Winter 2019

Volume
68
Number
4
Winter 2019 Quarterly Cover
About the Cover

Nine billion land animals are raised and slaughtered for food in the United States each year, yet the laws protecting these animals are strikingly limited. No single federal law expressly governs the treatment of farm animals. Meanwhile, more than two dozen states have enacted farm animal welfare laws and regulations over the past 20 years. AWI recently conducted a first-of-its-kind in-depth analysis of how well those laws are being enforced. The answer: not very well. See page 14 for more on what we discovered.

Table of Contents

Animals in Laboratories

Healthy laboratory animals who are no longer needed in research deserve the chance to be rehomed. The practice of rehoming retired laboratory animals is more common with dogs, but other species are also deserving of...
In the last issue of the AWI Quarterly, we reported on a study recently published in the journal Science (Reinhold et al., 2019). In that study, researchers who were examining the neural underpinnings of decision-making...
AWI advocates for improving the care, housing, and handling of animals in research facilities to spare them needless suffering. To help achieve this, we offer Refinement Grants of up to $10,000 to develop and test...
As we feared, the NIH has begun announcing that many of the chimps are not eligible to be moved to sanctuary. Every one of the remaining forty-four chimps at the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) in...
The heart of any laboratory animal facility is its animal care staff. Dedicated and compassionate animal care technicians can make a tremendous difference in the quality of the animals’ lives. One such committed individual is...

Farmed Animals

No single federal law explicitly addresses the treatment of animals raised for human consumption on farms in the United States. Due to growing public concern, many states have taken action to improve the welfare of...
The link between animal agriculture and greenhouse gas emissions is increasingly a key focus of the debate over how to reduce global warming. An August 2019 report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate...
An investigation into a Maine salmon hatchery owned and operated by one of the largest seafood companies in the world, Cooke Aquaculture, has provided a behind-the-scenes look into the horrors of fish farming.
The US Department of Agriculture has declined to grant AWI’s petition asking the department to end the cruel practice of slaughtering nonambulatory disabled pigs. The USDA decided that its current regulations are “sufficient and effective”...
Looking to take advantage of the disaster unfolding in China, US meat production giants Tyson Foods and JBS USA have announced they are ending the use of ractopamine throughout their supply chains.

Humane Education

Every year, hundreds of students enter the AWI-cosponsored “A Voice for Animals” contest (entering its 30th year!) to share stories of their own efforts to make the world a better place for animals. Many of...

Marine Life

Despite the opposition of AWI and other groups, a federal bill passed last year that allows a cull of sea lions within the Columbia River basin in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, in a misguided effort...
In 2016, AWI and other groups petitioned to have the subspecies listed as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act. Our petition was granted, and the listing was finalized by the National Marine Fisheries Service...
Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut, has long displayed beluga whales and conducted extensive research on them. However, the facility has now embroiled itself in a controversial request to import five captive-born belugas from Marineland in...
Beneath the surface of Hawaii’s blue ocean waters, Wild Me and Hawaiian Hawksbill Conservation are using photographs and computer vision technology to help protect Hawaiian hawksbill sea turtles.
A recent poll co-funded by AWI and other animal protection and conservation organizations paints a bleak picture for the Norwegian whaling industry’s future. Only 4 percent of Norwegians surveyed said they ate whale meat “often.”
As whales go about the business of being whales—feeding, defecating, migrating, and breeding—they provide vital ecological services to the planet. This includes fertilizing the plankton that provide half of all oxygen on Earth and sequestering...
A study recently published in Royal Society Open Science, however, indicates that protections afforded humpback whales over the past half century have helped reverse the decline. The study authors predict that this population may be...

Terrestrial Wildlife

At the end of October, the Bureau of Land Management’s National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board met in Washington, DC, to consider a wide range of issues pertaining to wild horse management. AWI was...
Despite significant public outcry and prolific evidence of the inherent dangers of the devices, the Environmental Protection Agency reauthorized the use of M-44 sodium cyanide bombs in early December
The US Fish and Wildlife Service recently received an application submitted under the Wild Bird Conservation Act requesting authorization to import 4,000 grey parrots from South Africa to establish a grey parrot cooperative breeding program...
A feature article in the December 2019 issue of National Geographic takes a hard look at the captive big cat problem in the United States. The article, replete with moving photos, examines how thousands of...
On December 10, the New York City Council approved a measure that would make the Big Apple and its obstacle course of vertical structures a bit easier for birds to navigate. Proposed Initiative 1482B, introduced...
Although grizzly bears are listed as provincially threatened in Alberta, the Rocky Mountain subpopulation of grizzly bears, which includes the bears in southwestern Alberta, is increasing. In southwestern Alberta, conflicts between grizzly bears and agricultural...
A truly shocking study published in the journal Science in September reveals a net loss of nearly 3 billion birds in North America since 1970—a 29 percent drop in under 50 years. This precipitous population...

Government Affairs

The Committee on Natural Resources in the House of Representatives has jurisdiction over many bills supported by AWI. Fortunately, Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) is a champion of animal welfare and environmental protection.
On November 25, the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act passed by Congress was signed by President Trump. This new law extends federal jurisdiction to certain egregious forms of animal cruelty.
New legislation has been introduced to reverse recent rule changes that limit the protections afforded to imperiled species under the Endangered Species Act. On November 19, AWI, in conjunction with other groups, hosted a briefing...
The US Department of Agriculture recently proposed new “routine uses” of records under the federal Privacy Act that determine disclosure of information outside the department. The USDA seems determined to make permanent the drastic limitations...

Reviews

Dr. Clive Wynne, a canine behaviorist and founding director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University in Tempe is the author of Dog Is Love: Why and How Your Dog Loves You. As...
In The Last of the Butterflies: A Scientist’s Quest to Save a Rare and Vanishing Creature, Dr. Nick Haddad explores his journey to becoming a butterfly biologist and discusses how butterflies are the proverbial canary...
The World Beneath: The Life and Times of Unknown Sea Creatures and Coral Reefs, by Dr. Richard Smith, is a fascinating description of the aquatic life in coral environments. Smith’s engaging narratives concerning a multitude...