Press Releases

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)...

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) unveiled a new publication entitled “Representing Domestic Violence Survivors with Pets in Ohio: A Manual for Domestic Violence Attorneys & Advocates Helping Survivors Obtain Protection Orders.” The manual is...

London—After spending more than three decades slaughtering whales in defiance of an international moratorium on commercial whaling, Japan is proposing a package of measures at an International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting next month that would...

New York—The Animal Welfare Institute and Farm Sanctuary sued the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) today for failing to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for department records related to the...

Washington, DC—Defending New York’s move to curtail the illegal ivory trade, AWI filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief earlier this month in support of a state law restricting trade in ivory and...

Yreka, CA—Responding to legal pressure from a coalition of animal-protection and conservation groups, Siskiyou County officials recently announced that the county has suspended its contract with the notorious federal wildlife-killing program known as Wildlife Services...

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) applauds Governor Rauner of Illinois for signing a bill to restrict the sale of ivory and rhino horn within the state yesterday. “This law limits the sale of tusks and...

Washington, DC—In a letter sent today to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) urged the agency to protect poultry from mistreatment, citing more than 50 recent situations in which...

Fort Collins, CO—Following substantial public outcry, Colorado State University (CSU) announced yesterday that it was withdrawing from a joint plan with the Bureau of Land Management to conduct surgical sterilization experiments on wild horses. More...