Press Releases

Washington, DC—Conservation groups sued the Trump administration today to force a long overdue decision to sanction Mexico for its illegal fishing and trade that is causing the vaquita porpoise’s extinction. The U.S. government has ignored...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) condemns today’s decision by the National Park Service (NPS) to reverse a 2015 rule prohibiting unethical and unsporting methods for killing wildlife on the 10 national preserves managed by...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) commends lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives for including the Horse Transportation Safety Act (HTSA) in transportation legislation unveiled last week. The HTSA would ban the use of...

AWI has chosen to go quiet this week on social media. While the animal welfare issues we work on remain as pertinent as ever, we are cognizant of the fact that people around the country...

Eureka, Calif.—In response to advocacy by a coalition of animal protection and conservation groups, Humboldt County today unanimously approved a new contract with the federal wildlife-killing program, Wildlife Services, that will result in far fewer...

Washington, DC—The District of Columbia has passed a law to address the surging local market for goods that contribute to declines in endangered wildlife. The Elephant Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Trafficking Prohibition Act, which bans...

For many years, AWI has participated in Giving Tuesday—a global day of giving on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. #GivingTuesdayNow is a newly created global day of giving and unity that takes place on May 5...

Denver, CO—A coalition of leading wildlife protection organizations is applauding the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission for their vote yesterday to ban wildlife killing contests for furbearer and certain small game species in the state...

Washington, DC—Amid reports of COVID-19 outbreaks at the largest meat processors in the United States, a new analysis of government documents by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has found that, over a three-year span, JBS...

Washington, DC—In the wake of Netflix docuseries “Tiger King” and heightened public attention to the exploitation of captive big cats, 53 bipartisan members of Congress sent a letter yesterday to the U.S. Department of Agriculture...

Washington, DC—Lobbyists and executives for Mystic Aquarium and Georgia Aquarium used back-door politics to try to win approval for a controversial permit application to import five captive-born beluga whales from Marineland in Canada, an Animal...

Washington, DC—In a strong bipartisan showing, more than 60 members of Congress sent a letter this week to the World Health Organization, the World Organisation for Animal Health, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of...

Washington, DC—An analysis by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has found that the majority of states have gotten off to a slow start reporting animal cruelty incidents to the FBI’s national crime database. In 2015...

Washington, DC—Today, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) sent a letter to the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association urging the world’s largest poultry organization to immediately implement fire prevention strategies to stop devastating barn fires that...

Dear Members and other friends of AWI: As you know, coronavirus (COVID-19) is spreading around the globe, and the human species is facing a pandemic unlike any the vast majority of us have endured in...

Washington, DC—The US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced today that it will ban imports of Mexican shrimp and other seafood caught in the habitat of the critically endangered vaquita porpoise. The action is being...

Honolulu, HI—Following the recent deaths of 21 pregnant cows on a barge traveling from Oahu to Kauai, the Hawaii Department of Agriculture (HDOA) formally committed last week to adopting regulations to better protect farm animals...

Rochester, NY—Animal protection groups sued Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and the Department of Agriculture today for failing to protect pigs who are too sick or injured to walk at slaughterhouses, posing serious risks to...

Washington, DC—The US House Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing today on “Improving Safety and Transparency in America’s Food and Drugs.” Included on the agenda was the Safeguard...

We at AWI, like so many people around the world, are deeply concerned about the impacts of the wildfires raging in Australia. The loss of life, both animal and human, is devastating. With the estimate—considered...