When natural disasters or other emergencies occur, you may need to take quick action to save yourself, your family members, and—perhaps most challenging—your companion animals. With proper preparation, however, seeing to the safety of an animal in such situations need not be difficult or add extra risks to you and your family.
William McKeever’s Emperors of the Deep: The Ocean’s Most Mysterious, Most Misunderstood, and Most Important Guardians highlights the significance of sharks to the oceans’ delicate ecosystems and reveals the horrendous threats jeopardizing their continued existence.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is looking forward to Giving Tuesday—a global day of giving. Giving Tuesday (December 3 this year) is a perfect opportunity during the holiday season to contribute toward a better world.
A coalition of 114 representatives and 48 senators recently urged Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to finalize a Horse Protection Act (HPA) rule that would significantly curb the pernicious practice of “soring,” which involves the deliberate infliction of pain on a horse’s hooves and legs to create an exaggerated high-stepping gait for certain competitions.
In October, Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) reintroduced the Ejiao Act (HR 6021) to protect donkeys from a burgeoning global trade that has claimed millions of these animals’ lives and resulted in terrible suffering.
The US Department of Agriculture published a proposed rule in March that should end the rubber-stamping of renewals for dealers and exhibitors licensed under the Animal Welfare Act, regardless of whether they comply with the law’s minimal standard
In February 2020, AWI, along with Farm Sanctuary, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Animal Outlook, Compassion in World Farming, Farm Forward, and Mercy For Animals, sued the US Department of Agriculture and its Food Safety and Inspection Service, allegi
In a big step forward for animals around the world, President Obama signed the Eliminate, Neutralize, and Disrupt (END) Wildlife Trafficking Act into law. This bipartisan legislation was championed by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ). A similar bill, the Global Anti-Poaching Act, led by Representatives Ed Royce (R-CA) and Eliot Engel (D-NY), passed the House of Representatives late last year and helped pave the way for the END Wildlife Trafficking Act.
Today the Animal Welfare Institute petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service to add the thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata) to the list of federally protected species under the Endangered Species Act.
In a precedent setting decision, a federal court judge has issued a comprehensive ruling that an industrial wind energy farm in Greenbrier County, WV would kill and injure endangered Indiana bats in violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Just like terrestrial animals, the creatures of the sea face myriad threats to their survival, both anthropogenic and natural, and many are in trouble. Our oceans appear vast and teeming with life, and until recently, were routinely viewed as containing infinite resources.
On October 15, the Endangered Species Preservation Act (P.L. 89-669) is signed into law. The Act provides for the listing of native threatened and endangered species by the Secretary of the Interior (additional protection for endangered species is granted with the enactment of the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973).
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and Defenders of Wildlife (Defenders) filed a petition today with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to list the Northwest Atlantic population of the thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata), a species of fish, as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
The Earth is now in the midst of its sixth major animal (and plant) extinction. The last mass extinction - approximately 65 million years ago - caused the disappearance of the dinosaurs. Although extinctions are naturally occurring, the current mass extinction is unique in that it is caused almost entirely by humans.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) filed anti-wildlife amendments to the energy bill that reached the Senate floor in early February. He, too, proposed removing gray wolves in Wyoming and the Great Lakes states from ESA protection, and prohibiting the US Fish and Wildlife Service from listing the northern long-eared bat as endangered under the ESA.
Rodents are often restrained for data collection procedures, such as blood collection and injection, by coaxing them into tubes, for example syringe cylinders or perspex tubes. Such enforced restraint/immobilization presumably exposes the animal subject to considerable stress.
Attending animal fights and bringing children to such spectacles would become federal offenses under the Animal Welfare Act as a result of provisions in the farm bills of both chambers of Congress.
In In the wild, foraging for food occupies much of a primate's day. Considerable energy is expended as the animal travels its range in its search for food. Primates have evolved special abilities which enable them to deal with food-gathering in a unique way.
At the Jane Goodall Institute Halfway House in Burundi 18 orphaned chimpanzees live in a one-acre yard near the shores of Lake Tanganyika, awaiting a new home in a sanctuary that has yet to be built. Ethnic problems in the small African country, coupled with a shortage of funds for all of the institutes' projects, have put plans for the 4-hectare semi-natural sanctuary on indefinite hold.
One of the goals of environmental enrichment is to encourage species-typical behaviors while discouraging abnormal behaviors. Assessing the effectiveness of various enrichment strategies can be a challenging endeavor, particularly for prey species who may exhibit freezing responses in the presence of people. The goal of our study, which was funded by an AWI Refinement Grant, was to determine if we could use various environmental enrichment strategies to promote species-specific behaviors, decrease potentially abnormal behaviors, and improve the overall welfare of rabbits in laboratories.
The author reviews improvements in the behavioral management of a colony of captive chimpanzees at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research. Environmental enrichment techniques, such as providing increased opportunities for physical, sensory, and feeding stimulation, as well as improvements in management techniques, are discussed.
All animals held in confinement are psychologically and physically at the mercy of their keepers. Keepers include animal care and scientific staff. All keepers must abide by a code of ethics which promotes a sense of healthy respect for all the animals which are on loan to them. This includes respect for the species involved as well as respect for each and every individual.
