Press Releases

Washington— Conservation groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration today for failing to respond to their emergency request to ban certain seafood imports from Mexico’s Gulf of California in order to save the critically...

Washington, DC — A new report , released to the public today, reveals the enormous ecological benefits that whales and other cetaceans provide to the environment. The report is the product of a workshop ,...

New York — A coalition of animal welfare, consumer safety, and worker rights organizations announced today that more than 82,000 concerned members of the public, workers and allies have raised their voices against faster slaughter...

Patchogue, NY —The Animal Welfare Institute and Wildlife Preserves, Inc. filed a lawsuit today against K. Christopher Soller, superintendent of Fire Island National Seashore (FINS), and the National Park Service (NPS). The complaint alleges that,...

Geneva —The Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) missed an opportunity this week to put an end to Japan’s massive domestic sales of meat...

Conservation groups filed a legal notice today pressing the US government to ban seafood caught from Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California in an effort to save the last remaining vaquita porpoises.

In a letter issued today to President Donald Trump and Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) president Cathy Liss applauded the President’s November 17 decision to halt the import of...

Washington, DC—Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke issued a statement late Friday night halting a notice in the Federal Register —published earlier that day—allowing the importation of sport-hunted elephant trophies into the United States. In...

The US Fish and Wildlife Service issued today a notice in the Federal Register allowing hunters to bring trophies of elephants killed in Zimbabwe back to the United States, reversing a ban put in place...

Actress and activist Miranda Cosgrove late yesterday joined approximately 50 science and business leaders from across the country in Washington, DC to urge members of Congress to defend the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The...

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) today released a new report describing the poultry industry’s level of compliance with humane handling regulations and guidelines. The report covers activities related to the treatment of chickens and turkeys...

A breeding-age female vaquita porpoise died on November 4, following her capture by the VaquitaCPR (Conservation, Protection and Recovery) program—which seeks to capture and temporarily relocate the remaining vaquita to an ocean pen in the...

Giving Tuesday, celebrated annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media. For many, Giving Tuesday (on November 28 this year) marks the start of...

In response to a lawsuit filed by wildlife advocacy groups, a San Francisco federal court today approved a settlement requiring the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services to implement numerous protections for wildlife in Northern...

Animal Defense League of Arizona, the Animal Welfare Institute, and Plea for the Sea have learned of the death of Bodie, a young dolphin at Dolphinaris Arizona. The seven-year-old bottlenose dolphin reportedly died in September...

The Animal Welfare Institute, the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Humane Society Legislative Fund (HSLF) are calling on the US...

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) announced today the 2017 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...

Conservation organizations announced today that Trader Joe’s has declared it will stop buying shrimp from Mexico. The popular grocery store chain’s decision follows pressure from organizations behind the Boycott Mexican Shrimp campaign, launched earlier this...

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) commends Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) for his recent reintroduction of the Refuge from Cruel Trapping Act (S. 1919), a bill to prohibit the possession or use of body-gripping traps within...

Three hundred and fifty cats and dogs from the US Virgin Islands, recently decimated by Hurricane Irma, were evacuated by plane early this morning. The Amerijet cargo plane—arranged by Virginia Beach’s Island Dog Rescue with...