Press Releases

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) today gave Mexico one year to improve protections for the only remaining home of the critically endangered vaquita or face an “in danger” designation for the Gulf of California...

Tucson, AZ —Under a settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity and the Animal Welfare Institute approved today in Tucson federal court, the US Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed...

Washington, DC —The National Marine Fisheries Service today proposed listing the Taiwanese humpback dolphin (also known as the Taiwanese white dolphin), Sousa chinensis taiwanensis , as endangered, determining that the subspecies has a high risk...

Conservationists sued the US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services today over its wildlife-killing program in Northern California. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, seeks updated environmental analysis of the program’s killing of...

A coalition of conservation and wildlife organizations today formally petitioned the Wildlife Services program of the US Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for an immediate ban on the use of...

Conservation groups petitioned the US National Marine Fisheries Service today to ban imports of seafood caught with gillnets in Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California in an effort to save the critically endangered vaquita porpoise.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), and Farm Forward implore the USDA to implement the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices rule without delay.

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) announced today the publication of A Dangerous Life, their graphic novel on the global ivory trade and its deadly toll on elephants, in Chinese...

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) today criticized guidelines proposed by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) that permit the use of inhumane killing...

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) released today a new report, “Humane Slaughter Update: Federal and State Oversight of the Welfare of Farm Animals at Slaughter.” Key findings of the report—which examines Humane Methods of Slaughter...

A coalition of international whale protection organizations today strongly condemned the start of Norway’s 2017 whaling season, which began on April 1. The coalition believes the hunt could result in the cruel slaughter of up...

Campaign highlights need for Mexico to take emergency action Boston, MA— Conservation organizations today announced a boycott of all shrimp caught in Mexico to pressure Mexican officials to save the endangered vaquita, the world’s smallest...

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) revealed today that the US Department of Agriculture filed a complaint earlier this year against Wild Wilderness, Inc., a notorious Arkansas tourist attraction operated by the Wilmoth family that exhibits...

A pending lawsuit supported by a potent segment of the walking horse industry appears to be the major impetus for the US Department of Agriculture’s egregious decision to remove untold thousands of online Horse Protection...

Scientists announced this week that only an estimated 30 vaquita porpoises remain in the world. In a new report , the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita (CIRVA) recognizes that the extinction of...

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) applauds the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for releasing its final rule to improve the welfare of animals raised under the Certified Organic label.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced it is shutting its doors in May 2017 after 146 years in operation, according to a January 14 press release from Feld Entertainment.

Federal lawmakers have introduced legislation to prevent the establishment of horse slaughter operations within the US, end the current export of American horses for slaughter abroad, and protect the public from consuming toxic horse meat...

Five animal protection organizations submitted a petition today to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), asking the agency to cancel its registration for sodium fluoroacetate, a pesticide commonly known as Compound 1080. Currently, the pesticide is...

Tilikum, the SeaWorld orca who changed the captive cetacean world when he killed his trainer, Dawn Brancheau, at SeaWorld Orlando in 2010, has died. He was approximately 36 years of age and the father of...