Chad and Jodi Ray, owners of Animal Welfare Approved Ray Family Farms, were honored by the Obama administration as “Champions of Change” in connection with the president’s Winning the Future initiative.
In July, the Secretary of Commerce certified to President Obama that Iceland was undermining the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and its treaty because of its rogue whaling (AWI Quarterly, Spring 2011).
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is pleased to report that President Barack Obama signed the Shark Conservation Act into law. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed the bill in the last days of the 111th Congress, approving the long-awaited measure by unanimous consent. The president’s signature makes the law official.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is deeply concerned that the administration's proposed fiscal year 2026 budget omits critical protections for wild horses and burros, which could allow them to be sold off for commercial slaughter and lethally “managed” to reduce their numbers.
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed multiple executive orders designed to advance policies that are disastrous to wildlife and their habitats. The orders expand oil and gas drilling, mining, and logging; undermine bedrock environmental laws; and withdraw the United States from an important international climate agreement. If fully implemented, the orders will exacerbate the climate crisis and erode critical protections for America’s public lands and waters.
For media inquiries or to obtain press materials not listed, please contact Amey Owen, Public Relations Coordinator, Animal Welfare Institute, at (202) 446-2128 or [email protected].
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is grateful to Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) for continuing to pressure the US Department of Agriculture to adequately enforce the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), the primary federal law governing the treatment of animals used for exhibition, research, breeding, and dealing.
Soring—which involves intentionally inflicting pain on a horse’s hooves and front limbs to produce an exaggerated high-stepping gait known as the Big Lick—remains a persistent and rampant practice in Tennessee walking horse competitions.
One of the stark realities COVID-19 has forced us to confront is the huge risk posed by zoonotic diseases—pathogens passed from nonhuman animals to humans. COVID is merely the latest and most devastating example of this type of disease.
Despite three weeks of stonewalling by horse slaughter proponents on the House Judiciary Committee, H.R. 6598, the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act passed by a voice vote after the majority rejected several poison pill amendments.
Language from the AWI-endorsed Preventing Future Pandemics Act (PFPA) was successfully adopted as an amendment to the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act.
The environmental enrichment program of the Caribbean Primate Research Center is guided by an evolutionary and ecological perspective. The evolutionary perspective suggests that primates should be housed in enclosures that provide a social and physical environment that resembles their natural surroundings as much as possible.
According to the Swiss Animal Welfare Legislation, the minimal enclosure area for macaques of the size of rhesus or cynomolgus monkeys for experimental purposes is 15 cubic meters. In such an enclosure up to 5 adult animals may be kept with further 2 cubic meters for each additional animal.
A number of recent articles in the AWI Quarterly have addressed issues related to the use of nonhuman primates in research: from an alleged international monkey-laundering scheme, to a research industry bid to reverse a species’ endangere
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Three hundred and fifty cats and dogs from the US Virgin Islands, recently decimated by Hurricane Irma, were evacuated by plane early this morning. The Amerijet cargo plane—arranged by Virginia Beach’s Island Dog Rescue with significant funding from the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI)—transported the animals from shelters run by Humane Society of St Thomas and St. Croix Animal Welfare Center to Norfolk International Airport.
Our team members are well-versed in the link between animal maltreatment and human violence. We welcome the opportunity to provide tools and training for other organizations.
Around the world, tens of millions of animals are caged in filthy fur farms and subjected to cruel, body-crushing traps each year so their pelts can be turned into luxury fashion items.
The cruel and dangerous trade in primates as pets brings misery to thousands of animals in the United States. To combat this problem, Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have introduced the Captive Primate Safety Act (CPSA; HR 3135/S 1588).
AWI engages in various projects to expand scientific understanding of the welfare needs of animals in research and campaigns to help shape laws and policies to improve the lives of animals in research.
Project Animal Farm: An Accidental Journey into the Secret World of Farming and the Truth About Our Food tells the true story of Sonia Faruqi, a young investment banker who embarks on a journey—leaving her New York life behind for what she thought would be an idyllic experience on an organic farm.
Project Nim, a documentary film directed by James Marsh, is the story of scientist Herb Terrace and his experiment - initiated in December, 1973 - to teach sign language to a chimpanzee named Nim.
