Press Releases

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Animal Protection League of New Jersey (APLNJ) today provided video footage to all members of the New Jersey Legislature demonstrating the barbarity of enclosed leghold traps. In contravention...

Washington, DC—California Governor Jerry Brown officially signed groundbreaking legislation yesterday, prohibiting the breeding and theatrical performance of captive orcas in California, as well as their export, consistent with federal law, out of North America.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issued an announcement today on the future of the red wolf recovery program, including both for captive wolves and the wild red wolves, the only wild population...

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) welcomes the introduction of a new federal bill—spearheaded by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)—that would restrict the use of body-gripping traps on public lands administered by the US Departments of Agriculture...

The World Conservation Congress today formally adopted a motion against Japan’s research whaling program, which is used as a front to kill whales for commercial sale. The motion calls on Japan to stop issuing “special...

Steel-jaw leghold traps, widely criticized for being indiscriminate and inhumane, are presently prohibited or significantly restricted in the majority of countries around the world. According to research released today by the Library of Congress, more...

Washington, DC—The California legislature today sent historic legislation to Governor Jerry Brown that would prohibit the breeding and theatrical performance of captive orcas in California, as well as their export, consistent with federal law, out...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) announced today the winners of its Christine Stevens Wildlife Award. Established in 2006, the Christine Stevens Wildlife Award provides grants of up to $10,000 to help fund studies on...

Animal Welfare Institute, Center for Biological Diversity, and the Natural Resources Defense Council make the following statement regarding President Obama and President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico’s commitments on the imperiled vaquita, announced today http://bit.ly/2a6uP2R

On June 22, 2016, Georgia Aquarium announced that it will no longer acquire any cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) for its exhibits from the wild. Along with this announcement, Georgia Aquarium released a media kit...

At its 40th session this week, the United Nation’s World Heritage Committee (Committee) directed Mexico to take immediate action to save the imperiled vaquita porpoise, or risk “in danger” status for its “Islands and Protected...

A petition including nearly half a million signatures was delivered to the US Fish and Wildlife Service today, urging the agency to fulfill its legal duty under the Endangered Species Act to recover the critically...

Conservationists rallied outside the Mexican Embassy today to highlight the plight of the vaquita marina, the world’s smallest and most endangered porpoise, found only in Mexico’s Gulf of California. The species population has declined more...

A coalition of animal, environmental, and consumer protection organizations submitted a joint comment today to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on its proposed rule to amend animal welfare requirements under the Certified Organic label...

Representatives Alma Adams (D-NC) and Nita Lowey (D-NY) have introduced the Public Safety and Wildlife Protection Act (H.R. 5560), a bill that would curtail the use of steel-jaw leghold traps and Conibear (also known as...

Conservation groups late yesterday asked the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina to stop the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) from capturing and killing—and authorizing private landowners to capture and...

Norway is now the world’s leading whaling nation, killing more whales in the past two years than Japan and Iceland combined. A new report released today calls on the international community to respond to Norway’s...

Over the past few months, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has been the target of several online petitions, circulated on Change.org and spread through social media networks, which falsely claim AWI supports the cruel killing...

Animal protection and conservation organizations filed a lawsuit today challenging Monterey County’s contract renewal with the US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services—a notorious federal wildlife-killing program that has killed more than 3,000 coyotes, bobcats, mountain...

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Animal Welfare Institute today filed a notice of intent to sue the US Department of Agriculture to ensure that endangered ocelots aren’t inadvertently killed as part of its...