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Mayor Vincent Gray has officially proclaimed April 28th, 2012 to be Save the Frogs Day in the District of Columbia to help bring awareness to the ecological importance of frogs. The Animal Welfare Institute and Save the Frogs! are encouraging DC residents to observe this day by learning more about the frog species that live in the region and how to take part in protecting them. 
Date created: April 24, 2012
Last updated: February 2, 2022

A bill to restrict the sale of ivory and rhino horn in the nation’s capital is poised to pass the DC Council and head to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s desk.

Date created: March 25, 2020
Last updated: April 17, 2024
In Dead Zone, Philip Lymbery takes readers along as he explores the lives of elephants in Sumatra, jaguars in Brazil, and barn owls in the United Kingdom, and examines the driving forces behind their dwindling numbers.
Date created: June 21, 2017
Last updated: April 24, 2024
By today’s deadline, seafood-exporting nations worldwide must have adopted regulations to reduce entanglements of whales, dolphins, and seals in fishing gear or face a US import ban.
Date created: November 30, 2021
Last updated: January 18, 2024

Semi-biographical, this book centers on the subject of keeping orcas in captivity for human entertainment. It is full of carefully researched facts and statistics, and meticulously details whale-human incidents and red flags that preceded the now infamous killing of SeaWorld orca trainer and performer Dawn Brancheau by the orca Tilikum in February 2010.

Date created: December 4, 2012
Last updated: April 24, 2024

Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity, by journalist David Kirby, is a 2012 book that examines the killing of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau by the orca Tilikum.

Date created: December 17, 2020
Last updated: December 17, 2020

The Phoenix Zoo had the unfortunate task of euthanizing the last living wild jaguar in the United States in March.

Date created: June 8, 2009
Last updated: January 16, 2020

For 53 years, the captive orca Tokitae (a.k.a. Toki, Lolita, and Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut) lived in a tiny tank at Miami Seaquarium. She was a Southern Resident orca, a Pacific Northwest population listed as endangered in 2005.

Date created: December 15, 2023
Last updated: December 22, 2023

In recent years, pro-horse slaughter organizations and individuals have consistently fought adoption of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act and Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, claiming that there is a huge "unwanted horse" population in the United States.

Date created: September 29, 2011
Last updated: September 6, 2024

“In a world where the treatment of animals is often overlooked or undervalued, Dr. Grandin stands as a beacon of compassion, empathy, and innovation.”

­—Sandra Eskin, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety

Date created: June 24, 2024
Last updated: June 28, 2024
Sixty-seven animals from eight primate species were used to assess improved husbandry techniques. The presence of woodchips as a direct-contact litter decreased inactivity and fighting, and increased time spent on the ground. Placing food in the deep litter led to further behavioral improvement. The use of frozen foods improved food distribution and reduced fighting in most situations, especially when it was buried in the litter. With time, the litter became increasingly inhibitory to bacteria. The results suggest that inexpensive ways of increasing environmental complexity are effective in improving housing for primates.
Date created: April 12, 2016
Last updated: November 11, 2020

Date created: September 23, 2011
Last updated: April 2, 2021

In December 2014, the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued its latest broadside against the inadequacy of the USDA’s enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). This sharply critical OIG report is the fourth to be issued in 20 years. This latest report, like its predecessors, cites specific examples of enforcement deficiencies, poor oversight, inadequate penalties, lack of deterrence, and many examples of animals suffering and dying.

Date created: March 6, 2015
Last updated: January 9, 2020

2011 was a grim year for rhinos. In November, the International Union for Conservation of Nature declared Africa’s western black rhino officially extinct, and indicated that the northern white rhino is "possibly extinct," as well.

Date created: February 23, 2012
Last updated: January 15, 2020

As the world is starting to open its eyes to the impacts of over-fishing and over-exploitation of the ocean’s resources, Juliet Eilperin has authored a superb chronology of humankind’s cultural association with sharks.

Date created: December 6, 2011
Last updated: April 24, 2024
Conservation and animal protection organizations rallied outside the Mexican Embassy today to call on the Mexican government to take drastic action to save the few remaining vaquita porpoises left on the planet. According to scientific experts, between 6 and 22 of these marine mammals remain, with 10 being the most credible estimate of the population.
Date created: July 11, 2019
Last updated: February 7, 2022
On Valentine’s Day, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is proud to name Denali, an American Staffordshire terrier mix with an unshakeable loving spirit, as the inaugural ambassador for the Safe Havens for Pets Program.
Date created: February 14, 2024
Last updated: September 5, 2024

The urban coyotes of Denver were getting a bad reputation. An increasing number were moving into the city and human-inhabited areas of the surrounding county. Negative interactions between pets and coyotes were on the rise.

Date created: September 7, 2010
Last updated: January 9, 2020

Emergency events that impact animal agriculture operations can sometimes lead to the “depopulation” of entire herds or flocks of farmed animals. Depopulation involves the mass killing of animals in response to urgent circumstances.

Date created: September 11, 2023
Last updated: August 26, 2024

Until recently, the winter whereabouts of the basking shark has stymied marine biologists. But according to a report published online in Current Biology, the mystery has finally been solved.

Date created: August 11, 2009
Last updated: January 16, 2020

Dolphinaris, a swim-with facility in the Arizona desert near Scottsdale, opened with eight dolphins in October 2016.

Date created: April 8, 2019
Last updated: April 8, 2019
Americans overwhelmingly support comprehensive protections for marine mammals, according to a new poll commissioned by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Oceana and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Date created: June 20, 2018
Last updated: February 7, 2022
As more details emerge about the deaths of two of the five beluga whales imported to Mystic Aquarium from Canada last year—and the ongoing illness of a third whale—the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is urging the three US agencies responsible for supervising the whales’ import to strengthen the monitoring of animal health during wildlife border crossings.
Date created: March 28, 2022
Last updated: March 30, 2022

AWI has long been involved in the United Nations Caribbean Environment Programme, and specifically its Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW Protocol), which prohibits the taking of listed flora and fauna species. Sea turtles and orcas are listed species and are therefore protected.

Date created: December 30, 2015
Last updated: January 9, 2020

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) denounces the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its weak settlement agreement with SNBL USA—a subsidiary of Japan-based Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories that allegedly committed dozens of Animal Welfare Act (AWA) violations over the course of five years, including actions that led to the deaths of 38 nonhuman primates.

Date created: December 8, 2016
Last updated: February 2, 2022