Near the end of 2016, the USDA Office of Inspector General released an audit intended “to evaluate the research practices and operations of MARC” (the USDA’s Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Nebraska). It was conducted in response to myriad allegations published in a New York Times exposé of appalling animal welfare conditions at the facility.
Up until recently, it was thought that only two species of bottlenose dolphins existed—the Indo-Pacific and the common bottlenose.
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 of creative and fascinating entries.
This year, poultry producers in the United States have dealt with the worst outbreak of avian influenza in US history. Between January and June, nearly 50 million chickens and turkeys on 232 poultry operations were killed after being affected by the disease. The total economic cost of the outbreak is an estimated 4 to 5 billion dollars.
This year’s avian influenza outbreak appears to be waning, following the historical pattern of the disease dissipating in hotter months.
Avian influenza (“bird flu”) returned to the United States in 2017, two years after the disease was responsible for the worst animal disease outbreak in US history, with the loss of 50 million chickens and turkeys.
The American Veterinary Medical Association develops and endorses dozens of policies on a range of issues, including several that relate to farmed animals.
Last fall, the American Veterinary Medical Association accepted comments on its policy governing the common cattle industry practices of dehorning and castration. Veterinary consultant Dr.
AWI is urging the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) to revise its guidelines to no longer permit killing animals by inducing heat stroke, a method known as ventilation shutdown plus (VSD+).
Following a year-long application process, AWI’s Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) program was audited for compliance with the International Organization for Standardization’s “ISO 65” standards earlier this year by the International Organic Accreditation Service—the leading independent sustainable food and farming accreditation service.
Responding swiftly to the New York Times exposé of cruel experiments involving farm animals at the US Department of Agriculture’s Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) in Nebraska, members of Congress introduced bills to provide protection for farm animals being used in agricultural research at federal facilities.
The 25th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, hosted by the Society for Marine Mammalogy, took place in November, in Perth, Australia. AWI’s Dr. Naomi Rose has attended all but the first six such conferences.
In the last 20 years, law enforcement, policymakers, health care professionals, and the general public have become more aware of the significant link between animal abuse and child abuse. As with domestic violence, animal abuse often occurs in the same households as child abuse. But there is another troubling connection: Animal abuse is one of the first signs of antisocial behavior in a child.
AWI seeks to persuade not just the general public and policymakers, but zoos and aquariums themselves, that cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) do not belong in captivity. Accordingly, AWI’s Dr.
A conspicuous patrol airplane cruising at low altitude over a Kenyan National Park has an impact similar to a conspicuous police car cruising along an American interstate highway: It produces a prompt and significant decline in violations.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered a monumental humanitarian crisis.
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.
Last summer, AWI launched a partnership with the American Bird Conservancy and Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery Project to save Hawaiian honeycreepers from extinction due to