After peaking at nearly 27,000 whales in 2016, the population of eastern North Pacific gray whales has plummeted to around 14,500 in 2023—a startling 46 percent decline and nearly 7,000 fewer animals than when the gray whale’s Endangered Species A
In May 1999, whalers from the Makah Tribe in northwestern Washington state killed a gray whale—something they had not done since the 1920s. Even the few tribal elders who could remember the last kill did not know how to butcher the animal, so an Alaskan whaler was called in to demonstrate. They were able to obtain only a fraction of the meat and blubber before the carcass was left to rot on the beach.
In March, the National Marine Fisheries Service publicly announced that the unusual mortality event (UME) it declared in 2019 involving eastern North Pacific gray whales is over.
The gray wolf, a keystone predator whose native range stretches across North America, is an integral link in the food chain of the ecosystems it inhabits.
In October, the US Fish and Wildlife Service finalized a rule removing Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection for all gray wolves in the lower 48 states except for a small population of Mexican wolves in Arizona and New Mexico.
To the disappointment of many, the Obama administration failed to rescind two decisions made under the Bush administration that will negatively impact gray wolves and polar bears.
Author Michael Pollan thinks you should be able to shake the hand that feeds you. And by that he means the farmer, not the restaurant owner.
Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) have made a huge comeback in Florida, where most of their nests are located in the United States. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, there were only 62 nests in the state in 1979.
At last June’s 64th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), Denmark—on behalf of its territory, Greenland—sought not only to renew, but to increase the existing aboriginal subsistence whaling quota for Greenland natives.
From its creation in 1946 until 2012, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) met annually. Having agreed to move to biennial meetings in 2012, it will meet for the 65th time (IWC65) this September in Slovenia.
This past election season resulted in a decisive victory for Massachusetts’s greyhounds, and set a promising precedent for their brethren across the country.
Since its peak in 1985, greyhound racing in the United States has been on the decline. Once the last track in Texas closed in June 2020, only four states—Arkansas, Iowa, West Virginia, and Florida—had active dog tracks.
The Animal Damage Control Act (ADC Act) was signed into law in 1931. The 80th anniversary of its passage this past March was hardly a cause for celebration; rather, it is an anniversary of mourning for each one of the millions of coyotes, foxes, wolves, bears, mountain lions, bobcats, badgers, Canada geese, cormorants, black birds and other animals labeled as "pests" who have been killed since this Act came into force.
On December 4, 2015, the China Cetacean Alliance (CCA) launched a major campaign to raise public awareness of the suffering faced by the cetaceans held captive in China. AWI is a founding member of the CCA, along with Whale and Dolphin Conservation, Marine Connection, and the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society, as well as animal and environmental groups in Taiwan and mainland China.
Since the early 1800s, at least, turkey has been a traditional part of holiday dinners in America. Approximately 50 million turkeys are killed for Thanksgiving each year, with another 22 million killed for Christmas dinner.
Eight North Atlantic right whales have died since early June, a devastating blow to a population that numbers roughly 500.
As of mid-May, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, 48 gray whales had been found dead along the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and 99 other groups in 35 states formally petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in March to regulate toxic lead in hunting ammunition to protect public health and prevent the widespread poisoning of eagles, California condors, and other wildlife.
AWI joined forces in April with Wild Earth Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity in filing a petition with the National Marine Fisheries Service to list the Taiwanese humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis taiwanensis), under the US Endangered Species Act.