The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) recently announced the provisional composition of an ad hoc committee that will examine the need, both current and future, for the use of nonhuman primates (NHPs) in research fu
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) welcomes a new report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) that clearly indicates the need for a major overhaul in the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) wild horse and burro management program. The report, entitled “Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward,” is the culmination of a 2-year independent scientific study by the NAS. AWI contributed input to the committee charged with conducting the study, and many of the report’s recommendations mirror reforms long called for by AWI.
The Horse Protection Act (HPA) was enacted in 1970 to clamp down on the scourge of “soring”—the term for a host of abusive practices inflicted upon Tennessee walking horses and related breeds to produce an exaggerated high-stepping gait known as t
In an appropriations bill passed in March, Congress directed the USFWS to obtain an independent assessment on the taxonomic status of the red wolf and the Mexican gray wolf—both of which are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) joined the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), Hollywood celebrities, other animal protection organizations, conservationists, and elephant sanctuaries, to issue an open letter this week to FJ Productions.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®), The Humane Society of the United States (The HSUS) and the Center for Science in the Public Interest applaud US Sens. Mary Landrieu , D-La., and Lindsey Graham , R-S.C., and Reps. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., for introducing bipartisan legislation that would stop the inhumane killing of American horses for human consumption and prohibit the transport of horses across the US border for slaughter in Canada and Mexico.
The National Aquarium in Baltimore may be the first facility in the United States to close its dolphin exhibit as part of proactive and forward-thinking strategic planning, rather than external pressures.
The National Aquarium in Baltimore announced in June that it plans to move its colony of eight dolphins from its indoor amphitheater pool to a seaside dolphin sanctuary—the nation’s first. The aquarium publicly stated two years prior that it was considering such a move. (See AWI Quarterly, summer 2014.)
A renegade resolution to promote the continued slaughter of American horses for human consumption abroad was defeated at today's meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
Today, the Republican-led US House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries considered legislation that would dramatically weaken the widely popular Endangered Species Act and strip protections for gray wolves in 48 states.
A feature article in the December 2019 issue of National Geographic takes a hard look at the captive big cat problem in the United States. The article, replete with moving photos, examines how thousands of big cats are kept as household “pets” and on display at disreputable roadside zoos in the United States.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is pleased to report that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has denied a permit application by the Georgia Aquarium to import 18 wild-caught beluga whales from Russia for the purposes of public display. The Georgia Aquarium’s business partner—Utrish Dolphinarium, Ltd, a Russian company with a long and controversial record in the live capture of whales—had arranged for the capture of these belugas from the Sakhalin Bay-Amur Estuary region of the Russian Sea of Okhotsk.
Congress tasked the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) with implementing the country’s National Organic Program (NOP). For more than a decade now, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), the advisory committee of the NOP, has recommended that the NOP raise animal welfare standards.
Rock Creek Park, situated in the center of an urban forest, provides a much needed respite from the hectic pace of living and working in the nation's capital and surrounding communities. Millions of Americans each year enjoy watching the park's deer and other wildlife, hiking the park's miles of trails, and using its many recreational facilities.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and Wildlife Preserves, Inc. (WPI) filed for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction Friday against Kelly Fellner, acting superintendent of the Fire Island National Seashore (FINS), and the National Park Service (NPS) to halt a planned deer kill this month, which violates an existing agreement between the wildlife conservation groups and park officials.
Our nation’s foundational environmental laws are a little like air—something you don’t really notice until it’s gone, or is so diluted that it’s hard to breathe.
Significant progress for wildlife was achieved at the 19th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP19) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which met in Panama City, Panama
A federal court today entered an order settling two cases challenging the US Navy’s training and testing activities off the coasts of Southern California and Hawai‘i, securing long-sought protections for whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals by limiting Navy activities in vital habitat. The settlement stems from the court’s earlier finding that the Navy’s activities illegally harm more than 60 separate populations of whales, dolphins, seals, and sea lions.
For more than a decade, AWI has been working to stop the US Navy from using harmful active sonar in areas where it can negatively impact marine animals. Over the summer of 2015, the tide finally turned. For the first time ever, the US Navy has agreed to put important habitat for numerous marine animal populations off-limits to both mid-frequency active sonar training and testing and the use of powerful explosives.
The US Navy today said it plans to prepare a new environmental impact statement for training and testing exercises in the Pacific Ocean from December 2018 onward, including the use of sonar and explosives that threaten widespread harm to whales, dolphins, other marine mammals and imperiled sea turtles. The move follows a March 31 federal court ruling that the Navy illegally failed to consider restricting military exercises in biologically important areas within the Hawaii-Southern California Training and Testing Study Area to reduce harm to marine mammals.
Today, a coalition of conservation groups, represented by Earthjustice, amended their complaint in a case filed in Hawai‘i federal court last month that challenges a 5-year plan by the US Navy for testing and training activities off Hawai‘i and Southern California. The operations include active sonar and explosives, which are known to cause permanent injuries and deaths to marine mammals and sea turtles.
Coyotes are amazing opportunists. After humans nearly wiped out one of their only predators (wolves), coyotes spread into previously unoccupied areas of the country, like the Southeast. Many states are responding to growing populations by declaring open seasons at all times of the day and even organizing hunting contests to reward those who can kill the most coyotes.
The North Carolina General Assembly gave final approval to a bill that restricts nuisance lawsuits against factory farms and other agricultural operations.
