The appropriations process offers an opportunity to press for policies that can be implemented by providing or withholding funds for agency activities. On this front, AWI has been working to ensure that any funding increase for the Department of the Interior under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act be used solely for humane, on-the-range management methods such as immunocontraception—and not for unnecessary roundup of wild equines.
Two of AWI’s priority equine bills were reintroduced at the end of February in recognition of National Horse Protection Day on March 1. Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Sens.
The 69th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), held November 27 to December 1, 2017, in Geneva, Switzerland, featured more than 600 registered p
Food poisoning. We’ve all experienced it. A few hours after enjoying a meal, you suddenly find yourself vomiting—or worse.
In February, in what is being described as one of the worst ecological disasters in Israel’s history, a massive oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea caused hundreds of tons of tar to wash ashore along approximately 118 miles of the Israeli coastline
New state-specific manuals compiled by attorneys working with AWI will help lawyers and advocates for domestic violence survivors to utilize protection orders on behalf of their clients’ companion animals.
In March, AWI staff led efforts on several animal protection measures before the Illinois General Assembly. HB 1607—a bill to prohibit tail docking of cattle, the inhumane practice of partially amputating the animals' tails—was approved by the House Business and Occupational Licenses Committee.
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recently took comments on their proposed new edition of Standards on Fire and Life Safety in Animal Housing Facilities.
AWI was joined by local whale advocates in Portland, Maine, on May 31, 2013, to protest Iceland’s expanding commercial whaling program and plan to resume fin whaling.
Each year, AWI awards several Refinement Grants to investigators in the United States and Canada to support innovative research projects aimed at improving the welfare of animals in research. We wish to congratulate this year’s winners:
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) offers awards of up to US$15,000 to develop and test innovative methods of refinement to the care, husbandry, or housing of animals in research to improve their welfare.
In early 2008, a slaughterhouse investigation revealed multiple incidents of egregious cruelty to cattle at the Westland-Hallmark Meat Packing Co.
A new report by AWI, Project Coyote, and the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) entitled Indiana Coyote “Penning”: An Inside Look at Animal Abuse and Cruelty details the results of an investigation of an Indiana penning facility, uncovering extreme animal suffering and providing strong evidence that wild coyotes are being illegally confined and killed by hunting dogs.
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.
In January, AWI released the third edition of Barn Fires: A Deadly Threat to Farmed Animals, chronicling farmed animal casualt
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.