AWI’s report, The Welfare of Birds at Slaughter in the United States, describes the results of the first-ever survey of federal government oversight of the manner in which birds raised for meat and eggs are treated at the time of slaughter. It is based on federal food inspection documents produced by the USDA between 2006 and 2014.
Legal protections for farmed animals in the United States are few and far between—especially while the animals remain on farms, prior to being transported to slaughter.
The 65th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) opened on September 15 in the picturesque Slovenian city of Portorož. Key issues on the IWC's agenda at this plenary meeting—the first since the Commission went to biennial meetings in 2012—included a proposal for a whaling quota for Greenland, a renewed proposal from Japan to create a new type of commercial whaling, and a resolution from several West African nations on food security in relation to whales.
When the US Department of Agriculture withdrew the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices rule earlier this year, it did so at the behest of a handful of large organic producers that seek to profit from low animal raising standards.
In 1996, animal scientist Dr. Temple Grandin conducted an audit of 24 federal slaughter plants for the US Department of Agriculture.
AWI has joined forces with ProWildlife (based in Germany) and Whale and Dolphin Conservation on Small Cetaceans, Big Problems
In 2017, a barn fire struck Hi-Grade Egg Producers in North Manchester, Indiana. At least four poultry barns burned down, killing more than 1 million chickens in a matter of hours.
AWI recently published a report on the USDA’s label approval process for “free range” (and equivalent) claims. The report shows that the USDA inadequately defines and evaluates the claim.
This February, AWI and Animal Outlook (formerly Compassion Over Killing) submitted a request for enforcement of the Twenty-Eight Hour Law to the Department of Justice.
Wildlife Services, a US Department of Agriculture program with a long history of using taxpayer funds to needlessly kill wildlife, increased its already-enormous take of wild animals last year. The program’s kill statistics have varied substantially over time—ranging in recent years from 1.5 million to more than 5 million annual deaths.
Norway has seen a continuous drop in demand for whale meat for several years, yet it continues to set quotas and kill whales in defiance of the commercial whaling moratorium established by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). In fact, over the past decade, Norway has killed more whales than either Japan or Iceland; over the past two years, it has killed more whales than Iceland and Japan combined.
In November, AWI and allies sued the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by grossly mismanaging the wild red wolf population in North Carolina.
An early highlight of the 16th meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties was the presentation of AWI’s Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Awards, honoring those who have demonstrated remarkable effort to protect wildlife.
The Christine Stevens Wildlife Award—named in honor of AWI’s late founder and president for over 50 years—provides grants of up to $15,000 to help fund innovative strategies for humane, nonlethal wildlife conflict management and study.
Nearly 10,000 copies of a Chinese language edition of A Dangerous Life, a graphic novel for middle school–aged readers about the ivory trade, are being distributed this year to school children in China.
After four decades in the fight to end commercial whaling worldwide, Kate O’Connell, senior policy consultant for AWI’s Marine Life program, is on a first-name basis with virtually every major player impacting the cetacean protection movement.
A federal court in New York recently denied the US Department of Agriculture’s motion to dismiss claims by AWI and other organizations alleging the department has illegally failed to regulate the humane treatment of nonambulatory, “downed” (NAD) p
AWI is pleased to announce publication of Committed to Animal Welfare: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum, Volume IV, edited by Viktor Reinhardt.
AWI has updated its Refinement Database, which curates published scientific articles and books on improving the welfare of animals in research and testing.