AWI Quarterly Articles | Government/Legal

In February, AWI and a coalition of animal groups sued the USDA for its decision to deny a petition asking the department to ban the cruel practice of slaughtering nonambulatory disabled (NAD) pigs. NAD animals...

As we go to press, a bill to address the exploitation of tiger cubs and other captive wild animals awaits Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s signature. SB 1030 would prohibit public contact with dangerous wild animals...

Although an in-person hearing was canceled, AWI staff provided testimony to the Montgomery County Council in March in support of Bill 6-20. The bill, sponsored by Council Member Tom Hucker, prohibits the intentional release of...

A bill to restrict the sale of ivory and rhino horn in the nation’s capital is poised to pass the DC Council and head to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s desk. A 2017 study by TRAFFIC found...

In August 2019, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service finalized three regulatory changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that drastically undermine this crucial conservation law. In response, Representative Raúl...

The fiscal year 2020 appropriations bills finalized in December included a number of victories for animals: On the marine side, $3 million was allocated for research and monitoring of the gravely imperiled North Atlantic right...

Mayor Cheye Calvo of Berwyn Heights, Md., was changing for a meeting last July after having returned home from walking his dogs, when SWAT team members of the Prince George’s County Police Department burst into...

On Opening day of the 111th Congress, Rep. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) reintroduced the Shark Conservation Act of 2009 (H.R. 81). A similar measure to strengthen the pre-existing Shark Finning Prohibition Act was passed by the...

The US Department of Agriculture recently proposed new “routine uses” of records under the federal Privacy Act that determine disclosure of information outside the department. The USDA seems determined to make permanent the drastic limitations...

On November 25, the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act passed by Congress was signed by President Trump. This new law extends federal jurisdiction to certain egregious forms of animal cruelty.