Spring 2018

Volume
67
Number
1
Spring 2018 Quarterly Cover
About the Cover

A male lion in Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve strikes a regal pose. Although this lion is protected from trophy hunters, other African lions—particularly in southern African nations—are not so fortunate. US policy on trophy hunting is in limbo: The US Department of the Interior is touting its supposed economic benefits and seeking to lift restrictions on trophy imports. President Trump, however, seems of a different mind on the matter (see page 14). Many airlines, meanwhile, have taken a clearer stand, denying transport of trophies taken from Africa’s “big five”—lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards, and buff aloes (see page 10).

Table of Contents

Animals in Laboratories

A LAREF Discussion This past December on AWI’s Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum (LAREF), a question posed by Erik Moreau prompted a discussion on whether talking to animals in a laboratory setting helps reduce...

Companion Animals

One of the latest signs of progress in the effort to convince law enforcement agencies to take animal cruelty seriously is the uptick in the creation of animal cruelty units in police departments and offices...
The Des Moines Register published an editorial on November 13, 2016, entitled “Why won’t the USDA shut down this serial animal abuser?” The paper of record for the state of Iowa—one of the biggest puppy...

Farmed Animals

In a split decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has partially affirmed the district court’s findings that an Idaho “ag-gag” law is unconstitutional. The Idaho law was passed under the guise of protecting farmers...
This November, California citizens may have the chance to vote for farm animal welfare. A coalition of stakeholders is gathering signatures for a ballot initiative that would strengthen the California law that bans extreme confinement...
The end of cruel confinement methods for veal calves in the United States is drawing ever closer. In 2007, the American Veal Association (AVA) pledged to transition away from solitary crates and neck tethers to...
In 2012, the Los Angeles Food Policy Council set out to transform the city’s food purchasing system into a more sustainable model that prioritizes the environment, animal welfare, and the local economy. The council did...
In January, the US Department of Agriculture proposed withdrawing the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices rule. The rule represents the culmination of a decades-long process involving multiple stakeholder groups, including animal advocates, the organic industry...

Marine Life

In a desperate attempt to save the last remaining vaquita porpoises, AWI and other groups filed suit against several federal agencies in December. The vaquita, a small porpoise that exists only in Mexico’s Upper Gulf...
AWI filed suit in January against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) related to the agencies’ refusal to enforce requirements for SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment to submit...
AWI has long been involved in the issue of anthropogenic ocean noise directly or indirectly generated by the military, the oil and gas industry, commercial shipping, and scientific research. Marine animals use sound for essential...
On January 23, in Utrecht, the Netherlands, an appeals court heard the arguments of the Free Morgan Foundation (FMF) for revoking the certificate (permit) that allowed the orca known as Morgan to be transferred from...
The traditional method of cooking lobsters is to boil them alive. In January, the Swiss Federal Council passed a law deeming this practice inhumane and requiring that lobsters and other crustaceans be stunned, rendering them...
After many years of resisting the clear trend of history regarding the captive display of cetaceans, the Vancouver Aquarium has finally conceded: On January 18, the aquarium’s management announced that it would no longer display...

Terrestrial Wildlife

The International Union for Conservation of Nature assessed more than 740 newly recognized bird species in 2016 and found that 13 of these species were already extinct—before they’d even been recognized as distinct species. While...
Safari hunting has suffered a few setbacks recently. Ever since American dentist Walter Palmer bungled the killing of a well-known Zimbabwe lion named Cecil in 2015, international outrage has stung the industry, resulting in a...
The 69 th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), held November 27 to December 1, 2017, in Geneva, Switzerland, featured more...
Ticos (as Costa Ricans call themselves) use a Latin phrase to define the noble intentions of their new wildlife regulations, adopted in 2017: in dubio pro natura —when in doubt, favor nature. Following that fundamental...
If you ask the average American what they know of Australia, they might mention the Sydney Opera House, didgeridoos, boomerangs, the Great Barrier Reef, the Outback, and, of course, Australia’s iconic wildlife, including crocodiles, koalas...
Nosey the elephant has not had an easy life. Born in Zimbabwe in 1982, she was stolen from her wild family at age 2 and brought to Florida. Purchased by Hugo Liebel in 1988, she...
On November 8, 2017, the US Department of the Interior announced the formation of an “International Wildlife Conservation Council” whose chief objective would be to increase public awareness of the “economic benefits that result from...
A leaked memo from the US Fish and Wildlife Service concerning how the agency plans to regulate endangered species listings under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) could have severe impacts on imperiled wildlife. According to...

Government Affairs

In September, the House passed HR 3354, an omnibus (bundled) spending bill that included four amendments to weaken the Endangered Species Act. Then, in November, the Senate Appropriations Committee’s draft funding bill for the US...
With the second session of the 115th Congress well underway, AWI president Cathy Liss sent a letter to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) requesting support for these legislative priorities in the coming year: the...
Pennsylvania, long notorious for its weak repercussions for even the worst cases of abuse, took a giant leap forward when Governor Tom Wolf signed Libre’s Law. The state finally acted as a result of public...
The Marine Mammal Protection Act celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, but a sizable faction in Congress seems intent on dismantling some of its core provisions. On January 10, the House Natural Resources Committee approved...
Two states and several local governments joined a growing list of jurisdictions acting on behalf of wild and exotic animals exploited by circuses and other traveling exhibitions this past year. In Los Angeles, Councilman David...
The US Department of Agriculture is soliciting public comment on a discredited idea that would undermine the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) by putting animals at the mercy of the industries that exploit them. The USDA’s...
On January 11, AWI wrote to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke requesting that his department halt its plan to eliminate certain protections for migratory birds. This plan, released in late December, would reverse an Obama administration...

Reviews

The secrecy, brutality, corruption, scientific malfeasance, and greed that drive the Australian kangaroo hunt (see preceding page) are depicted in Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story, an award-winning documentary by filmmakers Kate McIntyre Clere and Mick McIntyre.
In The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion— Surprising Observations of a Hidden World, author Peter Wohlleben expertly blends anecdote, personal observation, scientific conclusion, and inference from physiology and behavior to show us...
Wolf Nation: The Life, Death, and Return of Wild American Wolves tackles the very difficult issue of human coexistence with wolves and how polarizing it has become—pitting federal against state governments, rural against urban, unfettered...