Fall 2015

Volume
64
Number
4
Fall 2015 AWI Quarterly - Cover, Photo by Jim Brandenburg/Minden Pictures
About the Cover

The Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), a medium-sized wild cat, thrives in cold, forested environments with deep snow. Lynx populations naturally fluctuate in rhythm with the roughly decade-long crest and crash cycles of the animals' primary prey, snowshoe hares. Through bust and boom times, however, lynx were once abundant in the northeastern United States, before fragmentation of habitat drastically reduced their numbers and range in the United States outside of Alaska. Now, south of the Canada-contiguous US border, lynx are confined mostly to Maine and pockets of Minnesota and western states, and are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Trapping of lynx in Maine threatens to reduce their numbers even further. AWI, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Wildlife Alliance of Maine have filed suit against the US Fish and Wildlife Service for allowing trappers in Maine to “incidentally take” lynx when targeting other furbearing wildlife. More on the lawsuit and this dire threat to this species can be found in the article on page 14 of this issue.

Photo by Jim Brandenburg/Minden Pictures

Table of Contents

Animals in Laboratories

AWI is pleased to announce publication of the tenth edition of Comfortable Quarters for Laboratory Animals, our guide to the humane housing and handling of animals in research. AWI has produced editions of Comfortable Quarters...
On October 16, 2015, Alice Ra’anan and Bill Yates of the American Physiological Society published a blog post for Speaking of Research entitled “Caveat Emptor,” with the subtitle “A current USDA case involving a major...
On November 18, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it would retire all of its remaining chimpanzees used for research and relocate them to sanctuaries. In 2013, as a result of a report by...

Companion Animals

After a successful trial run in Illinois, Amtrak is expanding its Pets Aboard service to certain Northeast Corridor routes. Passengers may bring their cat or small dog with them on most Northeast Regional trains between...
On September 8, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas announced that Ashley Nicole Richards pleaded guilty to five counts of producing and distributing crush videos that depicted the torturing and killing...
After a years-long effort by animal advocates, dog fighting is now an offense under New Jersey’s racketeering statute. The new law (S 736) creates two new crimes: “dog fighting,” which has also been added to...
When it comes to animal cruelty cases, it is often hard to tell whether the glass is half empty or half full. Some individuals who have committed heinous acts of abuse are not even prosecuted...

Farmed Animals

This year, poultry producers in the United States have dealt with the worst outbreak of avian influenza in US history. Between January and June, nearly 50 million chickens and turkeys on 232 poultry operations were...
In Massachusetts, AWI has joined veterinarians, farmers and other animal protection groups to get some of the most extreme confinement practices on factory farms banned through a new ballot initiative.
McDonald’s announced that for its US and Canadian restaurants, over the next 10 years it will transition to eggs acquired solely from producers using cage-free operations.
In September 2015, the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued an interim report on its investigation into the allegations of animal abuse at the US Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) by The New York...

Marine Life

On October 8, the California Coastal Commission voted to allow SeaWorld San Diego to build its $100 million expansion of Shamu Stadium, a project known as Blue World, but only under the following conditions: the...
After a long and winding process, a federal court has turned aside Georgia Aquarium’s attempt to import wild beluga whales from Russia. In June 2012, Georgia Aquarium applied for a Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA)...
AWI has long been involved in the United Nations Caribbean Environment Programme, and specifically its Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW Protocol), which prohibits the taking of listed flora and fauna species. Sea...
Fish tanks are ubiquitous—found in doctor’s offices, Chinese restaurants, corporate headquarters, and in millions of homes throughout the world. Some studies report that they reduce anxiety, stress, and blood pressure, calm hyperactive children, and provide...
Three Sisters Springs is an important 1.5 acre manatee wintering area within the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge on Florida’s Gulf coast, about 50 miles north of Tampa. The Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) is...
For more than a decade, AWI has been working to stop the US Navy from using harmful active sonar in areas where it can negatively impact marine animals. Over the summer of 2015, the tide...

Terrestrial Wildlife

The Christine Stevens Wildlife Award is a grant program named in honor of AWI’s late founder and president for over 50 years. Each year, the program provides grants of up to $10,000 to support innovative...
On August 17, AWI and allies filed a lawsuit against the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for allowing trappers in Maine to seriously injure and kill (“take”) Canada lynx ( Lynx canadensis ), a...
Over 200 wildlife experts from around the world met in Tel Aviv in late August/early September at the 28th meeting of the Animals Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild...
The US District Court for the Northern District of California, on August 11, struck down a decision by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to allow wind energy developers to obtain 30-year permits to...
AWI is gravely disappointed in the outcome of the review of the federal Wildlife Services program by the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG). The OIG took up the investigation after members of Congress requested...
Colorado rancher and livestock hauler Tom Davis spent close to $18,000 to purchase approximately 1,800 horses from the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program from 2008 to 2012, telling the BLM...
There has been a significant reduction in gunshot mortality of red wolves over the last year, ever since coyote hunting was restricted in the wolves’ North Carolina habitat as a result of legal action taken...

Government Affairs

Congress has taken an important step toward cracking down on wildlife trafficking. On November 2, the House of Representatives passed HR 2494, the Global Anti-Poaching Act, introduced by Reps. Ed Royce (R-CA) and Eliot Engle...
On November 6, 2015, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) announced that he would introduce the Orca Responsibility and Care Advancement (ORCA) Act. With eight original cosponsors, the ORCA Act (HR 4019) takes a long-overdue step: it...
On September 18, AWI joined other animal protection organizations in co-hosting a briefing by the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus for staff of members of the US House of Representatives on the Pet and Women Safety...
On October 7, the House Natural Resources Committee voted to advance HR 2406, the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act, which presents a clear assault on wildlife both at home and abroad. The current...

In Remembrance

Colonel Milton M. Kaufmann died on October 29, 2015, aged 97. For the last 40+ years, he had been a dedicated and hard-working volunteer conservationist, locally in his Maryland neighborhood and internationally, most notably in...

Reviews

Animals and Criminal Justice is not exhaustive, by any means, and its organization is a bit confusing, but it does shed light—especially for the reader new to the subject matter—on some of the complexities and...
Most people intuitively know that animals can think, have social lives, and emotions. Yet, when people are asked to provide evidence for their convictions, they struggle. How do we adequately describe something about another species...
Project Animal Farm: An Accidental Journey into the Secret World of Farming and the Truth About Our Food tells the true story of Sonia Faruqi, a young investment banker who embarks on a journey—leaving her...