Fall 2023

Volume
72
Number
3
Fall 2023 Quarterly Cover - photo by kwadrat70/Adobe Stock
About the Cover

Horses have a special place in American culture—from majestic wild mustangs to companion horses who are part of the family. Horses are also featured in our sporting life: Racehorses fly around tracks, ponies pivot deftly around polo fields, graceful show horses strut around arenas. Too often, however, these equine athletes are treated not as partners in competition but means to an end. Particularly in thoroughbred racing and walking horse competitions, abusive practices have been allowed to flourish, resulting in horse injuries and deaths. AWI is working to strengthen oversight and stamp out abuse.

View the Fall 2023 PDF

Table of Contents

Animals in Laboratories

3D Printing for Conservation
In 2020, Drs. Constance Woodman and Giridhar Athrey of Texas A&M University were awarded an AWI Refinement Research Award for a study investigating the toxicity of various 3D printing materials to assess their suitability for...
Animals in Laboratories
In Lucrative Primate Trade, Enforcing the Law Makes Industry Cry Foul
Recent developments regarding imports of endangered long-tailed macaques for experimentation underscore the role that financial incentives play in the primate trade, and shed new light on industry efforts to keep the import pipeline open. In...
Animals in Laboratories
Two Funding Opportunities for Animals in Labs
Calling on those who work with animals in research laboratories in the United States or Canada and strive to improve their welfare: AWI now has two funding opportunities—one to enable implementation of existing animal care...
Animals in Laboratories

Companion Animals

New Regs to Rein In Racehorse Abuse; USDA Proposes Potential HPA Upgrade
Whether they are thoroughbreds running full tilt around an outdoor track or walking horses stepping gracefully across an arena, horses bred for competition undergo extensive training and conditioning. For owners and trainers, a champion horse...
Companion Animals

Farmed Animals

AWI Petitions for Bird Flu Response Plans that Shun Horrific Mass-Killing Method
Since early 2022, countries around the world have felt the impacts of a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak that has threatened wild bird populations and decimated domestic poultry flocks on an unprecedented scale. In...
Farmed Animals
Cultivated Chicken
In June, two companies—Upside Foods and Good Meat—were issued groundbreaking grants of inspection by the US Department of Agriculture that cleared the way for “cell-cultivated” (a.k.a. lab-grown) chicken to be produced and sold in the...
Farmed Animals
Food Label Guide Updated with New Farmed Animal Welfare Labels
More and more consumers are seeking to avoid products from “factory farms”—where animals are kept in abysmal conditions. Such consumers often look for animal-raising claims on packaging labels that purport to indicate higher-welfare conditions. Unfortunately...
Farmed Animals
USDA Announces Plans to Strengthen Approval of Animal-Raising Claims on Meat Labels
When the Biden administration issued an executive order on promoting competition in the American economy in July 2021, AWI responded by urging the US Department of Agriculture to address deceptive label claims as part of...
Farmed Animals
Victory! High Court Leaves California’s Prop 12 Standing
In 2018, Proposition 12 passed in California with 63 percent of the vote. It mandated minimum floor space for egg-laying hens, calves raised for veal, and breeding sows and their piglets in California and prohibited...
Farmed Animals

Humane Education

Avian Advocates Occupy Top Perches in Voice for Animals Contest
Since 2010, AWI has partnered with the Humane Education Network for the student contest “A Voice for Animals.” Each year, our judges take on the challenging task of choosing the winning submissions from a pool...
Humane Education

Marine Life

Advancing the Argument Against Marine Mammal Captivity
The 6th edition of The Case Against Marine Mammals in Captivity (CAMMIC), published by the Animal Welfare Institute and World Animal Protection, was unveiled in July. Since its 1st edition in 1995, this report has...
Marine Life
Advocating End to Cetacean Captivity in Europe
Since 2014, AWI has supported the work of Dolphinaria-Free Europe (DFE), a coalition of European NGOs who work to help the approximately 300 whales, dolphins, and porpoises held for display and research in the European...
Marine Life
AWI’s Kate O’Connell: Passion and Persistence in Defense of Ocean Life
After four decades in the fight to end commercial whaling worldwide, Kate O’Connell, senior policy consultant for AWI’s Marine Life program, is on a first-name basis with virtually every major player impacting the cetacean protection...
Marine Life
Gray Whales in Steep Decline
After peaking at nearly 27,000 whales in 2016, the population of eastern North Pacific gray whales has plummeted to around 14,500 in 2023—a startling 46 percent decline and nearly 7,000 fewer animals than when the...
Marine Life
Troubled Whale Hearing Study Amplifies Alarm over Ocean Noise Impacts
Since 2021, AWI and colleagues have called on the governments of Norway and the United States to withdraw permits and funding for a controversial research study that involves the capture of minke whales in Norwegian...
Marine Life
Using DNA in Footprints to Track Polar Bear Populations
The Arctic is warming faster than anywhere on Earth, and polar bears—listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act—are at risk due to decreasing sea ice habitat. Monitoring polar bear populations is important for their...
Marine Life

Terrestrial Wildlife

AWI Sues BLM over Wild Horse Management
AWI is suing the Bureau of Land Management after the agency finalized a management plan to eliminate millions of acres of federally designated habitat for wild horses in Wyoming. The suit was filed in the...
Terrestrial Wildlife
Biodiversity Declines Worse than Previously Thought
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is a valuable database containing information on species status, population trends, and threats. While it has its flaws—including some out-of-date species assessments...
Terrestrial Wildlife
CITES Animals Committee Resumes In-Person Meetings
Over 260 representatives of nearly 50 countries and more than 60 organizations met in Geneva in June at the 32nd meeting of the Animals Committee to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of...
Terrestrial Wildlife
Combatting Wildlife Trafficking in Africa
Each year, millions of wild animals, including imperiled species, fall victim to an illegal wildlife trade with an annual estimated value between $7 billion and $20 billion. Wildlife trafficking causes population declines and results in...
Terrestrial Wildlife
Evaluating the Suitability of Confiscated and Rehabilitated Eastern Box Turtles for Release back into the Wild
The eastern box turtle is collected in enormous numbers for the illegal wildlife trade. Only a portion of this trade is detected, and when it is, wildlife agencies must decide what to do with those...
Terrestrial Wildlife
New York to Outlaw Wildlife Killing Contests
After years of work by a coalition of advocacy groups, including AWI, the New York legislature passed a bill in June to ban wildlife killing contests, with certain exceptions, including contests involving white-tailed deer, turkey...
Terrestrial Wildlife

Government Affairs

Helping Homeless People and Pets
Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Nancy Mace (R-SC) reintroduced the Providing for Unhoused People and Pets (PUPP) Act (HR 3957). This bill would make funding available to enable service...
Government Affairs
Improving Animal Welfare Act Enforcement
In June, Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) reintroduced the Animal Welfare Enforcement Improvement Act (AWEIA; HR 3859) in response to the egregious failures by the US Department of Agriculture to properly enforce...
Government Affairs
Legislators Float Wrong Moves on Right Whales
Vessel strikes continue to be one of the leading threats facing critically endangered North Atlantic right whales (NARW). Slowing down vessels is the only proven way to avoid these deadly strikes: Reducing vessel speeds to...
Government Affairs
Pork Industry Pals Try to Torpedo Prop 12
In May, the US Supreme Court upheld California’s ban on certain forms of extreme confinement for farmed animals in California and the in-state sale of eggs and meat from facilities anywhere that use such methods...
Government Affairs
Protecting Horses from Slaughter and Unsafe Transport
AWI worked closely with Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Sens. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), on the reintroduction of the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act (HR 3475/S 2037)...
Government Affairs
Saner Solutions to Wildlife Management
Two bills were introduced to curb cruel, costly, and dangerous wildlife management methods. In May, Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV) and David Schweikert (R-AZ) reintroduced the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act (HR 3656), a bill...
Government Affairs

In Remembrance

A Life Among Whales: Roger Payne’s Legacy in Patagonia, Argentina
On Saturday, June 10, 2023, Dr. Roger Payne, 88, passed away, surrounded by the love of his family at his home in Vermont. Roger maintained his clarity and wisdom until the final moment. He always...
In Remembrance

Reviews

Around the Ocean in 80 Fish & Other Sea Life
Around the Ocean in 80 Fish & Other Sea Life is a beautifully illustrated journey that introduces readers to various inhabitants of the five oceans. Each turn of the page reveals a new animal—with short...
Reviews
Flight Paths
When Rebecca Heisman worked for the American Ornithological Society, her job involved reading “cutting-edge migration research” and publicizing it in a digestible way for the public. She sought to provide readers with the answer to...
Reviews
Many Things Under a Rock
“Devilfish,” “old skin covering,” “many things under a rock”—octopus names are as varied and creative as the creatures themselves. As Many Things Under a Rock: The Mysteries of Octopuses reveals, these inquisitive, intelligent animals are...
Reviews

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