Representatives Alma Adams (D-NC) and Nita Lowey (D-NY) have introduced the Public Safety and Wildlife Protection Act (H.R. 5560), a bill that would curtail the use of steel-jaw leghold traps and Conibear (also known as kill-type) traps in the United States.
Date created: June 27, 2016
Last updated: February 2, 2022
The Big Cat Public Safety Act, which passed the US House of Representatives by a strong bipartisan majority last month, was reintroduced today by Representatives Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA). This bill gained momentum in part due to public outrage over the abuse of captive big cats that was depicted in the Netflix docuseries “Tiger King.” The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) endorses this legislation, since it would end several cruel practices associated with keeping big cats in captivity.
Date created: January 11, 2021
Last updated: February 2, 2022
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) applauds the members of Congress who successfully worked to remove anti-wildlife riders from the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The version of this bill that passed the House included attacks on both the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). Fortunately, during the NDAA conference, the anti-ESA riders were stripped from the final language; a provision that threatened to harm marine mammals, however, resulted in a compromise.
Date created: July 24, 2018
Last updated: February 7, 2022
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) commends Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) for his recent reintroduction of the Refuge from Cruel Trapping Act (S. 1919), a bill to prohibit the possession or use of body-gripping traps within the National Wildlife Refuge System. Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY) has sponsored a companion bill in the House of Representatives.
Date created: October 20, 2017
Last updated: February 2, 2022
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) applauds the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for releasing its final rule to improve the welfare of animals raised under the Certified Organic label.
Date created: January 18, 2017
Last updated: February 2, 2022
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is encouraging grocery store and restaurant chains to monitor the animal welfare record of their meat suppliers and refuse to deal with any company that repeatedly violates humane standards. In a letter to retailers, AWI president Cathy Liss urged retailers to not do business with companies on AWI’s list of repeat offenders of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, the federal law regulating the treatment of animals in slaughterhouses.
Date created: June 28, 2011
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Every October, Iceland hosts the Arctic Circle Assembly, a gathering of representatives from governments, nonprofit organizations, indigenous communities, scientists, and industry.
Date created: January 4, 2018
Last updated: January 4, 2018
The Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) is a professional society for conservation scientists and practitioners from academia, government, charities, and professional associations. In 2009 its Marine Section held the first International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC).
Date created: December 9, 2014
Last updated: December 4, 2019
AWI’s Susan Millward participated in the 19th meeting of the UN Open-Ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, held in June in New York, where the topic was anthropogenic ocean noise.
Date created: September 14, 2018
Last updated: September 19, 2018
AWI’s Mariko Terasaki and Kate O’Connell took part in the Boston Seafood Show, March 11 through 13. The show was attended by more than 900 seafood supply companies from more than 120 countries.
Date created: May 7, 2012
Last updated: January 16, 2020
Following the most successful Giving Tuesday fundraiser in recent memory, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has awarded $70,000 to three sanctuaries that provide socialization, veterinary care, enrichment activities, and more for animals previously used in research.
Date created: January 20, 2023
Last updated: January 20, 2023
In connection with the launch of our Safe Havens for Pets Grant Program, AWI is pleased to announce that the first grants have been awarded.
Date created: April 8, 2024
Last updated: April 22, 2024
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is pleased to announce the 2023 winners of the Refinement Research Award, which funds research projects that develop or test novel refinement methods, and the inaugural Implementing Refinement Grant, which funds the purchase of equipment or training meant to improve the welfare of animals used in research.
Date created: April 18, 2024
Last updated: September 5, 2024
Date created: December 16, 2022
Last updated: April 17, 2024
Two animal welfare bills championed by AWI were among the first introduced in the 118th Congress. HR 208, the Pet Safety and Protection Act (PSPA), was introduced by long-time sponsor Rep.
Date created: April 3, 2023
Last updated: April 7, 2023
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is taking part next week in the 77th Annual Conference of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) to call attention to how youth and family violence are connected to animal abuse—and what juvenile and family court judges and court officers can do to intervene on behalf of children exposed to animal abuse. The NCJFCJ will convene more than 400 judges and court professionals from July 13 to 16 at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel in Chicago to learn from more than 50 sessions featuring a wide range of juvenile and family law topics.
Date created: July 9, 2014
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Mexico implemented a two-year ban on gillnets in April 2015 throughout the Upper Gulf of California to reduce vaquita deaths.
Date created: June 26, 2017
Last updated: June 26, 2017
Reports surfaced in late October that a trapper employed by the USDA ’s Wildlife Services (WS) program in Wyoming had posted graphic images and commentary online indicating he allowed his dogs to menace, maul, and disembowel coyotes, raccoons, and other wild animals caught in his steel-jaw leghold traps.
Date created: February 19, 2013
Last updated: January 15, 2020
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) applauds the Senate’s decision today to confirm US Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico as Secretary of the Interior. Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, is the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary, and has long championed both environmental conservation and the rights of indigenous people.
Date created: March 15, 2021
Last updated: January 18, 2024
Earlier this year, AWI sent letters to the American Veterinary Medical Association regarding three of its policies open to comment.
Date created: April 20, 2022
Last updated: April 25, 2022
AWI filed challenges before the Federal Trade Commission in February against Boar’s Head over the company’s claim its chicken sausage and Simplicity All Natural turkey products derive from animals who are “humanely raised.” There is no evidence, i
Date created: March 24, 2021
Last updated: March 24, 2021
AWI and Wildearth guardians plan to sue the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Wildlife Services program over the program’s failure to take steps to ensure that its activities do not harm endangered ocelots. On September 3 the two groups, through their legal representative, the Western Environmental Law Center, gave USDA the required 60-day notice of intent to sue.
Date created: December 11, 2014
Last updated: December 4, 2019
Two and a half months after the start of the 2016 fiscal year and after several short-term extensions, the US Congress released early this morning the federal budget funding the government through September 30, 2016. The President is expected to sign the measure once approved by Congress. The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) worked to ensure key animal welfare measures remained in the massive $1.1 trillion annual spending bill and fought against those harmful to animals and their habitats.
Date created: December 16, 2015
Last updated: February 2, 2022
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 Department of Agriculture from using taxpayer dollars to inspect such facilities is a necessary step to prevent horse slaughter in the United States, and the sale of horse meat for human consumption.
Date created: April 4, 2019
Last updated: February 7, 2022
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.
Date created: June 28, 2019
Last updated: February 7, 2022
