AWI Newsroom
For media information regarding the Animal Welfare Institute or interview opportunities with one of our experts, please contact:
Kim Meneo, Animal Welfare Institute
kim@awionline.org, (202) 446-2116
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Oregon Adopts New Protections Against Deadly Whale Entanglements
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted new regulations today aimed at reducing whale entanglements in the state’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery. The measures include requirements for electronic vessel monitoring...
Conservation Groups Across US Respond to Trump Administration’s Attacks on Endangered Species Act
The Trump Administration weakened the Endangered Species Act (ESA) with a final rulemaking that could open the door to widespread destruction of habitat for endangered wildlife by rescinding the regulatory...
AWI Celebrates 75 Years of Advocacy
Seventy-five years ago today, Christine Stevens founded the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) to combat the cruel treatment of animals used in experimental laboratories. The focus of AWI’s work soon expanded...
Marineland Beluga Cooperative Agreement Omits Crucial Breeding Restriction
Today, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced it had entered into a cooperative agreement with SeaWorld, Georgia Aquarium, and John G. Shedd Aquarium to import 28 beluga whales...
AWI Awards Scholarships to 15 Aspiring Animal Welfare Leaders
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) today announced the recipients of its annual scholarship, which recognizes students who embody the organization’s goal of alleviating the suffering of animals caused by people....
AWI Calls on AVMA to Withdraw Support for “Save Our Bacon Act” Language
Following the ardent endorsement by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) of a harmful Farm Bill provision that could negatively impact the welfare of countless farmed animals, the Animal Welfare...
Important Victory for Farmed Animals in Senate Farm Bill Draft
Yesterday, the US Senate released a discussion draft of its version of the Farm Bill. In a victory for farmed animal welfare and consumers’ and states’ rights, the Senate text...
AWI’s Animal Transport Recommendations Corroborated by Federal Agency
A new report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), titled Animal Transport: Congress Should Consider Modernizing the Law to Better Protect Livestock, buttresses findings by the Animal Welfare Institute...
Animal Welfare Groups Celebrate Committee Passage of the Van Drew-Titus Amendment to Ban Horse Slaughter
By a vote of 34–30, the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed its five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill, which includes a bipartisan amendment led by US Reps. Jeff Van...
Lawsuit Filed to Halt Seafood Imports from Foreign Fisheries Killing Marine Mammals With Fishing Gear
Conservation groups sued the National Marine Fisheries Service and US government officials today to stop seafood imports into the United States from 44 foreign fisheries in eight countries that incidentally...
AWI Unveils New Website with Enhanced Educational and Animal Advocacy Tools; Improved Accessibility
Today, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) debuted its newly modernized website, designed to make it easier than ever to learn about contemporary animal welfare issues and to take action for...
Farm Bill Passes House in a Missed Opportunity to Help Animals
Today, the House of Representatives voted 224-200 to pass the Farm Bill—the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 (H.R. 7567). In addition to continuing to utilize taxpayer dollars...
AWI Grant Helping to Expand Resources for Domestic Violence Survivors and Their Pets in Illinois
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is pleased to announce Oasis Women’s Center as the recipient of its 2026 Safe Havens for Pets Desert Grant to expand sheltering resources for the pets of...
AWI Awards Eight Refinement Grants to Improve the Welfare of Animals in Laboratories
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) today recognizes eight Refinement Research Award and Implementing Refinement Grant recipients who are working to improve the lives of animals used in laboratories across the...
New Colorado Bill Protects Beavers to Reduce Wildfire, Drought Risks
Conservation groups joined Colorado state lawmakers Representative Lindsay, Representative Velasco, Senator Kipp, and Senator Cutter last week to introduce House Bill 26-1323, a first-of-its-kind measure that would protect beavers on...
House Ag Committee Advances Farm Bill: Companion Animals Fare Better than Horses and Farmed Animals
This week, following deliberations over the course of two days, the House Committee on Agriculture voted to advance its version of the Farm Bill—H.R. 7567, the Farm, Food, and National...
Trump Administration Signals Potential Rollback of Lifesaving Protections for Critically Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) today expressed deep concern following the publication of a Federal Register notice indicating that the Trump administration is considering weakening the 2008 vessel speed rule, one of the...
Colorado Bill Would Phase Out Heatstroke as a Poultry Depopulation Method
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) welcomes yesterday’s introduction of the Modernizing Depopulation Act in the Colorado General Assembly. The bill would establish Colorado as the first state to phase out...
Mexico’s Proposed New Regulations May Doom the Vaquita Porpoise to Extinction
Mexico is on the brink of publishing new rules that will significantly weaken protections for the vaquita porpoise—the world’s most endangered cetacean—potentially leading to the extinction of the species. The...
Illinois Bill Introduced to Protect Public Health from Disease Risks on Fur Farms
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) lauds today’s filing of the Finding Urgent Relief from Vectors for Infection Risk and Unchecked Spillover (FUR VIRUS) Act in Illinois, which would implement crucial...