Today, more than 14 members of the US House of Representatives introduced legislation that would prohibit organizing, sponsoring, conducting, or participating in wildlife killing contests on more than 500 million acres of US public lands.
The breeding and sale of big cats as “pets” has long been a problem in this country, where an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 large cats are privately owned.
Shutting the door on horse slaughter and Class B dealers: In its fiscal year 2017 spending bill for the US Department of Agriculture, the House Appropriations Committee included two AWI priorities. The bill bars the expenditure of funds for licensing or relicensing Class B dealers who sell dogs and cats for use in research, teaching, or testing.
For 45 years, the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) has succeeded in its mission to protect individual marine mammals, as well as entire populations, from harassment, injury, and death due to human activities.
Since 2017, the alarming number of North Atlantic right whale deaths from entanglements in fishing gear and vessel strikes has been deemed an “unusual mortality event” under the Marine Mammal Protection Act by NOAA.
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Take Reduction Teams—composed of industry leaders, scientists, nongovernmental organizations, and state and federal officials—advise NMFS on reducing harm to marine mammals from fishing gear.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) commends the House Appropriations Committee for including an amendment in the Fiscal Year 2015 Agriculture Appropriations bill to defund federally required inspections of horse slaughter facilities in the United States—a measure that would effectively prevent such plants from operating.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) commend the US House Appropriations committee for advancing bipartisan language today that would require the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to implement an immunocontraceptive fertility control program to manage wild horses and burros and evaluate other on-range management options, including relocating horses to less populated Herd Management Areas.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) applauds Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN), of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for bringing the Horse Transportation Safety Act (H.R. 305) before his Committee and supporting its swift unanimous passage.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is expressing strong opposition to the House Natural Resources Committee’s decision to hold a hearing and markup September 26 on a package of nine bills designed to undercut crucial conservation tools. On the same day, the committee is scheduled to vote on a bill blocking federal protections for gray wolves across the contiguous United States. These bills would impose damaging and unnecessary revisions to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and undermine the government’s ability to protect imperiled species.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted to maintain the long-standing ban on horse slaughterhouse inspections by the US Department of Agriculture. Prohibiting these inspections effectively prevents such plants from operating in this country.
The US House Committee on Agriculture will weigh in Thursday on the long-awaited, 942-page Farm Bill, a massive legislative package — reauthorized every five years or so — that serves as a key driver of food and agriculture policy in the United States and touches on a number of other policy areas affecting animal welfare.
A mammoth 640-plus-page farm bill draft (H.R. 2) was released yesterday and is scheduled for committee action next week. According to the nonprofit Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), the draft represents a mixed bag for animals. AWI commended the committee for omitting some of the language from past farm bills that the organization considers deeply harmful, but is urging committee members to make changes to other sections that have profound impacts on animal welfare.
As of mid-August, the US Senate as a whole was getting very little done, but the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee reported out three bills: the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act (S 877), the Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reductio
According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, the number of individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the United States is steadily increasing, reaching the record number of 256,610 in 2023. Although data is limited, research suggests that up 25 percent of unhoused individuals have companion animals. The majority of Americans identify their pets as family members who offer a sense of companionship and support. For those experiencing homelessness, this companionship may be that much more critical.
With the second session of the 115th Congress well underway, AWI president Cathy Liss sent a letter to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) requesting support for these legislative priorities in the coming year: the Preventing Animal Cruelt
In July, the House of Representatives passed HR 8294, a “minibus” package of six spending bills for fiscal year 2023 that includes many wins for animals.
As Congress heads into their busy fall season, Representatives Dan Burton (R-IN) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), along with 55 bipartisan cosponsors have reintroduced H.R. 2966, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. The bill, similar to the one approved by a strong bipartis
The Committee on Natural Resources in the House of Representatives has jurisdiction over many bills supported by AWI. Fortunately, Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) is a champion of animal welfare and environmental protection.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) commends the House Natural Resources Committee, under the leadership of Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), for passing bills today to protect big cats, sharks and wild animals hunted for sport. The bills now await votes by the full chamber.
Today, the US House Committee on Natural Resources voted in favor of H.R. 5741, the Shark Conservation Act of 2008. Introduced by Subcommittee Chairwoman Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU), the measure will reinforce the Shark Finning Prohibition Act, which was signed into law in 2000.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is deeply troubled that the US House of Representatives voted yesterday to pass H.R. 2083, the Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act. This legislation would amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), ushering in the killing of nearly 1,000 sea lions a year—a move in stark contrast to the continued protections for marine mammals that Americans wish to see.
Animals saw important victories in a bill (H.R. 8294) passed yesterday by the House of Representatives to fund the US Department of the Interior, the US Department of Agriculture, and other federal agencies in fiscal year 2023.
Answering a bipartisan call to encourage the United States to stand up for whales, the House of Representatives today passed H. Con. Res. 350 by unanimous consent.
ollowing last year's passage of an Illinois state law banning horse slaughter, the House of the Illinois General Assembly today adopted HB 4162, a bill to ban the use of double-deck cattle trailers to transport horses inside the state.
