The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has partnered with the National Head Start Association (NHSA) to make available copies of two of its children’s publications, Kamie Cat's Terrible Night and Pablo Puppy’s Search for the Perfect Person, to Head Start classrooms and centers nationwide.
The Animal Welfare Institute strongly opposes three proposed rules released today by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) that would undermine vital sections of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The rules impair protections for threatened species, the safeguarding of critical habitat and the consultation process between federal agencies. This USFWS action follows a slew of recent attacks by both the agency and Congress on this remarkably successful and popular conservation law.
In a letter sent Monday to Florida Gov. Rick Scott regarding the Ocala teacher accused of drowning animals in front of his students, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, and the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) urged the governor to reassign the animal cruelty case to another Florida state attorney. In May, Forest High School teacher Dewie Brewton allegedly trapped and, with student participation, drowned two raccoons and an opossum. He suspected that one of the raccoons had killed eight chickens who were being raised by Brewton’s agriculture class.
The Animal Welfare Institute is grateful that a massive farm bill loaded with provisions that would have reversed gains in animal welfare and weakened endangered species protections was defeated Friday in the US House of Representatives by a vote of 198-213.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) announced today that it has sent a written appeal to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), criticizing and requesting revision of the trade association’s guidelines for the care and handling of cattle raised for beef in the United States.
The proposed expansions of the orca enclosures, while a small improvement from the existing tanks, are nonetheless inadequate to meet the welfare needs of these animals due to their size, intelligence, means of communication, and family ties and relationships. Furthermore, if the new exhibit is built in close proximity to the current Shamu Stadium, the construction activity and noise will disturb the orcas for years. This will no doubt increase chronic stress levels significantly.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) supports the reintroduction of the Captive Primate Safety Act (CPSA), which addresses the cruel and dangerous problem of pet primate ownership in the United States. Sponsored by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), this bill would amend the Lacey Act to prohibit interstate commerce in nonhuman primates (including apes, monkeys, lemurs, and lorises) for the exotic pet trade.
"Every five minutes an American horse is slaughtered to fill the demand of high-end European and Asian diners," Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) federal policy advisor Liz Ross said today, testifying before the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security in support of a new bill to end the cruel transport and slaughter of America's horses.
White-nose Syndrome (WNS) is decimating bat populations, and the Animal Welfare Institute wants everyone to step up to help stop it by signing a petition to the White House before November 25 to tell the President we cannot afford to ignore WNS.
As the first session of the 114th Congress wound down at the end of 2015, a massive $1.1 trillion bill funding government operations through September 30, 2016, passed and was signed by the president.
The outcome of these ballot measures this fall will affect conditions for farm animals and wildlife. AWI supports the first three and opposes the fourth.
With nearly half the fiscal year over, Congress finally finished work on the fiscal year 2022 spending bills. The good news is that they contain several important provisions aimed at improving animal welfare.
In Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures, well-known science writer Virginia Morell argues that animals often do not get the proper credit for their emotional and mental ranges.
Humanitarians have been waiting for more than a year for action on two egregious situations—both reported previously in the Winter 2013 AWI Quarterly—pending before the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
AWI's Annual Report highlights our activities over the past fiscal year to improve animal welfare and prevent needless suffering through our major program areas—farm animals, companion animals, terrestrial wildlife, marine life, and animals in res
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 number of remaining “Class B” random source dog and cat dealers selling animals for experimentation in the United States has just been reduced to five.
Every year in the United States, barn fires kill hundreds of thousands of farm animals, yet no federal laws or regulations are in place to prevent these tragic incidents.
Poorly managed wildlife tourism poses major threats to the survival of endangered species globally. For marine mammals, chronically high levels of boat-based tourism can disrupt behaviors and have other negative impacts contributing to potential population declines.
At the start of 2021, animal protection organization Humane Farming Association (HFA) filed suit against the Massachusetts attorney general for failing to promulgate regulations mandated under the state’s Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act.
