'Landscape immersion' is a term that was coined to describe exhibits in which visitors share the same landscape (but not the same areas) with the animals. In other words, instead of standing in a familiar city park (known as a zoological garden) and viewing zebra in an African setting, both the zoo visitors and the zebra are in a landscape carefully designed to feel like the African savanna.
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.
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.
A coalition of international animal welfare and conservation groups is calling on the Obama Administration to impose economic sanctions against Iceland after Iceland´s whaling company Hvalur hf announced it will hunt and sell the meat of up to 184 endangered fin whales this summer after a two year hiatus. Iceland is one of three countries that refuse to abide by international whaling laws banning the killing and trading of whales for commercial gain. The groups today sent a letter to the Secretaries of State, Commerce and Interior calling for stronger measures by the Obama Administration.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
