Press Releases

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 whales...

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 hybrid...

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 stop...

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 certain animal...

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 federal...

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 for...

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 in...

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. Fully 99.9...

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 in Canadian...

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 the...

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, issued in...

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 body...

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 performing...

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 to...

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 Bureau...

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 Atlantic...

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 this...

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 Ryan and...

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 (R-UT)...