Press Releases

Washington, DC—Earlier this week, the Trump administration reauthorized use of sodium cyanide in wildlife-killing devices called M-44s. These “cyanide bombs” received approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency despite inhumanely and indiscriminately killing thousands of...

Washington, DC—As Shark Week kicks off July 28, restaurants across the nation are contributing to the rapid decline in shark species by serving up soup made from shark fins, despite bans in 12 states and...

Washington, DC—In an important victory for Tennessee Walking Horses, the U.S. House of Representatives today passed the U.S. Senator Joseph D. Tydings Memorial Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act (H.R. 693) by a vote of...

Washington, DC—The recent release of “Long Gone Wild,” a riveting documentary revealing the brutal truth about the ongoing trade in wild-caught orcas, highlights the intensifying controversy over confining cetaceans to barren concrete boxes in marine...

Washington, DC— Nearly 2 million Americans, joined by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and a broad coalition of animal welfare and environmental organizations, have registered their opposition to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) applauds the introduction today of the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act (TEAPSPA) in the U.S. Senate. Sponsored by Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), this bill would amend...

Washington, DC—Conservation and animal protection organizations rallied outside the Mexican Embassy today to call on the Mexican government to take drastic action to save the few remaining vaquita porpoises left on the planet. According to...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Humane Education Network (HEN) announced the winners of the 2019 A Voice for Animals contest. The annual contest offers monetary awards to high school students age 14–18...

Baku, Azerbaijan—The UNESCO World Heritage Committee today approved an “in danger” designation for an area of Mexico that is the last-remaining home of the critically endangered vaquita porpoise and a fish called the totoaba. An...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is relieved to hear that no whales will be killed by Icelandic whalers this summer. In a June television news interview, Ólafur Ólafsson, a whaling vessel captain, said that...

Washington, DC–Japan faces international criticism and risks legal challenges as it launches a government-subsidized commercial whaling program to kill 383 whales this year with no international oversight. On June 30, Japan withdrew from the International...

Osaka, Japan—Celebrities and animal conservation and welfare NGOs from across the globe are calling for an “international whaling intervention” to be staged at the G20 summit in Osaka as summit host Japan prepares to launch...

Washington, DC—The US House of Representatives passed HR 3055, an appropriations “minibus” that covers the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, and the Interior, as well as other departments and agencies. The bill...

Washington, DC—Sens. Bob Menendez, (D-NJ), Lindsey Graham, (R-SC), Sheldon Whitehouse, (D-RI), and Susan Collins, (R-ME), introduced legislation today to permanently end the slaughter of American horses for human consumption in the United States and abroad...

Ottawa, Canada–S-203, the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act, has received Royal Assent, making the historic legislation, which ends the public display of captive cetaceans, official Canadian law. After nearly four years of...

Washington, DC— Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), co-chair of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus, led a bipartisan letter signed by 30 members of Congress to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt criticizing the Bureau of Land Management's proposed...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) supports the reintroduction of the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act (TEAPSPA). Sponsored by Representatives Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and David Schweikert (R-AZ), this bill would amend...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) endorses the Child and Animal Abuse Detection and Reporting Act of 2019, introduced today by Representatives Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH) and John Katko (R-NY). This legislation would amend the...

Burns, Oregon—Despite multiple lawsuits, federal injunctions and overwhelming public opposition, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced last night that it is again moving ahead with barbaric experiments on captive wild mares. It will be...

Washington, DC—Today, 64 members of Congress sent a bipartisan letter to US Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and US Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen objecting to the Forest Service’s impending plan to sell federally...