This week, the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal Handling and Welfare Review Panel, established in response to the New York Times’ shocking exposé of animal cruelty at the department’s Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) in Nebraska, released a report entitled “Findings and Recommendations on the Animal Care and Well-Being at the US Meat Animal Research Center to the Secretary of Agriculture and the REE Under Secretary.”
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is appalled that the omnibus spending bill unveiled by Congress today includes a last-minute policy rider that will all but ensure the extinction of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.
There were stuffed tigers standing at the entrance of the 13,000-square-foot warehouse. Large plastic trash bags filled with thousands upon thousands of dead, dried seahorses sat slumped in the aisle.
The Animal Welfare Institute is gravely disappointed that some of the recommendations released today by the Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery and Task Force fail to take bold action to save these endangered whales while ignoring public support for dam removal and public opposition to sea lion killings.
he Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is pleased to announce that Governor Quinn has signed into law new rules to provide that certain requirements must be met in order for an owner to lawfully tether a dog outdoors. Governor Quinn signed the legislation on July 20 at PAWS Chicago, the city’s largest no-kill humane shelter, stating in a press release that, “One of the joys and privileges of being a dog owner is the unconditional love and comfort these animals bring to our lives. As any pet owner knows, dogs become part of our families. This new law will crack down on the mistreatment of animals in Illinois and make sure our pets receive the same love and care they give us.”
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) commends Illinois Governor Pat Quinn for his veto of House Bill 4426 (H.B. 4426), which would have established up to a 107-day open season to trap and hunt bobcats in the state. Today’s veto was one of the final actions taken by Gov. Quinn, as his term expires on January 12.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) announced today the publication of A Dangerous Life, their graphic novel on the global ivory trade and its deadly toll on elephants, in Chinese. The translation follows China’s recent move to close a third of its ivory carving factories and retailers. China is currently the world’s largest ivory market, and this closure represents a major step toward the country’s pledged shutdown of its domestic ivory trade by the end of 2017.
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.
In an 8-page letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) delivered today, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and In Defense of Animals (IDA) questioned the legality of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge's black bear hunt. In addition to condemning the 2007 hunt which is set to begin tomorrow the groups requested that the FWS agree to the preparation of a new environmental impact review prior to deciding on whether to conduct a hunt in 2008.
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.
Naalakkersuisut (Greenland’s government) must immediately cancel narwhal hunting quotas for Southeast Greenland or risk losing three populations of these whales forever, according to a letter delivered today to Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede on behalf of the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and more than 30 other animal protection and conservation organizations representing tens of millions of citizens around the globe.
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.
'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.
