Nearly one year after the groundbreaking lawsuit for elephant mistreatment brought against Ringling Bros.' parent company Feld Entertainment, Inc. (FEI) went to trial, the US District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled that it lacks jurisdiction to address the claims of mistreatment brought by AWI and its co-plaintiffs due to a lack of sufficient standing.
Pity the plight of Corey Knowlton, who shot an endangered black rhino and then was incensed to find that Delta Air Lines wouldn’t ship the spoils of his hunt home to Texas for him. So what’s a poor (actually, quite wealthy) trophy hunter to do?
The US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina today issued a preliminary injunction that orders the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to stop capturing and killing—and authorizing private landowners to capture and kill—members of the rapidly dwindling population of wild red wolves.
A federal district court will hear arguments Thursday on a lawsuit brought by wildlife conservation and animal welfare organizations against the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for allowing trappers in Maine to kill and seriously injure Canada lynx, a federally protected cat.
The California Superior Court issued an order yesterday denying Monterey County’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit, filed in June by animal protection and conservation organizations, that challenges the county’s contract renewal with the US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services. This notorious federal program has killed more than 3,000 coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions and other animals in the county in the past six years, largely in the name of protecting livestock.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has now confirmed four cases of humans infected with a variant of the coronavirus originating in farmed mink during an outbreak in Eaton County, Michigan, in late 2020 and early 2021—two mink farm emp
Maryland has placed a two-year moratorium on killing contests targeting cownose rays. The new law also directs the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to create a fishery management plan for the species by the end of 2018.
Few Americans know that almost every day of every year, somewhere in the United States coyotes are being slaughtered as part of a contest or bounty—where money or prizes are awarded for killing the largest, the most, or even pregnant coyotes.
Since the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) approved a temporary rule in August 2012 to allow night hunting of coyotes in the state, at least nine critically endangered red wolves have been shot. This was entirely to be expected. Red wolves and coyotes are similar in size, coats, and coloring, so red wolves are frequently mistaken for coyotes, even in daylight
In January, the City Council of Arcadia, California voted unanimously to cancel a contract with a private wildlife removal firm to snare and kill coyotes within the city. Public outcry against the contract - which cost the city $30,000 a year and resulted in the death of 20 coyotes - prompted the council to hold a special "study session" and, ultimately, to terminate the program.
A recent undercover investigation of several Sparboe Farms egg facilities revealed the unconscionable treatment of chickens on factory farms.
AWI recently attended the annual meeting of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) in Baltimore—the largest meeting on laboratory animals in the United States.
AWI entered into a unique partnership with HarperCollins Children’s Books last year to produce educational materials on endangered species and what we can do to protect them.
The Biden administration released its final phase II rule updating regulations that implement the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), our country’s basic charter for the protection of the environment.
A highly successful series of workshops in March in Ohio has led to lasting connections that could improve interventions and lead to prevention in cases of animal abuse and family violence.
Vermont-based Bushway Packing Inc. has been suspended from slaughtering days-old male dairy calves for veal.
President Obama signed the Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act on December 9.
Some good news: The Senate unanimously passed legislation, introduced by Senators Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Richard Burr (R-NC), to restore the ban on crush videos (see Summer 2010 AWI Quarterly, p. 5).
Crush Videos
Crush videos are recordings which typically depict women in stilettos or bare feet literally crushing, stomping on, or impaling small, helpless animals to satisfy the bizarre sexual fetishes of sadistic viewers.
On September 8, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas announced that Ashley Nicole Richards pleaded guilty to five counts of producing and distributing crush videos that depicted the torturing and killing of dogs and cats.