Spring 2019

Volume
68
Number
1
Spring 2019 Quarterly Cover
About the Cover

A mother northern giraffe grooms her calf in Namibia. Giraffe populations in Africa are in decline—threatened by habitat loss, civil unrest, and hunting for meat and trophies. At the 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP18) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), held in Sri Lanka, the parties will consider a proposal to list giraffes on CITES Appendix II to control trade in the animals and their parts. AWI will be at CoP18 to advocate for giraffes and other animals. Turn to page 12 for our overview of what’s at stake.

Table of Contents

Animals in Laboratories

A recent discussion on the Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum (LAREF) focused on new enrichment ideas for rabbits. Brianna Parkinson initiated the conversation to share her experience and to ask what others have tried...

Companion Animals

On March 7, AWI presented the Schweitzer Medal to John Thompson in recognition of his extraordinary efforts to improve law enforcement’s recognition of animal cruelty as a crime of violence and its response to those...

Farmed Animals

Every year in the United States, barn fires kill hundreds of thousands of farm animals, yet no federal laws or regulations are in place to prevent these tragic incidents. AWI, which compiles and analyzes barn...
California’s foie gras ban is now in effect for the foreseeable future—a win for ducks, geese, and animal welfare advocates. In an anticlimactic conclusion to years of contentious litigation and debate, the US Supreme Court...
In January, the Healthy Students Amendment Act (HSAA), which incorporated the Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP), passed into law in Washington, DC, making the DC school system the fifth in the country to adopt the...
AWI sued the US Department of Agriculture in November for failing to respond to a four-and-a-half-year-old rulemaking petition. The petition calls for regulations under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and Poultry Products Inspection Act to...
Last November, California voters passed Proposition 12, which will end the extreme confinement of farm animals in the state. As one of the most far-reaching laws for farm animal welfare to date, Proposition 12 ensures...
In addition to declining to hear the foie gras challenge, the Supreme Court passed on the opportunity to weigh in on another farm animal welfare challenge, this time with respect to state laws regarding confinement...
A federal court has struck down Iowa’s “ag-gag” law. In 2012, the state created the crime of “agricultural production facility fraud” after several undercover investigations revealed worker cruelty to animals. The incidents included farm workers...

Marine Life

In 1995, the US Marine Mammal Commission (MMC) invited AWI’s Dr. Naomi Rose (then with another organization) to co-author a chapter on captive marine mammals for a book it was publishing on marine mammal policy...
Dolphinaris, a swim-with facility in the Arizona desert near Scottsdale, opened with eight dolphins in October 2016. AWI and other groups alerted the proprietors and the public that housing dolphins in the desert was a...
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports 76 confirmed cases of large whale entanglements in US waters in 2017. Given the fact that whales can become entangled in areas far from shore, the actual entanglement...
On December 26, Japan announced that it will leave the International Whaling Commission (IWC), ending its 65-year membership in the organization. In an associated announcement, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga stated that the nation plans...
Researchers from Stony Brook University, Florida International University, and BLOOM Association in Hong Kong have developed what they call a “reliable, field-based, fast … and cost effective” protocol for detecting, in a single reaction, nine...
The Trump administration’s plans to expand offshore oil and gas exploration along the Eastern Seaboard spells trouble for the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale, of which only 450 or so remain. Right whales traverse...
Amazingly, the ambient temperature around a buried green sea turtle egg influences the turtle’s gender. The warmer it gets, the more likely the baby will be female. Research conducted by the University of Exeter (United...

Terrestrial Wildlife

In late May, thousands of government delegates, conservationists, scientists, industry lobbyists, and others will gather in Colombo, Sri Lanka, for the 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP18) to the Convention on International...
Last October, the US Forest Service (USFS)—which manages approximately 8,000 wild horses and burros in the United States—made a shocking announcement: The agency would soon begin rounding up and selling horses from California’s largest herd...
On March 3, customs officials in the Philippines seized 1,529 live turtles that were found wrapped in duct tape and stuffed inside four suitcases in Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The suitcases had arrived on...
Acting interior Secretary David Bernhardt, in a March 6 speech at the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Denver, stated that the US Fish and Wildlife Service plans to eliminate Endangered Species Act...

Government Affairs

Zero. That’s how much money was in the proposed budget for enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) under the Reagan administration. This attempt to gut funding made clear that administration’s total lack of interest...
The 115th Congress ended in chaos and rancor, with a large portion of the government shut down amidst a continuing battle over the border wall. Congress did manage to complete work on the 2018 farm...
At the end of 2018, Hawaii became just the second state (after New Jersey) to prohibit the use of exotic animals in traveling shows. On December 21, Governor David Ige signed a new rule, which...
As the 116th Congress gets underway, a number of bipartisan bills that benefit animals have already been introduced in the House of Representatives: The Pet Safety and Protection Act (HR 689) — Introduced by Reps...
Before leaving office, former governor Rick Snyder vetoed a pair of bills that were pitched as efforts to strengthen oversight of pet stores but which in fact would have allowed the continued sale of animals...
As in Washington, DC, the new year ushered in new sessions in state legislatures, and bills to improve animal welfare have been introduced in several of them—including the Michigan circus animal bill mentioned at left...

In Remembrance

Hardy Jones, who died in December, was a videographer who used his skills behind the camera, along with his warm and kind personality, to expose the world to the beauty of dolphins and their ocean...

Reviews

Of the various methods of population control inflicted on wildlife by animal damage control agents, wildlife managers, and trappers, strangling neck snares are among the most horrific tools in the toolbox. The primer Intolerable Cruelty...
In Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking, Rachel Love Nuwer crafts an important update to an old story of wildlife exploitation. The book is written in a flowing journalistic style, with each chapter...
In Vaquita: Science, Politics and Crime in the Sea of Cortez, author Brooke Bessesen elucidates the complex story of the vaquita. With more than 30 years’ experience in animal rescue and marine fieldwork, Bessesen writes...