Winter 2016

Volume
65
Number
4
Winter 2016 Quarterly Cover
About the Cover

African grey parrots take flight in Lobéké National Park, Cameroon. The international pet trade, along with habitat loss, has taken a heavy toll on wild populations of this species. One hopeful note: At this year's 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP17) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), African grey parrots were moved to CITES Appendix I—giving them the highest level of protection under the treaty, essentially banning trade in wild specimens. See page 10 for more on how other species fared at CoP17.

Photograph by Cyril Ruoso/Minden Pictures

Table of Contents

Animals in Laboratories

On the heels of the historic settlement between the US Department of Agriculture and Santa Cruz Biotechnology (SCBT), another huge commercial operation licensed as an animal dealer and registered as a research facility is under...
A new, enhanced environment can give animals an opportunity to explore and interact. However, when animals are presented with these novel environments, they can be conflicted, with fear of the novelty opposing an instinctual desire...

Companion Animals

The fate of dogs used by the military in combat situations (e.g., bomb sniffing) has long been an intense area of concern. Last year, President Obama signed into law a military spending bill mandating that...

Farmed Animals

In an attempt to clarify its procedures, the US Department of Agriculture published a new guidance document that explains the department’s approval process for animal raising claims such as humanely raised , free range...
In the United States, federal regulations require that pigs be stunned prior to slaughter by one of four methods: electricity, chemicals (gas), captive bolt device, or gunshot. The smallest slaughter plants generally use gunshot or...
This fall, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Committee on World Food Security (CWFS) met in Rome to discuss pertinent issues related to sustainable agriculture development for food security and nutrition. The committee developed 12...
Imagine 3,000 dead chickens piled in a truck after a company failed to protect them from freezing conditions during transport, or watching someone at a slaughterhouse place the heads (instead of the legs) of live...

Marine Life

The Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment in the Wider Caribbean Region—commonly referred to as the Cartagena Convention—is the only legally binding regional environmental treaty focused on the protection of biodiversity...
For the first time in a decade, a new captive dolphin attraction has been built in the United States from the ground up, this time in Arizona. Dolphinaris, where customers pay to swim with dolphins...
In 2013, the Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA), local scientists, and government officials planned the release of five captive bottlenose dolphins—named Je-dol, Sampal, Chunsam, Taesan, and Boksoon—who had been illegally captured from a population living...
On June 22, 2016, Georgia Aquarium announced it would no longer seek to acquire dolphins or beluga whales from the wild for its exhibits. While an important step forward, the announcement came only after the...
In March 2014, California Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) introduced into the California Assembly AB 2140—a bill to prohibit the breeding of captive orcas and their use in theatrical shows in the state and require...
The 66th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) took place October 20–28, 2016, in Portorož, Slovenia, 70 years after the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) was ratified.

Terrestrial Wildlife

For the past two decades, it has been a tradition at CITES Conferences of the Parties for AWI to present the Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Award to individuals, organizations, and agencies that have...
AWI wildlife attorney Tara Zuardo and wildlife biologist D.J. Schubert joined other animal welfare advocates, conservationists, government delegates, scientists, and industry representatives at the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP17) to the...
The Global Legal Research Center of the Law Library of Congress released Laws on Leg-Hold Traps Around the World in August, a report that identifies countries that prohibit the use of steel-jaw leghold traps.
Two years ago, red wolves numbered 90–110 in the wild. Victories won by AWI and allies limiting the hunting of coyotes in the wolves’ recovery area in North Carolina were helping to give the wolves...

Government Affairs

After perhaps the most disheartening, divisive campaign in modern memory, the votes have been tabulated. Next year, a new administration will plant its flag in Washington, DC. A new Congress will convene. A new era...
Along with the unexpected outcome of the presidential race (see page 2), Election Day 2016 resulted in the defeat of two lawmakers who have worked to improve animal welfare.

Reviews

Serendipity tells the story of ecologist James A. Estes’ work researching the unexpected collapse of sea otter populations in the Aleutians—specifically, how these declines played into a larger collapse of other coastal-living marine mammals in...
The Killer Whale Who Changed the World , by Mark Leiren-Young, tells a fascinating story. Everything has to start somewhere, and captive display of this or that species is no exception. In most cases, the...
“I slowly became conscious of the animals’ point of view and recognized that much of what I was doing as a scientist did not square with my own moral standards.” The reader hasn’t gotten far...