Fall 2016

Volume
65
Number
3
Fall 2016 Quarterly Cover
About the Cover

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). AWI laboratory animal consultant Dorothy Dyce's account of the horrific conditions at the premises of a Maryland dog dealer who sold animals to laboratories resulted in a February 4, 1966, article in Life magazine that helped galvanize support for passage of the AWA. Dorothy is pictured here with a starving dog she purchased from a dealer and nursed back to health. Turn to page 6 for more on the history and impact of the AWA.

Photograph by Stan Wayman

Table of Contents

Animals in Laboratories

AWI is pleased to announce publication of Committed to Animal Welfare: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum, Volume IV , edited by Viktor Reinhardt.
Proper use of pain relief (analgesics) in laboratory animals is a scientific and ethical imperative. Both the Animal Welfare Act and US Public Health Service policy require appropriate use of analgesics for painful procedures, with...
The abysmal animal welfare record of the New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is well documented: three stipulated penalty fines from 2007, 2010, and 2013 totaling $58,633 and a...
As the previous AWI Quarterly was going to press, we received the stunning news of a USDA settlement with Santa Cruz Biotechnology (SCBT) with respect to allegations of repeated and egregious violations of the Animal...
The animals were kept on a former dairy farm in Gainesville, Virginia, where there was no heat, windows were broken, water pipes had frozen up, and dead dogs remained among the live ones. Some of...

Companion Animals

Thirty-one states either mandate or encourage veterinarians to report animal abuse, and most of these provide vets with immunity from civil (and sometimes criminal) liability for good-faith reporting. Moreover, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)...

Farmed Animals

The welfare of birds at slaughter is not solely a matter of what happens once they pass through the doors of the slaughter establishment. Abuse and unnecessary suffering can occur before the birds even enter...
China’s health ministry has announced new dietary guidelines for the nation’s 1.4 billion inhabitants. The guidelines now recommend no more than 40 to 75 grams (1.4 to 2.6 ounces) of meat per person per day—a...
United Egg Producers (UEP), an industry group representing the interests of egg farmers throughout the United States, says it will seek to eliminate the culling of male chicks. Because male chicks cannot produce eggs—and other...
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has published its first-ever set of guidelines for the humane slaughter of mammals and birds . In it, the AVMA addresses several recommendations offered by AWI, including those questioning...
Perdue Farms, one of America’s largest industrial poultry producers, unveiled a plan in June designed to “accelerate its progress in poultry care.” Perdue claims that the plan, to be implemented over the next several years...

Marine Life

Outbreaks of algae may once again be taking a heavy toll on the West Indian manatee population in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. Since May, nine manatee carcasses have been found, all bearing signs of gastric...
For over a decade, AWI has provided an online database of restaurants in the United States that continue to serve shark fin soup. The goal is to help people avoid such establishments and to call...
The National Aquarium in Baltimore announced in June that it plans to move its colony of eight dolphins from its indoor amphitheater pool to a seaside dolphin sanctuary—the nation’s first. The aquarium publicly stated two...
A new report, Illegal Otter Trade: An Analysis of Seizures in Selected Asian Countries (1980–2015), by TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network, examines the black market trade in live otters and otter parts in the...
On July 24, Mexico committed to permanently banning all gillnet fishing within the Gulf of Mexico habitat of the critically endangered vaquita porpoise. Details, including enforcement mechanisms, have yet to be announced, however.

Terrestrial Wildlife

AWI and allies filed a lawsuit in June challenging the renewal by Monterey County, California, of its contract with the US Department of Agriculture’s deadly Wildlife Services program. The lawsuit asserts that the renewal of...
Florida’s black bears get a one year reprieve from hunting after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted 4-3 to suspend hunts while it gathered more information about bear populations in the state. Last...
The victim was caught out of trapping season and appeared to have been in the trap for days. The trap lacked required identification, and did not catch a furbearing animal, the brutal device’s typical intended...
Feisal Mohamed Ali is now in a Kenyan prison. He has begun to serve a term that will keep him there until July 21, 2036, when he will be 69 years old.
Since a victory by AWI and allies in a lawsuit to limit coyote hunting in the red wolf recovery area (see AWI Quarterly , summer 2014 ), the US Fish and Wildlife Service has continued...
In September 2016, thousands of government delegates, scientists, industry representatives, and conservationists will gather in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP17) to the Convention on International Trade...

Government Affairs

The outcome of these ballot measures this fall will affect conditions for farm animals and wildlife. AWI supports the first three and opposes the fourth.
A horrific incident just outside her district, in which a young boy was seriously injured by a Conibear trap, motivated Representative Alma Adams (D-NC) to join Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY) in introducing the Public Safety...

Legal

In July, the US Department of Agriculture proposed a rule that, if finalized, would bring us closer to ending the egregiously inhumane practice of soring Tennessee Walking horses, racking horses, and other gaited breeds.

Reviews

At a time when thousands of whales were being slaughtered each year, the release of the album Songs of the Humpback Whale in 1970 sparked a movement that eventually led to one of the great...
As a child, I enjoyed standing in the shallow water of creeks, lakes, rivers, and the ocean watching fish. Later, as a scuba diver, I plunged deeper, observing the behavior and interactions of a wide...