controversial Wildlife Services Refuses to Help Endangered Ocelot
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Today, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and WildEarth Guardians (Guardians), represented by the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC), notified the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Wildlife Services program of their intent to sue over...
Fish and Wildlife Service Urged to Speed Protection for Bat Devastated by White-nose Fungal Epidemic
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Two dozen conservation and animal-welfare groups sent a letter today urging the US Fish and Wildlife Service to complete its plan to protect the northern long-eared bat, a species found primarily in the eastern and...
Animal Welfare Institute Response to Latest SeaWorld Press Release
Friday, August 15, 2014
The proposed expansions of the orca enclosures, while a small improvement from the existing tanks, are nonetheless inadequate to meet the welfare needs of these animals due to their size, intelligence, means of communication, and...
Effort to Gain Stronger Protection for Russian Belugas Moves Forward
Friday, August 01, 2014
Today the National Marine Fisheries Service announced a positive 60-day finding on a petition to designate the Sakhalin Bay-Amur River beluga whale population in the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia, as depleted under the US Marine...
Senate Rejects Harmful Bipartisan Sportsmen's Act
Friday, July 11, 2014
On July 10, the Senate failed to secure the required 60 votes for passage of the Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act. This bill, opposed by the Animal Welfare Institute and countless other animal protection and conservation groups...
AWI Calls Attention to Animal Cruelty and At-Risk Youth at National Judges Conference
Wednesday, July 09, 2014
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is taking part next week in the 77th Annual Conference of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) to call attention to how youth and family violence...
Humboldt County Board of Supervisors Puts Contract Renewal with Wildlife Services on Hold
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
One day after a broad coalition of national animal and conservation groups urged the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors to terminate its contract with the US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, the board assented to...
Library of Congress Event Unveils Graphic Novel on Grim Reality of Ivory Trade
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), and the African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress hosted a ceremony this afternoon at the Library’s famed Thomas Jefferson Building to introduce...
Conservation Groups Condemn Resumption of Iceland's Brutal Hunt of Endangered Whales
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Conservation groups are calling on the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and its member governments to condemn Iceland’s commercial whale hunt following confirmation that the Icelandic whaling company Hvalur hf has killed yet another endangered fin...
Europe: An Open market for the Ivory Trade?
Monday, June 02, 2014
On the eve of inter-governmental meetings in Brussels and Geneva in June and July to debate the fate of elephants, a group of conservation organisations requests all EU governments to urgently halt all commerce in...
House Committee Joins Senate in Voting to Deny Use of Taxpayer Dollars to Inspect Horse Slaughter Plants
Thursday, May 29, 2014
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) commends the House Appropriations Committee for including an amendment in the Fiscal Year 2015 Agriculture Appropriations bill to defund federally required inspections of horse slaughter facilities in the United States—a...
Poll Shows Big Jump in Percentage of Americans Opposed to Keeping Orcas Captive for Public Display
Thursday, May 29, 2014
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) have released results of a poll they commissioned on the American public’s attitudes toward keeping orcas (also known as killer whales) in captivity for...
Senate Appropriations Committee Once Again Approves Amendment Blocking Funds for USDA Inspections of Horse Slaughter Facilities
Thursday, May 22, 2014
The Animal Welfare Institute commends the Senate Appropriations Committee for approving the Fiscal Year 2015 Agriculture Appropriations bill, which included an amendment defunding federally required inspections of horse slaughter facilities in the United States. The...