The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently reported that the American eel, a fish found in freshwater systems in the eastern U.S., may be at risk of extinction, and thus warrants federal protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Amid claims that animal welfare advocates are to blame for the steep increase in horses going to Mexico for slaughter, the Washington, DC-based Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) today fired back.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is deeply concerned by the recent announcement that Safer Human Medicine (SHM)—the company behind a massive monkey-breeding facility planned in Georgia—has acquired a facility in Florida to hold non-human primates slated for biomedical research.
After a successful trial run in Illinois, Amtrak is expanding its Pets Aboard service to certain Northeast Corridor routes. Passengers may bring their cat or small dog with them on most Northeast Regional trains between Boston, Massachusetts, and Norfolk, Virginia, and on Downeaster trains between Boston and Maine.
Perches offer inexpensive environmental enrichment for caged non-human primates [1-5]. By providing an elevated sitting position, a perch opens a new dimension for the animal. It also offers a dry, comfortable refuge while the caretaker sprays the cage floor during daily cleaning.
To day we have a variety of techniques for environmental enrichment used in captivity to enhance the psychological health of monkeys. Many of those concern feeding strategies.
This article focuses on space requirements, the benefits of play and exercise, and social and environmental enrichment for the chimpanzee. But first we will very briefly review some of the behavioral damage that isolation can do to primates.
The influence of an environmental enrichment feeding device (puzzle feeder), on activity and behaviour patterns of captive orang-utans, gorillas and chimpanzees was studied at London Zoo.
Most of the news we receive during the pandemic is extremely dire, and the heartbreak and disruption it has caused and will continue to cause cannot be glossed over.
An elephant, a mouse, a robin, an owl, a bat, a rattlesnake, a spider, a mosquito, a bumblebee, and a human enter a school gym. An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us opens not with a joke, but with a thought experiment: How would each of these creatures perceive the colors, textures, smells, sounds, vibrations, electric and magnetic fields, and open space around them—and each other? How would this change, if at all, if the lights were turned off?
Due to many anthropogenic threats, the gopher tortoise is declining throughout its range in the southeastern United States. Translocation—the movement of animals from one location to another—has become an increasingly important tool for mitigating impacts of development and augmenting depleted populations.
The proposal from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to remove protections from the nation’s only wild population of endangered red wolves has been met with near-unanimous opposition from the public. Fully 99.9 percent of more than 108,000 public comments received expressed opposition to the plan and favored strong federal protections for red wolves instead.
Her parents told her that they noticed it about her when she was quite young - around four years old. They characterized their observation this way: "We should have bought you a soap box." Some would call her opinionated, or even stubborn. Luckily, the times changed and these kinds of people became known as "activists."
Lonesome George, the last known Pinta giant tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni) in existence, has died. Galapagos National Park Service officials announced in June that George— believed to be around 100 years old—was found dead in his corral by his keeper of 40 years, Fausto Llerena.
The mission of the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC) is to “enhance the quality of research, teaching, and testing by promoting humane, responsible animal care and use,” and the organization awards accreditation to institutions that are deemed to “meet or exceed AAALAC standards” regarding animal care.
In 2013, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman established an Animal Cruelty Initiative to focus on prosecuting animal cruelty crimes and protecting consumers from unscrupulous companion animal dealers.
Members of the public and representatives of animal protection and conservation organizations are rallying Friday in Harbor View Memorial Park in Portland, Maine, to protest Iceland’s expanding commercial whaling program, and its links to fish and other Icelandic products imported into the United States through Portland, Maine.
Animals and Criminal Justice is not exhaustive, by any means, and its organization is a bit confusing, but it does shed light—especially for the reader new to the subject matter—on some of the complexities and contradictions inherent in animal-human interactions.
How many times have you looked at your dog after he or she did something they shouldn’t and seen those soulful, apologetic eyes looking back at you? The look of guilt is obvious, but does that mean it is guilt as we understand it? How many times has your cat lain down on your laptop to say “stop ignoring me,” or acted aloof after you came back from a vacation?
The link between pet abuse and intimate partner violence (IPV) has been well documented over the last 30 years. Various surveys of domestic violence survivors over the years consistently reveal that up to 89% of women report that their pets were threatened, harmed, or killed. Pet abuse is one of the forms of intimidation listed in the “power and control wheel” used by advocates for victims of domestic violence.
Animals’ Best Friends: Putting Compassion to Work for Animals in Captivity and in the Wild, by Barbara King, uses the power of storytelling to allow readers to peer into the lives of countless animals humans interact with or impact in one way or another. Through these stories, King challenges the reader to rethink our effect on animals in our homes, in the wild, in captivity, in agriculture, and in research labs, and presents a powerful call for compassionate action in our daily lives.
The 114th Congress has been an active one when it comes to animal welfare measures, both good and bad. A few of the most prominent good ones are summarized below. The outcome of the appropriations process, which is currently underway, will be reviewed in a later issue of the AWI Quarterly.
