Between 2000 and 2008, an estimated one out of every 100 sharks caught around the globe was killed off the coast of Senegal.
There is good news to report from the last days of the 111th Congress: Legislation to close loopholes in the 11-year-old ban on shark finning finally passed and was signed by the president. With one exemption (which AWI opposed), the new law prohibits the removal of shark fins at sea within all U.S. waters.
It is no secret that there is a worldwide extinction crisis plaguing the world’s sharks, and this crisis is fueled primarily by anthropogenic sources. In addition to overfishing, pollution, and climate change, shark finning remains the critical factor in plummeting shark populations. It is currently predicted that 28 percent of shark species will go extinct within a decade or two, and up to 73 million sharks are killed annually for their fins.
As long as there is a market for shark fins, fishermen will continue to find ways to elude shark finning bans. The newest loophole fishermen are exploiting is called “shark spining.”
Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) has reintroduced his nonbinding resolution, H.Res. 208, expressing opposition to the use of gas chambers to euthanize shelter animals and calling on states to ban the practice and allow euthanasia by injection (EBI) only.
AWI isn’t usually involved in disaster relief and recovery, but when there’s a problem staring us in the face and we know we can make a difference, we act.
Mid-May marked the one-year anniversary of a rulemaking petition filed by AWI and allies asking the US Department of Agriculture to require th
A January 19 article in The New York Times shined an extremely harsh light on the practices at the USDA’s Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) in Clay Center, Nebraska. The in-depth article described indefensible acts that have taken place at MARC over the past several decades.
The mysterious lives of animals have been the subjects of countless films and nature shows. Though these productions might focus on similar themes, filmmakers are driven by a variety of motivations, and may use vastly different methods to capture animals on film.
Only about 100 or so wild red wolves (Canis rufus) are known to exist—all in eastern North Carolina, where a population was reintroduced in 1987 from a captive-breeding program after the species went extinct in the wild.
A court in Germany is investigating whether killing animals bred for labs but never used in research constitutes a crime, since German law forbids hurting animals without reasonable cause.
On May 19, 2012, the Sierra Club national board of directors adopted a new “Policy on Trapping of Wildlife.” The policy is perhaps the strongest statement issued to date by the 110-year-old organization in condemnation of inhumane activities targeting wildlife.
AWI is endorsing an effort by Arizonans for Wildlife (AFW), a coalition of nonprofit organizations and Arizona state legislators, to collect signatures for a ballot initiative that would outlaw trophy hunting and trapping of bobcats, mountain lion
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced in June its intent to eradicate the state’s mute swan population by “reducing it to as low a level as can be achieved.” The DNR blames the swans for excessive consumption of aquatic gras
In the fashion world, accessories are a must to accentuate the style from top-name designers.
Since October 2016, Vermont Packinghouse—a small slaughter facility in Springfield, Vermont—has received four suspensions and over a dozen noncompliance records documenting humane slaughter violations.
For three weeks in March, Jefferson salamanders have the right of way on a busy stretch of road in Burlington, Ontario. Only about 100 of the threatened amphibians (known locally as “Jeffies”) exist in the area, within a forested stretch along the Niagara Escarpment.