Fall 2022

Volume
71
Number
3
Fall 2022 Quarterly Cover
About the Cover

Water hyacinths wreath a hippopotamus in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. Across Africa, hippos are targeted for their ivory teeth, and populations are in decline. This November, the 19th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) convenes in Panama. Nations of the world will weigh proposals to strengthen (or weaken) protections for species adversely affected by international trade. One positive proposal would ban international commercial trade in hippos and hippo parts.

Table of Contents

Animals in Laboratories

Enrichment—adding complexity to an animal’s environment—is an essential element of improving the lives of animals in captivity. Species-appropriate toys, puzzles, and structures, for example, can provide cognitive stimulation and opportunities to engage in natural behaviors...
Standard barren housing systems for laboratory mice restrict the expression of natural behaviors and are associated with a high incidence of abnormal behavior. There is abundant evidence that environmental enrichment has a positive impact on...
“Beagle production facility.” That’s how John Sagartz, chief strategy officer for Inotiv (the company that purchased Envigo last November) repeatedly described its Cumberland, Virginia, dog-breeding operation during a June 2022 hearing concerning conditions at the...
Enrichment is pivotal to captive animal welfare. Social enrichment is particularly important for any social animals who, due to practical constraints, are not housed in larger groups. Pair housing is the most common social housing...

Farmed Animals

Today’s grocery stores offer a dizzying array of options. And the competition for your attention doesn’t cool down when you reach the refrigerator and freezer cases—there, consumers of meat, poultry, dairy, and egg products are...
This year’s avian influenza outbreak appears to be waning, following the historical pattern of the disease dissipating in hotter months. However, its exit comes too late to avoid the impact on domestic birds in a...
In its recently passed budget bill, the state of California took a huge step forward in promoting healthy plant-based meals in public schools. The budget included $100 million to assist schools in procuring foods that...
Since December 2000, when the regulations implementing the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 were released by the US Department of Agriculture, animal and consumer advocates have been working continuously to incorporate animal welfare standards...
This summer, the nonprofit animal welfare certification program Global Animal Partnership (GAP) debuted standards for farmed Atlantic salmon. As with other GAP animal welfare standards, the salmon standards are a series of “step levels” representing...
The US Department of Agriculture recently requested comments on a proposed rulemaking under the Packers and Stockyards Act, which governs how meat and poultry companies buy and source animals for slaughter. The proposed rule is...

Humane Education

On July 31, AWI and the Humane Education Network announced the winners of the 2022 “A Voice for Animals” contest. As in prior years, students were free to choose their own topic, but this year...

Marine Life

In July, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jared Huffman (D-CA), and Suzan DelBene (D-WA) introduced the Strengthening Welfare in Marine Settings (SWIMS) Act (HR 8514/S 4740). This legislation would phase out...
For the second year in a row, researchers from the United States and Norway failed to measure a whale’s brain waves to determine how they might react to naval sonar and noise from oil and...

Terrestrial Wildlife

This summer, AWI funded sanctuaries in three countries that provide care to great apes rescued from a variety of cruel circumstances and give them a second chance at a life worth living. We helped Jeunes...
In June, AWI filed a protest against the Bureau of Land Management’s plan to eliminate over 2 million acres of designated habitat for wild horses in the Wyoming Checkerboard region. The BLM’s Final Environmental Impact...
AWI recently provided substantial financial support to help the nonprofit Animals Asia construct a second bear sanctuary in Vietnam, primarily to house Asiatic black bears rescued from bear-bile farming. Although Vietnam outlawed bear-bile extraction in...
In 2019, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services revealed that over 1 million species were in danger of extinction and called for transformative change to prevent such a catastrophic loss of biodiversity...
North American bats have an estimated economic value of $23 billion annually due to their natural role as insect pest regulators. These bats have faced a significant decline due to white-nose syndrome (a fungal disease...

Government Affairs

On International Tiger Day (July 29), the House of Representatives passed the Big Cat Public Safety Act by a vote of 278–134, aiming to end several abusive practices associated with keeping big cats in captivity...
On July 21, Canyon’s Law (HR 4951/S 4584), a bill to outlaw the use of M-44 devices (a.k.a. cyanide bombs) on public lands, received a hearing in the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans...
On June 23, both the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act (HR 3355) and the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act (HR 5441) were unanimously approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Consumer Protection...
In July, the House of Representatives passed HR 8294, a “minibus” package of six spending bills for fiscal year 2023 that includes many wins for animals. For starters, the bill provides funds for Animal Welfare...
Language from the AWI-endorsed Preventing Future Pandemics Act (PFPA) was successfully adopted as an amendment to the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act. The PFPA recognizes the urgent need for a global approach...

Reviews

Dr. Ashley Ward is an engaging writer, with a Briton’s native wit. The best part of his book, The Social Lives of Animals, is his genuine fascination with the animal behavior he observes, but his...
Thomas Armbruster / SandyHook SeaLife Foundation / 310 pages In The Swordfish Hunters: The Life, Death and Future of Xiphius gladius, marine biologist and physician Dr. Thomas Armbruster recounts in vivid detail his time spent...
When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness, by philosopher Dr. David M. Peña-Guzmán, is part storytelling and part dense academic text. The book tackles a fascinating topic: Is there evidence that nonhuman animals...