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Latest News
World Heritage Committee Designates Vaquita Porpoise Habitat as “In Danger”
Wednesday, July 03, 2019
Baku, Azerbaijan—The UNESCO World Heritage Committee today approved an “in danger” designation for an area of Mexico that is the last-remaining home of the critically endangered vaquita porpoise and a fish called the totoaba. An...
AWI Welcomes Iceland's Decision to Forego Whaling This Summer
Tuesday, July 02, 2019
Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is relieved to hear that no whales will be killed by Icelandic whalers this summer. In a June television news interview, Ólafur Ólafsson, a whaling vessel captain, said that...
AWI Statement on Japan’s Commencement of Commercial Whaling
Monday, July 01, 2019
Washington, DC–Japan faces international criticism and risks legal challenges as it launches a government-subsidized commercial whaling program to kill 383 whales this year with no international oversight. On June 30, Japan withdrew from the International...
Celebrities and NGOs Worldwide Call for G20 ‘International Whaling Intervention’ as Summit Host Japan Launches New Whale Killing Program
Friday, June 28, 2019
Osaka, Japan—Celebrities and animal conservation and welfare NGOs from across the globe are calling for an “international whaling intervention” to be staged at the G20 summit in Osaka as summit host Japan prepares to launch...
AWI Commends Inclusion of Animal Welfare Provisions in HR 3055
Friday, June 28, 2019
Washington, DC—The US House of Representatives passed HR 3055, an appropriations “minibus” that covers the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, and the Interior, as well as other departments and agencies. The bill...
Animal Protection Groups Applaud Senate Bill to Ban Horse Slaughter
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Washington, DC—Sens. Bob Menendez, (D-NJ), Lindsey Graham, (R-SC), Sheldon Whitehouse, (D-RI), and Susan Collins, (R-ME), introduced legislation today to permanently end the slaughter of American horses for human consumption in the United States and abroad...
Canada Prohibits the Captivity of Marine Mammals
Monday, June 24, 2019
Ottawa, Canada–S-203, the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act, has received Royal Assent, making the historic legislation, which ends the public display of captive cetaceans, official Canadian law. After nearly four years of...
Members of Congress Condemn Barbaric Surgical Sterilization Experiments on Wild Horses
Monday, June 24, 2019
Washington, DC— Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), co-chair of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus, led a bipartisan letter signed by 30 members of Congress to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt criticizing the Bureau of Land Management's proposed...
AWI Supports Bill to Prohibit the Use of Performing Exotic Animals
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) supports the reintroduction of the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act (TEAPSPA). Sponsored by Representatives Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and David Schweikert (R-AZ), this bill would amend...
AWI Supports Bipartisan Bill to Protect Children and Animals from Abuse
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) endorses the Child and Animal Abuse Detection and Reporting Act of 2019, introduced today by Representatives Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH) and John Katko (R-NY). This legislation would amend the...
BLM to Proceed with Barbaric Sterilization of Wild Mares, Despite Outcry
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Burns, Oregon—Despite multiple lawsuits, federal injunctions and overwhelming public opposition, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced last night that it is again moving ahead with barbaric experiments on captive wild mares. It will be...
Legislators Decry Forest Service Plan to Condemn Wild Horses to Slaughter
Monday, May 06, 2019
Washington, DC—Today, 64 members of Congress sent a bipartisan letter to US Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and US Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen objecting to the Forest Service’s impending plan to sell federally...
AWI-Endorsed Legislation Advanced by House Committee to Aid North Atlantic Right Whale Recovery
Wednesday, May 01, 2019
Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) commends the US House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee for approving H.R. 1568, the SAVE Right Whales Act during their first committee markup of the 116th Congress. H.R. 1568...
AWI Endorses CECIL Act to Restrict Imports of Protected Species Killed for Sport
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is grateful for today’s reintroduction of the Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the Importation of Large Animal Trophies Act (CECIL Act), named after the lion killed in 2015 by an...
Government Erred in Deciding to Grant Waiver to Makah Tribe
Friday, April 05, 2019
Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is alarmed that the federal government has proposed allowing the Makah tribe of Washington to kill gray whales again. Yesterday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that it...
AWI Commends Bipartisan Effort to Stop Horse Slaughter
Thursday, April 04, 2019
Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) commends the 111 members of the US House of Representatives who recently signed a bipartisan letter in support of defunding federal inspections of horse slaughter facilities. Blocking the US...
Scientists Declare Red Wolf to be Valid Species
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Washington, DC–The Animal Welfare Institute commends today’s announcement by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Mathematics that the red wolf is a “distinct species.” As detailed in the National Academies’ report, “Evaluating the Taxonomic...
AWI Opposes Nomination of Oil Lobbyist to Lead Department of the Interior
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) strongly opposes President Trump’s nomination of former oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt to be the next secretary of the interior. Bernhardt spent years as a lobbyist on the...
34 Marine Mammal Biologists Urge Putin to Release Orcas and Belugas
Monday, March 18, 2019
Washington, DC—Today, a group of prominent marine mammal biologists from across the globe, including Dr. Naomi Rose of the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), sent a second letter requesting that Russia release the remaining 80+ beluga...
BLM Bucks Controversial Policy for Wild Horse Sale
Friday, March 15, 2019
Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is gratified to learn that the Bureau of Land Management has rescinded a controversial sales policy for wild horses and burros in the United States that could have resulted...