While all the talk coming out of Washington is about cutting spending, a few politicians are quietly trying to restore funding for the slaughter of horses for human consumption - which would also necessitate resurrecting an expensive federal inspection program that ended six years ago!
Date created: December 6, 2011
Last updated: April 24, 2024
Today, a diverse group of equine industry and animal welfare organizations announced the “Final Stretch Alliance to End Horse Slaughter”—a collaborative effort to permanently ban the slaughter of American horses.
Date created: May 17, 2022
Last updated: June 2, 2022
The House of Representatives passed two of AWI’s equine welfare priorities as part of the transportation and infrastructure package (HR 3684). One is an amendment banning the transport of equines to slaughter.
Date created: August 19, 2021
Last updated: April 17, 2024
Equine welfare advocates from around the country gathered this week in Nashville to discuss horse rescue outreach at the fourth annual conference of the Homes for Horses Coalition. Sponsored by The Humane Society of the United States and the Animal Welfare Institute, the conference attracted more than 40 individuals representing 25 equine welfare organizations from 18 states.
Date created: May 18, 2010
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Anson Wong, one of the world’s most infamous traders in illegal wildlife, has been jailed for attempting to smuggle a cache of snakes and a turtle into Indonesia from Malaysia.
Date created: November 8, 2010
Last updated: December 6, 2019
Date created: June 29, 2018
Last updated: April 24, 2024
Fish tanks are ubiquitous—found in doctor’s offices, Chinese restaurants, corporate headquarters, and in millions of homes throughout the world. Some studies report that they reduce anxiety, stress, and blood pressure, calm hyperactive children, and provide some relief for those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Date created: December 30, 2015
Last updated: January 9, 2020
On October 16, 2015, Alice Ra’anan and Bill Yates of the American Physiological Society published a blog post for Speaking of Research entitled “Caveat Emptor,” with the subtitle “A current USDA case involving a major antibody producer underscores the need for the research community to demonstrate its commitment to high standards of animal welfare.”
Date created: December 31, 2015
Last updated: October 15, 2020
In May 2014, the European Union’s (EU) 2009 ban on imports of commercial seal products was upheld by an appellate body of the World Trade Organization after a challenge from Canada and Norway (see Summer 2014 AWI Quarterly).
Date created: December 9, 2014
Last updated: December 4, 2019
The European Commission’s EU Action Plan released this week falls short of protecting and restoring marine species, and jeopardizes continued access for EU fish products to the lucrative US seafood market, according to a coalition of animal welfare and conservation groups.
Date created: February 23, 2023
Last updated: February 23, 2023
On the eve of inter-governmental meetings in Brussels and Geneva in June and July to debate the fate of elephants, a group of conservation organisations requests all EU governments to urgently halt all commerce in ivory and to destroy all remaining stockpiles. New data shows escalating exports of ivory from the European Union to China and worldwide. The organisations warn that any legal loophole in ivory trade creates the opportunity to launder poached ivory into “legal” trade and thus fuels the killing of elephants.
Date created: June 2, 2014
Last updated: February 2, 2022
An alliance of 13 leading conservation groups is this week urging major buyers at Europe’s biggest seafood trade show not to do business with Icelandic seafood company HB Grandi because of its strong links to whaling. HB Grandi is controlled by the whaling and investment company Hvalur hf, which plans to kill 770 endangered fin whales during the next five years and sell the resulting meat and blubber to Japan.
Date created: May 6, 2014
Last updated: February 2, 2022
A large, three-part playground for captive chimpanzees was constructed and evaluated in terms of area use and behavior changes. Comparative behavioral samples were obtained on 38 subjects in the existing indoor-outdoor run and in the enclosure. The chimpanzees used the inside run, connective chute, concrete slab, and grass areas most. Activity and environmental manipulation increased in the enclosure while abnormal and self-directed behaviors decreased.
Date created: April 11, 2016
Last updated: October 30, 2020
The effect of a compatible companion on the behaviour and bodyweight of eight previously single-caged, 31-36 years old rhesus macaques was assessed 16 months after pair formation. The aged subjects preferred to stay in close proximity with their companion even though this reduced their available cage space. They spent on average 21% of the time (3 one-hour observations in the morning, at noon and in the afternoon) interacting with the companion in noninjurious species-typical ways.
Date created: May 18, 2016
Last updated: November 11, 2020
Provision will soon become mandatory to enrich the environment of singly caged nonhuman primates in the research laboratory environment. Specific objects such as puzzle feeders have been recommended [1]. Bloom's study raises the important questions of how much time do environmental enrichment objects actually distract an animal and are different objects equally effective.
Date created: May 26, 2016
Last updated: November 11, 2020
The eastern box turtle is collected in enormous numbers for the illegal wildlife trade. Only a portion of this trade is detected, and when it is, wildlife agencies must decide what to do with those animals. Their longevity (40+ years) makes such turtles both challenging to maintain in captivity and extremely valuable to the conservation of wild populations. Illegally collected turtles are often subjected to inhumane conditions prior to their confiscation; thus, supportive care prior to release may be critical to the success of any subsequent repatriation efforts.
Date created: August 30, 2023
Last updated: June 24, 2024
In this period of canceled travel plans and rarely venturing past one’s own front porch—if it can be helped —living vicariously through the adventures of people such as Charles Bergman, the author of Every Penguin in the World: A Quest to See Them All, has become one way to remain connected to the planet and its nonhuman inhabitants.
Date created: September 3, 2020
Last updated: April 17, 2024
A new, enhanced environment can give animals an opportunity to explore and interact. However, when animals are presented with these novel environments, they can be conflicted, with fear of the novelty opposing an instinctual desire to explore.
Date created: December 23, 2016
Last updated: January 15, 2020
Though they’re usually intervening in illegal immigrant and drug trafficking schemes, Chilean officials put the kibosh on a massive illicit shipment of 427 exotic animals en route from Peru to Chile early this year.
Date created: January 16, 2020
Last updated: May 27, 2021
In 2002, a subspecies of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin was identified in the coastal waters of western Taiwan: Sousa chinensis taiwanensis, now known as the Taiwanese white dolphin (TWD).
Date created: April 4, 2023
Last updated: April 7, 2023
Chris was in an abusive relationship, and she knew she had to leave. But she hesitated. She didn’t have family nearby and having just moved to a new area, she hadn’t made any close friends. Yet her partner grew more abusive every day.
Date created: September 3, 2020
Last updated: May 20, 2021
In 2016, AWI and other groups petitioned to have the subspecies listed as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act. Our petition was granted, and the listing was finalized by the National Marine Fisheries Service in May 2018. The Taiwanese white dolphin urgently needs tangible actions to halt its decline and promote recovery.
Date created: January 2, 2020
Last updated: January 22, 2020
A US government workshop was held in late August to discuss options for intervention on behalf of the bottlenose dolphins in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, once a project designed to restore coastal wetlands in the Gulf of Mexico begins operations in a
Date created: September 4, 2024
Last updated: September 13, 2024
Enrichment that encourages natural exploratory behaviors is important to the welfare of nonhuman primates in research. The purpose of this project, which was funded by an AWI Refinement Grant, was to enhance cognitive enrichment for nonhuman primates and determine whether they prefer physical or touch screen tasks. Two devices were created for their use: a puzzle board (see photo above) and a tablet board. The puzzle board consisted of a plexiglass backing with six doored compartments, each with its own unique lock of varying degrees of difficulty; within each compartment was a reward (jujube or chocolate-covered jujube).
Date created: December 16, 2022
Last updated: September 4, 2024
Following decades of campaigning by animal protection organizations, a ban has been enacted on export of livestock for slaughter from Great Britain to destinations outside Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man.
Date created: September 4, 2024
Last updated: September 13, 2024
