This is a current listing of organizations and individuals opposed to the slaughter of American horses for human consumption. They support all local, state and federal legislative efforts to ban the practice in the U.S. including the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act, Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act and American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.
Date created: June 27, 2011
Last updated: September 6, 2024
AWI has worked to improve animal welfare standards under the US Department of Agriculture’s Certified Organic label for over 15 years. In early 2017, our efforts helped lead the USDA to finalize a rule to improve the lives of millions of organically raised animals.
Date created: March 22, 2017
Last updated: January 15, 2020
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), the Humane Education Network (HEN) and the Palo Alto Humane Society officially announced today the winners of the 2017 A Voice for Animals contest.
Date created: July 11, 2017
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Sixty-six marine conservation organizations, animal protection organizations, and leading academics recently issued a joint letter to Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) chair Werner Kiene, criticizing the MSC for its failure to improve the label’s Principle 2 (“Environmental and Ecological Impacts”) standards.
Date created: January 24, 2018
Last updated: May 2, 2022
Animal welfare and wildlife organizations filed a motion today with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to stay the implementation of a proposed rule that would allow three types of leghold traps—the Egg, Duff (or Duffer’s), and Lil Grizz Get’rz—to be used on raccoons and opossums in New Jersey. The organizations, which include the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), the Animal Protection League of New Jersey (APLNJ), Born Free USA, NJ Chapter Sierra Club, and Unexpected Wildlife Refuge, are represented by attorney Dante DiPirro.
Date created: August 27, 2015
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Local, state and national animal protection and environmental organizations filed a “friend of the court” brief today in support of a lawsuit to stop the impending trophy hunt of Florida black bears, an iconic and rare species with a long history of threats to its survival.
Date created: September 25, 2015
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Conservation and animal welfare organizations, including the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Defenders of Wildlife, and the Red Wolf Coalition, as represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), notified the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) today of their intent to sue the agency for illegally authorizing a private landowner to kill breeding red wolves and failing to undertake the legal analysis required by the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The notice letter details the agency’s active role in allowing the illegal take of several red wolves and failing to protect the world’s only wild population of these wolves.
Date created: September 1, 2015
Last updated: February 2, 2022
In recognition of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has partnered with the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV) to provide copies of its children’s publications, Kamie Cat's Terrible Night and Pablo Puppy’s Search for the Perfect Person, to over 500 domestic violence shelters nationwide.
Date created: October 23, 2014
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Five animal protection organizations submitted a petition today to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), asking the agency to cancel its registration for sodium fluoroacetate, a pesticide commonly known as Compound 1080. Currently, the pesticide is permitted for use in “livestock protection collars”—one of the devices that agents of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program use to kill thousands of coyotes each year.
Date created: January 12, 2017
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Seven animal protection and conservation organizations issued a petition today to the US Department of Interior (DOI) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) urging them to fulfill their obligation to develop an updated recovery plan for the rapidly dwindling population of wild red wolves.
Date created: December 8, 2016
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Animal Defense League of Arizona, the Animal Welfare Institute, and Plea for the Sea have learned of the death of Bodie, a young dolphin at Dolphinaris Arizona. The seven-year-old bottlenose dolphin reportedly died in September at Dolphinaris, a commercial swim-with-the-dolphins facility near Scottsdale, Arizona.
Date created: October 27, 2017
Last updated: February 2, 2022
Despite popular belief that an organic label ensures animal welfare, this is not the case.
Date created: July 9, 2010
Last updated: January 9, 2020
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) applauds skincare company, Origins, for abandoning plans for a swim-with dolphins prize at Cabo Dolphins in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Date created: August 31, 2009
Last updated: February 2, 2022
The diversity of birds throughout the world is simply astounding. From the tiniest hummingbird to the prehistoric-looking California condor, from seabirds to songbirds and ducks; bird are globally ubiquitous. It is not surprising that birds fascinate us and that bird watching is particularly popular among citizens worldwide.
Date created: September 23, 2011
Last updated: April 2, 2021
In this compelling work, distinguished philosopher of science and scuba diver Peter Godfrey-Smith writes of his experiences studying the minds of cephalopods, particularly octopuses and cuttlefish, and the minds of highly intelligent animals of other classes, honing in on the evolutionary paths forged by mammals and birds on the one hand, and cephalopods on the other.
Date created: June 21, 2017
Last updated: April 24, 2024
When high-profile oil spills wreak havoc on marine animals and ocean ecosystems, the immediate impact is seen by many - via media images of oiled animals struggling to survive and beaches covered in tar.
Date created: September 23, 2011
Last updated: April 2, 2021
A new report, Illegal Otter Trade: An Analysis of Seizures in Selected Asian Countries (1980–2015), by TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network, examines the black market trade in live otters and otter parts in the region. Four species affected by the trade were examined: small-clawed otters, smooth-coated otters, hairy-nosed otters, and Eurasian otters.
Date created: September 19, 2016
Last updated: April 24, 2024
During his time in office, Barack Obama protected more natural habitat than any president in history. His conservation ethos is on full display in Our Great National Parks, a Netflix docuseries he hosts. Through compelling stories and narration, the former president highlights the importance of preserving nature and, more importantly, the fundamental need to create systems that allow all beings to not only coexist, but also thrive.
Date created: June 14, 2022
Last updated: April 17, 2024
Use the links below to find out more about our animal programs.
Date created: August 24, 2011
Last updated: September 5, 2024
A list of the team members at the Animal Welfare Institute.
Date created: October 4, 2011
Last updated: September 25, 2024
In this country, a plate of frog legs (or "frogs' legs" as the dish is commonly called outside the U.S.) usually brings to mind France or the French-influenced regions of the American South.
Date created: October 3, 2011
Last updated: January 22, 2020
A coalition of animal welfare, consumer safety, and worker rights organizations announced today that more than 82,000 concerned members of the public, workers and allies have raised their voices against faster slaughter lines in poultry plants.
Date created: December 13, 2017
Last updated: February 7, 2022
AWI and more than 30 other animal protection and conservation organizations have called on the government of Greenland to immediately cancel hunting quotas for 50 narwhals from three populations in Southeast Greenland that face imminent extinction
Date created: April 19, 2022
Last updated: April 25, 2022
In the United States, research, testing and education is conducted with millions of animals each year. See fundamentals for basic information regarding research conducted with animals.
Date created: September 26, 2011
Last updated: April 1, 2021
AWI is pleased to announce the availability of new humane educational on-line resources for children.
Date created: November 6, 2009
Last updated: October 31, 2019
