This past March, I traveled from Bangkok—where I had been attending the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)—to Manila to participate in an undercover investigation on the dog meat trade in the Philippines.
Date created: August 23, 2013
Last updated: January 15, 2020
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is appalled to learn that another beluga whale has died at Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut.
Date created: February 11, 2022
Last updated: February 11, 2022
AWI is a non-profit charitable organization founded in 1951 to reduce the sum total of pain and fear inflicted on animals by humans.
Date created: August 2, 2011
Last updated: July 1, 2024
It should be a given that farm animals are protected from cruelty and needless suffering; from being warehoused in cramped, dark living spaces devoid of stimulation or even the ability to move; and from having beaks or tails cut off without anesthesia. Unfortunately, under the current legal framework, these basic assumptions do not hold.
Date created: December 10, 2014
Last updated: December 4, 2019
In a letter issued today to President Donald Trump, Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) president Cathy Liss advocated for a permanent ban on imports of trophies of elephants and other imperiled species from African nations. Today’s letter follows a letter submitted by AWI in November, which applauded the president for temporarily halting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s efforts to roll back a ban that had previously been in place.
Date created: March 8, 2018
Last updated: February 2, 2022
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) joined 95 Canadian and international conservationists, scientists, politicians and animal welfare organizations in a letter sent to the Canadian government this week urging the closure of Canada’s domestic elephant ivory trade. Accompanying the letter was an online petition that garnered over 120,000 signatures—and continues to gather hundreds more each day—from concerned citizens wanting to see an end to ivory sales in Canada. Elephanatics, a Canadian elephant advocacy organization, is leading this #IvoryFreeCanada campaign effort.
Date created: March 16, 2018
Last updated: February 7, 2022
An enormous victory was achieved for animals this week when nearly 200 dogs and 54 cats were rescued from a North Carolina animal testing facility that closed its doors after an undercover investigation revealed apparent abuse of the animals by workers at the facility.
Date created: September 17, 2010
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Conservation and animal welfare organizations have filed a legal challenge to the US Navy's plan to use high-intensity, mid-frequency active sonar in antisubmarine exercises in Hawai'i's waters. The planned sonar would emit blasts far louder than levels associated with mass whale strandings and fatalities.
Date created: January 21, 2009
Last updated: February 2, 2022
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) today joined the Organic Trade Association (OTA) in a lawsuit against the US Department of Agriculture. The suit seeks to force the USDA to implement the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices (OLPP) rule that was finalized in early 2017. The OLPP rule would have set minimum welfare standards for the millions of farm animals raised each year under the USDA’s National Organic Program.
Date created: April 12, 2018
Last updated: February 7, 2022
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is supporting thousands of veterinary professionals in their recent request to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) that the association revise its guidelines to no longer permit killing animals by inducing heat stroke, a method known as ventilation shutdown plus (VSD+).
Date created: January 6, 2022
Last updated: February 16, 2022
AWI was honored to be with Willie Nelson and his family at the Hard Rock Café in New York City in June for a celebration of his 80th birthday, and to recognize his legacy and his commitment to activism on behalf of horses.
Date created: December 10, 2013
Last updated: April 24, 2024
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) endorses legislation introduced today, the Preventing Future Pandemics Act of 2020, which seeks to prevent future pandemics by addressing the spillover of emerging infectious diseases from wildlife to humans.
Date created: September 29, 2020
Last updated: January 18, 2024
Steel-jaw leghold traps and snares are a global brutality without a meaningful global response. Despite being prohibited in most countries, such devices are widely set in wildlife habitats across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Date created: July 1, 2019
Last updated: July 1, 2019
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has developed a new initiative to provide researchers with readily accessible animal cruelty data from across the country.
Date created: April 15, 2024
Last updated: September 5, 2024
It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of horseman and humanitarian John Hettinger, the nation's leading advocate for the humane treatment of horses.
Date created: January 23, 2009
Last updated: February 3, 2022
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) announced today that it is now accepting grant proposals for the 2015 Christine Stevens Wildlife Awards.
Date created: February 26, 2015
Last updated: January 17, 2024
As many teachers virtually welcome their students back to school this month, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) offers a variety of free digital educational resources for students of all ages that encourage respect and empathy for all living creatures.
Date created: September 17, 2020
Last updated: February 4, 2022
At least three dolphins were brutally killed within a year, and AWI is supporting the efforts of local authorities to bring those responsible to justice.
Date created: March 25, 2020
Last updated: March 31, 2020
On March 11, AWI Senior Federal Policy Advisor Nancy Blaney testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies in favor of continued funding for the Department of Justice’s National Animal Cruelty and Animal Fighting Initiative.
Date created: May 4, 2011
Last updated: April 24, 2024
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is disappointed by a judge’s recent decision to recommend that a federal agency issue a waiver allowing the Makah Tribe to hunt gray whales.
Date created: September 27, 2021
Last updated: January 18, 2024
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.
Date created: March 28, 2019
Last updated: February 7, 2022
The conference between the US House of Representatives and Senate to work out their differences on the Farm Bill (H.R. 2, Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018), has formally begun with the naming of each chamber’s conferees. In response, Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) President Cathy Liss released the following statement outlining the organization’s priorities for a final bill.
Date created: August 2, 2018
Last updated: February 7, 2022
“When one is endangered, all are in peril.”
This is the overarching theme of Katherine Applegate’s newest young adult book, Endling #1: The Last
Date created: June 29, 2018
Last updated: October 15, 2020
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is excited to partner with Consciously (a public benefit corporation) and the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) Shop With Your Heart® program on a new internet browser extension that will help consumers select higher-welfare and plant-based alternatives while they shop.
Date created: April 27, 2022
Last updated: January 17, 2024
As the devastating war in Ukraine continues to upend the lives of millions of people and untold numbers of animals, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has partnered with FOUR PAWS International to support the delivery of urgent aid to companion animals and rescued wild animals affected by the crisis.
Date created: May 12, 2022
Last updated: June 2, 2022
