There are now signs also in the USA that the importance of a positive human-animal relationship in research laboratories is appreciated more seriously, and that in addition to knowledge and skills, primary attributes of animal research personnel must be feelings of compassion and sensitivity toward animals to safeguard the reliability of scientific research data.
AWI is pleased to announce publication of Compassion Makes a Difference, the third volume of discussions from the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum (LAREF), edited by longtime AWI laboratory animal advisor, Viktor Reinhardt.
Whether they are thoroughbreds running full tilt around an outdoor track or walking horses stepping gracefully across an arena, horses bred for competition undergo extensive training and conditioning.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) revealed today that the US Department of Agriculture filed a complaint earlier this year against Wild Wilderness, Inc., a notorious Arkansas tourist attraction operated by the Wilmoth family that exhibits domestic, wild and exotic animals. The complaint, filed on January 9, details repeated allegations of egregious Animal Welfare Act (AWA) violations against the exhibitor.
On the heels of the historic settlement between the US Department of Agriculture and Santa Cruz Biotechnology (SCBT), another huge commercial operation licensed as an animal dealer and registered as a research facility is under scrutiny, accused of numerous serious violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).
Our project, supported by an AWI Refinement Research Award, focused on evaluating the safety of using compressed waste newspaper as a digging and enrichment substrate for naked mole-rats. These unique fossorial rodents, equipped with ever-growing incisors, create intricate burrows in substrates ranging from sand to hard clay and rock. However, in laboratory facilities, they are often housed on loose cob or chip bedding, creating a mismatch between their natural adaptation and the provided environment. This discrepancy prompted us to explore alternative materials to bridge this gap. Preliminary investigations involved processing newspapers into pulp and shaping them into large columns of compressed newspaper that our naked mole-rats excavated into spiraling tunnels, offering them the choice and control over engineering their own living space.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) recently held two meetings of the “Small Working Group on the Future of the IWC,” which was formed at the last annual meeting in Santiago, Chile.
Endangered California condors in Arizona and Utah are showing a substantial decrease in toxic blood-lead levels—possibly the result of a drop in lead-based ammunition by hunters.
The Wild Horse Symposium and 7th International Conference on Fertility Control in Wildlife was held in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, from August 29 to September 1. Researchers from around the world discussed recent scientific, regulatory, and practical developments in the use of contraceptives to manage wildlife populations in place of traditional lethal methods and as disease-managing tools.
Whales and dolphins are complex social animals and are not well suited for a life in captivity. When confined, they are prevented from carrying out natural behaviors, which include roaming up to 100 miles per day, hunting live prey, and interacting with their pod mates—who also suffer when pod members are removed. When forced to interact with humans in a captive situation they have been known to behave aggressively.
AWI extends our congratulations to Hailey Chui (California), Katja Erringer (Oregon), Sage Farrow (Colorado), Lien Ferry (Pennsylvania), Makenna Owens (Florida), Will Smith (Minnesota), Isabelle Sydow (Minnesota), and Chloe Quin (Illinois).
AWI advocates for improving the care, housing, and handling of animals in research facilities to spare them needless suffering. To help achieve this, we offer Refinement Grants of up to $10,000 to develop and test innovative methods of improving the welfare of animals in research. We congratulate this year’s AWI Refinement Grant recipients.
Every year, AWI awards grants of up to US$10,000 to support research projects aimed at developing or testing new and creative ways to improve the welfare of animals in research.
A dozen members of Congress introduced legislation today that would prohibit organizing, sponsoring, conducting, or participating in wildlife killing contests on more than 500 million acres of US public lands.
In a landmark move for America’s wild horses and burros, today US Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV), Jaun Ciscomani (R-AZ), David Schweikert (R-AZ), and Steve Cohen (D-TN) launched the Congressional Wild Horse Caucus. This is the first congressional caucus dedicated to supporting and safeguarding federally protected wild horses and burros across the United States.
The Wild Horse Caucus will serve as a bipartisan forum to advance humane, science-based solutions for managing wild horses and burros. According to its mission statement, the caucus “exists to support, protect, and preserve wild horses and burros in their natural habitat across the United States,” and will focus on “strategic collaboration to develop ideas to humanely and effectively manage wild horse and burro populations.”
Members of Congress and constitutional experts testified on May 26, 2010 before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security on the recent Supreme Court decision invalidating a law prohibiting interstate commerce in crush videos, dog fighting videos, and other depictions of extreme animal cruelty. (Crush videos portray scantily clad women in stilettos, or even their bare feet, literally crushing, stomping on, or impaling small, helpless animals to satisfy sadistic viewers with a bizarre sexual fetish.)
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), along with leading Members of Congress, numerous wild horse advocacy organizations and the majority of Americans, is exceedingly frustrated with the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) gross mismanagement of America’s wild horses and burros. In a recent ad in the Washington, DC, newspaper, The Hill, AWI called on Congress to take swift and decisive action to prevent the BLM from “managing” our nation’s wild horses into extinction.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) applauds the passage of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (H.R. 1754/S. 4547) late Monday. This bill, approved by Congress as part of the fiscal year 2021 omnibus spending package, aims to reduce the fatalities and injuries that have plagued U.S. horseracing and end the reliance on performance-enhancing drugs to mask pain, inflammation, and other warning signs that often precede catastrophic breakdowns.
We are pleased to report that, after years of hard work and determination, AWI and allies have succeeded in securing House and Senate passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act (BCPSA)!
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) commends the US Congress for wisely reinstating the annual ban on the slaughtering of horses in its Fiscal Year 2014 Omnibus Appropriations Act released late last night. The language, identical to what had been in effect every year since 2006—but removed last year—prevents the US Department of Agriculture from expending funds to place inspectors in horse slaughter facilitates; such inspectors are required by federal law for the plants to operate in interstate commerce.
In January, Congress approved a massive $1.1 trillion annual spending bill to fund the federal government that included language prohibiting USDA from spending funds to inspect horse slaughter facilities.
