Accidental shootings resulting in death or injury are a primary concern outlined in a court challenge filed today against an illegal, temporary state rule that allows spotlight hunting of coyotes at night throughout North Carolina, including in the area inhabited by the only wild population of red wolves, one of the world’s most endangered animals. The Southern Environmental Law Center filed the court challenge against the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and a request to stop the temporary rule in Wake County Superior Court on behalf of the Animal Welfare Institute, the Defenders of Wildlife, and the Red Wolf Coalition.
Date created: September 7, 2012
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Conservationists rallied outside the Mexican Embassy today to highlight the plight of the vaquita marina, the world’s smallest and most endangered porpoise, found only in Mexico’s Gulf of California. The species population has declined more than 90 percent since 1997 with only about 60 individuals left.
Date created: July 7, 2016
Last updated: February 2, 2022
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Animal Welfare Institute today filed a notice of intent to sue the US Department of Agriculture to ensure that endangered ocelots aren’t inadvertently killed as part of its long-running program to kill coyotes, bears, bobcats and other wildlife in Arizona and Texas. The USDA’s Wildlife Services program kills tens of thousands of animals in the two states every year using traps, snares and poisons.
Date created: May 26, 2016
Last updated: February 2, 2022
The present work was determined by the need to join two groups of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) in one big group. The first group (1.3) had been kept together for about eight years since their arrival and were constantly breeding. The individuals in the second group (1.2) were younger and the story of their coexistence was unknown. Formation of a new group was carried out on the basis of the second group.
Date created: May 11, 2016
Last updated: September 16, 2020
An attempt was made to form two groups of 6 previously single-caged adult female and 6 previously single-caged adult male rhesus macaques. The study was based on the premise that simultaneous introduction of familiar animals reduces the risks involved during group formation. Future group members were therefore given ample opportunity to physically interact with each other on a one-to-one basis and were considered ready.for group formation only when they had demonstrated compatibility and clear-cut dominance-subordination relationships.
Date created: May 26, 2016
Last updated: November 11, 2020
Group housing guinea pigs can save space and money, while improving housing standards. The authors describe enclosure design, enrichment, and husbandry techniques that facilitate group housing female guinea pigs.
Date created: May 4, 2016
Last updated: October 30, 2020
Laboratory rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) are usually housed singly in conventional cages, which allow easy identification and accurate monitoring of food and water consumption. Even if the cages meet federal regulations for size, they tend not to provide enough space for natural behaviors, such as standing upright or hopping. Regulation cages limit visibility and social interaction.
Date created: May 4, 2016
Last updated: October 30, 2020
Space is always at a premium in an animal facility, making it necessary to maximize the efficiency of the available space in order to meet or exceed Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals regulations. A facility's design should enhance the environment for both the animals and the staff.
Date created: May 6, 2016
Last updated: June 9, 2021
Laboratory animal facilities have traditionally held rabbits in individual cages, regardless of the type of experiment that the animals are involved in. For many investigations, group-housing would not interfere with the study goals; since wild European rabbits live in groups, group-housing systems may have distinct welfare advantages.
Facilities usually singly house rabbits to aid identification, minimize disease spread, to make the control and observation of food and water intake easier, and to expedite cleaning and handling.
Date created: May 6, 2016
Last updated: October 30, 2020
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), in collaboration with Defenders of Wildlife (Defenders), the Red Wolf Coalition (RWC), WildEarth Guardians, Born Free USA, the Endangered Species Coalition, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the National Wolfwatcher Coalition, issued a written appeal to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) asking the department to oppose the recently adopted resolutions by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) that call for the termination of the Red Wolf Recovery program and demand the removal of red wolves from private lands.
Date created: February 24, 2015
Last updated: January 18, 2024
Following a recent suggestion in Congress that the government should install video cameras in US slaughterhouses to ensure the humane and safe treatment of animals killed for human consumption, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Humane Farming Association (HFA) today call on legislators to reject any attempt by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use cameras in lieu of inspectors.
Date created: January 23, 2009
Last updated: February 3, 2022
Renowned scientists and over a dozen conservation and animal-protection organizations, including the Animal Welfare Institute, submitted a scientific petition to the US Fish and Wildlife Service today to protect the Florida black bear under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). Habitat loss, roadkill, and the first state-authorized bear hunt in over 20 years made 2015 a deadly year for Florida black bears, with humans responsible for killing at least 590 bears out of an estimated population of 3,000 to 3,500.
Date created: March 18, 2016
Last updated: February 2, 2022
A coalition of conservation and wildlife organizations today formally petitioned the Wildlife Services program of the US Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for an immediate ban on the use of M-44 cyanide devices in Wyoming.
Date created: June 13, 2017
Last updated: February 2, 2022
A motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the unlawful killing of highly endangered red wolves caused by hunting in the Red Wolf Recovery area in North Carolina was filed on Monday, December 16, 2013, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina on behalf of the Animal Welfare Institute, Red Wolf Coalition, and Defenders of Wildlife. The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) filed the motion and supporting memorandum on behalf of the organizations.
Date created: December 18, 2013
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Today, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and Farm Sanctuary, working with the Animal Law Clinic at Lewis & Clark Law School, petitioned the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to develop regulations governing the handling of chickens, turkeys, and other birds at slaughter. The petition calls for FSIS to write regulations to address bird handling and slaughter practices that result in adulterated products, as is the agency’s duty under the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA).
Date created: December 17, 2013
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Conservation organizations today challenged North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission’s authorization of coyote hunting—including by spotlight at night—in the five county area of eastern North Carolina inhabited by the world’s only wild population of about 100 red wolves. The Southern Environmental Law Center filed the complaint in the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina on behalf of the Animal Welfare Institute, Red Wolf Coalition, and Defenders of Wildlife.
Date created: October 17, 2013
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Conservation groups petitioned the US National Marine Fisheries Service today to ban imports of seafood caught with gillnets in Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California in an effort to save the critically endangered vaquita porpoise.
Date created: May 18, 2017
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Nineteen conservation and animal welfare groups, representing tens of millions of US citizens, today called on the Secretaries of Commerce and Interior to impose trade sanctions against Iceland for its escalating defiance of international conservation agreements on commercial whaling.
Date created: December 21, 2010
Last updated: February 2, 2022
This Thursday the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST) will stage a colorful enactment outside the headquarters of the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration Fisheries Division (NMFS).
Date created: January 23, 2009
Last updated: February 3, 2022
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Cetacean Society International (CSI), Earth Island Institute (EII), and Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) lauded the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for its proposed designation of the Sakhalin Bay-Amur River population of beluga whales in Russia as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). A depleted designation would make it illegal to import any belugas from this population into the United States for public display. The proposed rule must undergo a 60-day public comment period before it is finalized.
Date created: April 4, 2016
Last updated: February 2, 2022
According to a new study published in the journal Biological Conservation, breeding farms in Indonesia are being used to launder thousands of illegally caught snakes each year.
Date created: February 23, 2012
Last updated: January 15, 2020
A listing of helpful links to online guides and laws.
Date created: June 27, 2011
Last updated: January 19, 2024
Two Tennessee men pleaded guilty in early January to selling tusks from over 100 narwhals over a 10-year period. The sales, conducted over the Internet and directly to known collectors, reaped more than $1.5 million for the traffickers, Jay Conrad of Lakeland and Eddie Dunn of Eads.
Date created: February 24, 2014
Last updated: January 10, 2020
In a move welcomed by the conservation community, the Gulf of Maine lobster fishery will no longer seek recertification under the “blue fish tick” ecolabel, a program of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) that purportedly assures consumers that products carrying the label come from “sustainable” fisheries.
Date created: February 3, 2023
Last updated: April 14, 2023
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has suspended its certification of the Gulf of Maine lobster fishery after determining that the fishery was potentially jeopardizing the survival of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.
Date created: August 5, 2020
Last updated: January 18, 2024