Press Releases

Chapel Hill, NC –Today, a federal judge issued an order declaring that the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act in its rollback of protections...

Portland, OR —US District Court Judge Michael W. Mosman today issued a preliminary injunction to stop the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from proceeding with controversial experiments to surgically remove the ovaries of wild mares...

Washington, DC — The proposal from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to remove protections from the nation’s only wild population of endangered red wolves has been met with near-unanimous opposition from the public....

Ottawa, Canada —Wildlife and animal protection groups submitted recommendations today urging Canada’s fishery management agency to continue to expand protections for critically imperiled North Atlantic right whales . Following an unprecedented 12 right whale deaths...

Washington, DC —The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) applauds the New Jersey Assembly Monday for passing Nosey’s Law (S1093), which would ban the use of wild and exotic animals for entertainment in traveling animal acts within...

Washington, DC —Today, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) released a first-of-its-kind report highlighting the more than 2.7 million US farm animals who perished in potentially preventable barn fires from 2013 to 2017 . The report,...

Sochi, Russia —Conservation organizations today welcomed the news that Japan’s import and sale of sei whale products from its controversial “scientific” whaling program in the North Pacific has been censured as illegal by the global...

Portland, OR —A coalition of animal protection and wild horse advocacy groups filed a motion Friday for a preliminary injunction in US District Court in Oregon to stop the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from...

UPDATE: The House Natural Resources Committee voted Sept. 26 to remove federal protections for the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act. The vote was 19-15. The full House has not yet scheduled a vote...

Washington, DC —Today, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and 16 other conservation groups submitted more than 500,000 public comments to the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, bringing the total...

Portland, OR –Citing violations of the US Constitution and three federal laws, an alliance of wild horse protection and animal welfare advocates filed a lawsuit today in the US District Court in Portland against the...

Florianopolis, Brazil —As the International Whaling Commission meeting wrapped up this week, members voted on several key measures that will impact whales for years to come. Although the proposal for the creation of a South...

Washington, DC –The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Burns District Office in Oregon announced Wednesday night that it will begin controversial experiments to remove the ovaries of wild mares next month. The federal agency reached...

Washington, DC — Ninety-seven legislators sent a letter yesterday urging House leadership to reject anti-wildlife riders in the final Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The members urged House Speaker Paul...

Washington, DC —Today, the House and Senate Appropriations Committee Conferees will meet to decide the fate of America’s federally protected wild horse and burro herds. At issue is an amendment inserted by Congressman Chris Stewart...

Washington, DC —The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) unveiled a new publication entitled “ Representing Domestic Violence Survivors with Pets in Ohio: A Manual for Domestic Violence Attorneys & Advocates Helping Survivors Obtain Protection Orders .”...

London—After spending more than three decades slaughtering whales in defiance of an international moratorium on commercial whaling, Japan is proposing a package of measures at an International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting next month that would...

New York —The Animal Welfare Institute and Farm Sanctuary sued the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) today for failing to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for department records related to...

Washington, DC —Defending New York’s move to curtail the illegal ivory trade, AWI filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief earlier this month in support of a state law restricting trade in ivory...

Yreka, CA —Responding to legal pressure from a coalition of animal-protection and conservation groups, Siskiyou County officials recently announced that the county has suspended its contract with the notorious federal wildlife-killing program known as Wildlife...