A recent poll co-funded by AWI and other animal protection and conservation organizations paints a bleak picture for the Norwegian whaling industry’s future. Only 4 percent of Norwegians surveyed said they ate whale meat “often.”
As the Norwegian whaling industry prepares for the start of the 2016 whaling season, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) today released a document that indicates Norwegian fur farms have used minke whale meat to feed animals raised for the country’s fur industry. In 2014, more than 113 metric tons of whale meat (equivalent to the amount of marketable meat from 75 minke whales) was delivered to Rogaland Pelsdyrfôrlaget, the largest manufacturer of animal feed for the Norwegian fur industry.
Whale meat shipped from Norway to Japan contains levels of harmful pesticides—including aldrin, dieldrin and chlordane—that violate human health standards established by the Japanese government, according to tests conducted by the Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
In defiance of a 40-year-old international agreement to protect whales, Norway slaughtered at least 580 whales during the 2022 whaling season—the highest number in six years.
The US Department of Agriculture recently finalized a new waiver system whereby bird slaughter plants can apply to increase their line speed to 175 birds per minute.
The eastern massasauga is a small rattlesnake that was once widespread and common but is now threatened in approximately 75 percent of its range. It is protected in every state or province where it occurs and is listed as threatened under both the US Endangered Species Act and Canada’s federal Species at Risk Act. Efforts to study the population dynamics and survival of eastern massasaugas have historically been difficult due to cryptic coloring, reclusive behavior, and low recapture rates.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) exempted all agribusiness in December—no matter how industrialized, no matter the animal product produced—from having to declare noxious emissions produced by animal waste.
On December 10, the New York City Council approved a measure that would make the Big Apple and its obstacle course of vertical structures a bit easier for birds to navigate. Proposed Initiative 1482B, introduced by City Council member Rafael Espinal, requires that at least 90 percent of the exterior of the first 75 feet of all new buildings or major renovations be constructed with glazed glass and other materials more visible to birds.
The White House unveiled a National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators on May 19. The strategy seeks to arrest the catastrophic decline of such pollinators as honey bees and monarch butterflies, by making millions of acres of federal lands more habitable for bees and butterflies, while studying ways to reduce the havoc pesticides wreak on these and other key pollinators.
President Obama has announced the creation of a 23-member federal task force to establish a comprehensive US Ocean Policy that "will incorporate ecosystem-based science and management and emphasize our public stewardship responsibilities."
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is pleased to learn that Obi Sushi restaurant, located in Northern Virginia's Reston Town Center, has retracted their decision to sell shark fin soup and other shark dishes.
Rhode Island is the latest state to ban the use of intensive confinement crates to house calves raised for veal and breeding (or “gestating”) sows, bringing the total number of states banning farm animal confinement crates to nine.
Growing interest in commercial octopus farming threatens to subject these cognitively complex, sentient animals to inhumane conditions and prolonged suffering. To prevent this unsustainable and cruel practice from expanding, Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have introduced the Opposing the Cultivation and Trade of Octopus Produced through Unethical Strategies (OCTOPUS) Act (S. 1947) to ban both commercial octopus farming in the US and any import of farmed octopus.
Octopuses inspire awe, wonder, and fascination. They are well-known for their creativity, intelligence, and curiosity. There is ample scientific evidence of their capacity to feel physical pain and experience distress.
Sy Montgomery brings her passion for animals and talent for storytelling to focus on turtles in her 34th book, Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell. Turtles, she points out, are not only culturally popular—from the tortoise besting the hare in an ancient fable, to Teenage Mutant Ninjas, to Nemo’s sea turtle pal Crush—they have also been around since the time of dinosaurs and are an important component of many ecosystems, with more than 350 species on six continents. To dive into their world, Montgomery, along with illustrator Matt Patterson, interned for a year at the Turtle Rescue League (TRL) in Massachusetts.
