Press Releases

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...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) commends the US House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee for approving H.R. 1568, the SAVE Right Whales Act during their first committee markup of the 116th Congress. H.R. 1568...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is grateful for today’s reintroduction of the Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the Importation of Large Animal Trophies Act (CECIL Act), named after the lion killed in 2015 by an...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is alarmed that the federal government has proposed allowing the Makah tribe of Washington to kill gray whales again. Yesterday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that it...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) commends the 111 members of the US House of Representatives who recently signed a bipartisan letter in support of defunding federal inspections of horse slaughter facilities. Blocking the US...

Washington, DC–The Animal Welfare Institute commends today’s announcement by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Mathematics that the red wolf is a “distinct species.” As detailed in the National Academies’ report, “Evaluating the Taxonomic...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) strongly opposes President Trump’s nomination of former oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt to be the next secretary of the interior. Bernhardt spent years as a lobbyist on the...

Washington, DC—Today, a group of prominent marine mammal biologists from across the globe, including Dr. Naomi Rose of the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), sent a second letter requesting that Russia release the remaining 80+ beluga...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is gratified to learn that the Bureau of Land Management has rescinded a controversial sales policy for wild horses and burros in the United States that could have resulted...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is dismayed to learn that 4,000 pigs perished Wednesday at Holden Farms in Naples, Wisconsin. While we are relieved that no humans were injured in this fire, the horrible...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) supports the reintroduction of the Captive Primate Safety Act (CPSA), which addresses the cruel and dangerous problem of pet primate ownership in the United States. Sponsored by Reps. Earl...