Press Releases

Update: Dolphinaris announced on Feb. 5 that it would temporarily close while an “outside" panel of veterinarians, pathologists, water quality experts and animal behavior specialists evaluates the dolphinarium following the death of a fourth dolphin...

Washington, DC —Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA) and Congressman Don Young (R-AK) today introduced the Wildlife Conservation and Anti-Trafficking Act of 2019, which would strengthen the enforcement powers of federal agencies tasked with fighting poaching and...

Washington, DC —Federal lawmakers introduced legislation today to permanently ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption in the US and end the current export of American horses for slaughter abroad. Introduced by Reps. Jan...

Washington, DC —On December 28, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, issued a written statement announcing the government’s decision to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in order “to resume commercial whaling” 1 within...

Washington, DC —More than 150,000 farm animals perished in potentially preventable barn fires in the United States in 2018, an Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) analysis of media reports to date has found. Of the 148...

Washington DC —With the president’s signature today, a new Farm Bill that includes major wins for animals has become law. This legislation, officially known as the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, includes a number of...

Washington, DC —The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is gravely disappointed that President Donald Trump signed legislation yesterday to amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and allow for the lethal removal of nearly 1,000 sea...

Washington, DC –As the Trump administration works to finalize a set of rules to weaken the Endangered Species Act, a new report released today lists 10 animals threatened by the administration’s existing and proposed policies....

Washington, DC —Today, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) announced the seven recipients of its Christine Stevens Wildlife Award who are developing innovative, less intrusive wildlife study techniques and more humane methods of resolving conflicts between...

Washington DC —The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) commends the House-Senate conference committee for rejecting provisions that would have been harmful to animals in the final version of the Farm Bill, which was released last night,...

Washington, DC —The US Senate voted by unanimous consent last night to pass the Endangered Salmon Predation Prevention Act (S. 3119), legislation that amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) in order to allow for...

Washington, DC —Today, the Council of the District of Columbia voted unanimously to pass the Healthy Students Amendment Act of 2018, which codifies into law the District’s implementation of the Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP)....

Washington, DC —In a victory for one of Earth’s most endangered marine mammals, a federal court sided with conservationists today and, for the third time, kept in place a four-month-old ban on the United States...

Orlando, FL —Today, PETA, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), the International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, Cetacean Society International, whale expert Dr. Lori Marino, PETA Foundation veterinarian Dr. Heather...

November 27 is Giving Tuesday—a perfect opportunity to pause during the holiday season and contribute to a worthy cause. This year, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is collaborating with OPR Coastal Primate Sanctuary, a facility...

Washington, DC —The Animal Welfare Institute is gravely disappointed that some of the recommendations released today by the Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery and Task Force fail to take bold action to save these endangered...

Ishinomaki, Japan —Conservation and animal protection organizations are calling on the Japanese government to prove that a shipment of Icelandic whale products that arrived in Ishinomaki, Japan, yesterday does not include illegally imported meat from...

Washington, DC —This week, a group of prominent whale and dolphin biologists from across the globe, including Dr. Naomi Rose of the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), sent a letter urging a Russian federal agency to...

Washington, DC —Today, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) sued the US Department of Agriculture for its unreasonable delay in responding to a 2014 AWI petition , which asked the agency to require independent certification of...

Portland, Oregon —Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that it will drop proposed sterilization experiments on wild horses in Oregon, just days after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction to stop the...