Press Releases

Two and a half months after the start of the 2016 fiscal year and after several short-term extensions, the US Congress released early this morning the federal budget funding the government through September 30, 2016...

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) notified the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) today of its intent to sue the agency for failing to make a timely 12-month finding, as required by the Endangered Species...

The China Cetacean Alliance (CCA), a coalition of international and Chinese animal welfare organizations officially launched at a media event in Beijing last week, issued an unprecedented report on the captive cetacean industry in mainland...

Responding to the United Nations’ recent decision to award Japan a much coveted non-permanent seat on the Security Council, 65 conservation and animal protection organizations opposed to Japan’s commercial whaling are protesting to UN Secretary...

Conservation organizations launched an online campaign this week entitled “The Truth about Red Wolves,” aimed at building support for the dwindling population of the world’s only wild red wolves in North Carolina. The campaign is...

More than 150 conservation groups have signed a letter to President Obama asking him to oppose all policy “riders” that would undermine the Endangered Species Act during negotiations on final spending legislation for Fiscal Year...

Conservation groups filed a complaint late yesterday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina against the US Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) for its failure to protect the world’s only...

The US Navy today said it plans to prepare a new environmental impact statement for training and testing exercises in the Pacific Ocean from December 2018 onward, including the use of sonar and explosives that...

At a press conference on Friday, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) announced that he will introduce the Orca Responsibility and Care Advancement (ORCA) Act. This landmark legislation would phase out the captivity of orcas so that...

A quarter of the US Senate signed a letter to President Obama urging him to veto any spending bills that include politically motivated riders targeting endangered and threatened species. As the letter notes, the “extinction...

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) program charged with resolving wildlife conflicts—but that perversely is responsible for killing millions of animals each year in the United States—received carte blanche from the USDA Office of Inspector...

Iceland’s controversial fin whale hunt has now ended with a catch of 155 endangered fin whales, the largest slaughter since the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling. New evidence obtained on the ground by the Environmental...

Leading equine rescues and sanctuaries from across the country gathered in Irving, Texas, on September 25 and 26 for the 2015 Homes for Horses Coalition conference. The only national conference for horse rescues and sanctuaries...

A federal court today affirmed the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) denial of Georgia Aquarium’s application for a permit under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to import 18 beluga whales from Russia’s Sea of...

Local, state and national animal protection and environmental organizations filed a “friend of the court” brief today in support of a lawsuit to stop the impending trophy hunt of Florida black bears, an iconic and...

A federal court today entered an order settling two cases challenging the US Navy’s training and testing activities off the coasts of Southern California and Hawai‘i, securing long-sought protections for whales, dolphins, and other marine...

Conservation and animal welfare organizations, including the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Defenders of Wildlife, and the Red Wolf Coalition, as represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), notified the US Fish and Wildlife Service...

A coalition of animal welfare and conservation organizations launched a two-week advertising campaign today on Alaska Dispatch News to coincide with the Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement and Resilience (GLACIER)...

Animal welfare and wildlife organizations filed a motion today with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to stay the implementation of a proposed rule that would allow three types of leghold traps—the Egg, Duff...

Photographs (shown below) of an Icelandic whaling vessel dragging dead endangered fin whales to shore for processing were released today by Timothy Baker, an American whale-watching tourist.