Animal Welfare Institute

Animal Welfare Institute Dedicated to alleviating animal suffering caused by people since 1951.

America’s wild horses and b***os are facing unprecedented threats to their very existence—which is why we’re working on ...
05/28/2026

America’s wild horses and b***os are facing unprecedented threats to their very existence—which is why we’re working on Capitol Hill to secure a future where they can continue to roam, free from brutal helicopter roundups, slaughter, and lethal “management.”

In April, AWI and American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC) joined forces in the halls of Congress, meeting with lawmakers and their staff to discuss wild horse and b***o policy issues, from directives in appropriations bills to the Wild Horse and B***o Protection Act (H.R.4356), which would end the use of helicopters in roundups of wild horses and b***os.

We also cohosted a reception on the Hill, uniting key Democratic and Republican allies who recognize the importance of protecting these beloved animals. Congresswoman Dina Titus, Rep. David Schweikert, and Congressman Steve Cohen—cochairs of the newly formed, bipartisan Congressional Wild Horse Caucus (along with Congressman Juan Ciscomani and Congressman Mark Pocan)—spoke during the event, as did AWI’s equine program director, Dr. Joanna Grossman, and AWHC’s executive director, Patricia Miller.

Attendees, including House and Senate staff and many passionate advocates, spent a lively evening learning about the status of wild horse management in the United States—and how we can all work together to defend these animals.

This work is vital for America’s wild horses and b***os, but you don’t have to be on Capitol Hill to help. The voices of American constituents play an important role in Congress. Please use the link in the comments to contact your representatives and ask them to take action to protect our nation’s wild equines.

TAKE ACTION: In January, Rep. Gosar (R-AZ) introduced H.R. 7159, the so-called “Protecting Local Zoos Act,” a thinly vei...
05/26/2026

TAKE ACTION: In January, Rep. Gosar (R-AZ) introduced H.R. 7159, the so-called “Protecting Local Zoos Act,” a thinly veiled attempt to return to an America where roadside zoos can profit from a vicious cycle of animal cruelty—all for the sake of a few selfies.

The bill would add massive loopholes to the Big Cat Public Safety Act, which was enacted in 2022 to prohibit the private possession of big cats and to restrict direct contact between these wild animals and the public.

If enacted, H.R. 7159 would make cub-petting encounters, importing or exporting big cats from foreign entities, and selling big cats by “exotic animal dealers" legal.

Swipe to learn more—and then use the link in the comments to urge your federal representative to vote NO on H.R. 7159.

The treatment of animals bred for use in laboratories drew widespread attention in May 2022, when, in an extraordinary s...
05/23/2026

The treatment of animals bred for use in laboratories drew widespread attention in May 2022, when, in an extraordinary step, a federal court in Virginia granted the US Department of Justice (DOJ) a temporary restraining order against a beagle-breeding facility owned and operated by biomedical company Envigo.

This followed the seizure of 446 sick and injured dogs and puppies. The DOJ, and ultimately the court, concluded action was necessary because of the dozens of serious and repeated Animal Welfare Act (AWA) violations documented by US Department of Agriculture investigators during a 10-month period.

For decades, AWI has monitored AWA enforcement and worked to uphold and strengthen the law. In fact, two months prior to the issuance of the temporary restraining order, AWI sent a letter to the USDA, urging it to promptly address Envigo’s serious and repeated citations. After the department failed to act, the DOJ, in collaboration with the Virginia Attorney General’s office, stepped in and sued Envigo.

Ultimately, more than 4,000 beagles were surrendered, and the Virginia facility was shut down. Envigo pleaded guilty and was required to pay the largest-ever fine in an AWA case—a historic outcome.

Today, Envigo’s parent company, Inotiv (and its associated entities), is barred from breeding or selling dogs, though it may continue to possess and experiment on dogs older than three months. The Inotiv entities also continue to hold licenses to breed and sell other animals, including nonhuman primates, hamsters, and rabbits—and many are still suffering. Just this spring, Inotiv made headlines when dozens of rabbits in its custody at an Envigo facility in Pennsylvania died due to poor enclosure management and dehydration. In March, two other Inotiv facilities received critical citations from the USDA. These related to the deaths of two beagles used in a dose escalation study at one facility, and two rabbits at another from a lack of adequate veterinary care.

Until the USDA increases oversight and begins taking swift, serious enforcement action against AWA violators, animals will continue to suffer. AWI will continue to support efforts to strengthen existing laws and improve oversight to help ensure these operations prioritize animal welfare and adhere to the law.

Throughout 2026, AWI will be recognizing our 75th anniversary by highlighting key moments from our history across our social media accounts. We hope you’ll join us in celebrating progress, sharing your own stories, and continuing to work toward a better world for animals—together.

📸: Wendy McNally

BREAKING: Today, the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee advanced language that would bar the transport...
05/22/2026

BREAKING: Today, the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee advanced language that would bar the transportation of horses for slaughter for human consumption in the US and abroad.

Each year, more than 20,000 American horses are trucked to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico, where they are brutally butchered for their meat using ineffective stunning methods that can leave them conscious during dismemberment.

The bipartisan amendment to the Committee’s five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill, led by Congressman Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) and Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV), would close the legal loophole that permits this practice, achieving the same policy goal as the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act.

AWI joins the ASPCA, Return To Freedom, Wild Horse Conservation, The Wild Beauty Foundation, and advocates throughout the country in urging Congress to bring this widely supported measure across the finish line.

📸: Alisha

In 2025, an estimated 4.2 million dogs and cats were adopted into homes from animal shelters and rescues across America....
05/21/2026

In 2025, an estimated 4.2 million dogs and cats were adopted into homes from animal shelters and rescues across America. However, 5.8 million dogs and cats entered the shelter system the same year, illustrating the enormity of the country’s pet overpopulation crisis and why shelters are past capacity.

AWI believes that education is a key part of addressing the plight of homeless cats and dogs. By teaching compassion and empathy for all living beings, every one of us can help shape a better future for animals in shelters and beyond.

One way to impart this lesson is through reading. AWI’s early elementary book “Pablo Puppy’s Search for the Perfect Person”—which is available on our website at no cost—tells the story of a puppy and an older dog living in a shelter, informing young readers about dog care and the importance of humane treatment toward animals. “Pablo Puppy” is available in both English and Spanish. Corresponding lesson plans, a board game, coloring pages, and other activities are also available.

In honor of yesterday’s , celebrate rescue pups like Pablo by helping children in your life foster respect for dogs and all living beings—and by opting to adopt your next furry friend.

Today, AWI, along with the Center for Biological Diversity and NRDC—represented by Earthjustice —sued the federal gover...
05/21/2026

Today, AWI, along with the Center for Biological Diversity and NRDC—represented by Earthjustice —sued the federal government to stop seafood imports into the United States from a number of countries that are not doing enough to tackle the incidental entanglement, drowning, injury, and deaths of thousands of dolphins, whales, seals, and other marine mammals in their fisheries.

Since 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) has prohibited the US from allowing seafood to enter the country unless exporting nations meet the same marine mammal “bycatch” measures as those required under the MMPA. The US government largely ignored this requirement until 2016, when it established a process for deciding which fisheries to ban, and in 2025—more than 50 years after the MMPA was enacted—officials finally banned imports of non-compliant seafood.

However, the US is continuing to allow seafood imports from Argentina, the United Kingdom, India, and other places that allow deadly commercial fishing practices. The US cannot let these countries off the hook, and we are not letting this flawed decision-making go unchallenged.

📸: An entangled seal, one of hundreds of thousands of marine mammals who are caught and killed in fishing gear around the globe each year. Photo by Ian Dyball.

TAKE ACTION: AWI is deeply disappointed by the Trump administration’s recent decision to lift a ban on the use of cyanid...
05/20/2026

TAKE ACTION: AWI is deeply disappointed by the Trump administration’s recent decision to lift a ban on the use of cyanide “bombs,” or M-44 devices, across 245 million acres of Bureau of Land Management lands.

M-44s are spring-loaded devices that are smeared with scented bait to tempt animals to bite down on them. Once triggered, the device sprays sodium cyanide onto the animal’s face, causing an agonizing death. M-44s are used by the federal government to kill predators, primarily coyotes and foxes, largely at the behest of ranchers and farmers.

These devices are profoundly inhumane, and their impacts are not limited to target species. M-44s have also injured people and killed family pets and endangered animals. In one case, a 14-year-old boy, Canyon, and his dog, Kasey, accidentally triggered an M-44 near their home in Idaho, severely injuring Canyon and killing Kasey.

Congress could override the Trump administration's reckless decision by passing Canyon’s Law (H.R. 4180/S. 2179), which would ban the use of M-44s on all public lands. Please urge your US representative and senators to cosponsor this vital bill and push to ban these deadly devices: https://awionline.org/actions/protect-wildlife-pets-and-families-from-deadly-cyanide-bombs/ #/534/

📸: hkuchera

Good news! Last Friday, on , Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Representative Adelita S. Grijalva (D-AZ) re-introdu...
05/18/2026

Good news! Last Friday, on , Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Representative Adelita S. Grijalva (D-AZ) re-introduced the Extinction Prevention Act (S. 4543/H.R. 8850). If signed into law, this bill would provide much-needed funding to allow for enhanced conservation efforts to stabilize and support some of the country’s most imperiled—and overlooked—native species, including butterflies, eastern freshwater mussels, southwest desert fish, and Hawaiian plants.

AWI welcomes the bill’s re-introduction, which acknowledges the importance of preserving biodiversity and improving protections for our nation’s native flora and fauna—no matter how big or small.

📸: Jill Utrup/USFWS

The global seafood industry has immense impacts on the world’s oceans. Too often, these impacts are catastrophic for the...
05/16/2026

The global seafood industry has immense impacts on the world’s oceans. Too often, these impacts are catastrophic for the animals who inhabit them, including the:

🔹 millions of sea turtles, dolphins, sharks, and more who are unintentionally caught and discarded as bycatch each year;

🔹 millions more sharks killed in the brutal practice of “shark finning,” where fishers slice off the fins of live sharks before tossing the mutilated, immobilized animals overboard to bleed to death, drown, or be eaten; and

🔹 ancient and fragile seabed communities destroyed through bottom trawling and other destructive fishing activities.

This devastation is preventable, a result of policies and procedures that fail to protect marine life. Further, these hidden ethical and environmental costs are passed onto consumers when seafood is sold in grocery stores and restaurants across the world.

AWI has long attended some of the world’s largest seafood trade shows to advocate for the animals harmed by industry activity. These events draw tens of thousands of attendees from around the globe and offer an opportunity to track industry trends—as well as to meet with and encourage buyers and suppliers not to support inhumane and unsustainable practices.

This year, AWI representatives Kate O’Connell and Melissa Edmonds attended both the Seafood Expo North America in Boston and the Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona. They noted several signs of progress at this year’s Seafood Expo Global, including a dramatic decrease in shark meat and shark fin products and the event’s first vegan seafood product vendor.

AWI’s vital advocacy in this space will continue—and now you can help! In one particularly devastating example of bycatch, hundreds of thousands of dolphins, sea turtles, and whales (including critically endangered North Atlantic right whales) die after becoming entangled in commercial fishing gear each year. We’ve recently launched a new tool on our “The Future Is Ropeless” site, where you can contact seafood retailers such as Costco, Safeway, Wegmans, and Giant Foods to ask that they publicly commit to transitioning to seafood that is caught using ropeless gear—equipment that virtually eliminates the risk of whale entanglement in vertical line fishing gear.

Use the link in the comments to take action today!

Today is , and we’re celebrating the success of the Endangered Species Act (ESA)—the world’s strongest conservation law...
05/15/2026

Today is , and we’re celebrating the success of the Endangered Species Act (ESA)—the world’s strongest conservation law.

In the 1960s, AWI was one of the few organizations advocating for comprehensive protections for endangered species—which led, in part, to the signing of the ESA in December 1973, ushering in a new era of species conservation. Since then, AWI has fought to implement, maintain, and strengthen protections for imperiled species, including the red wolf, Atlantic humpback dolphin, North Atlantic right whale, and pygmy three-toed sloth. 99% of species protected under the Act have been saved from extinction.

AWI founder Christine Stevens testified before a House subcommittee in 1976, stating, “We are living in the most dangerous era the world has yet seen for the extinction of species.” Fifty years later, her words are truer than ever.

Today, the ESA faces political attacks that would erode its protections, including attempts to cut already insufficient funding and shrink protected habitats in favor of industry interests. Weakening the ESA would undo decades of progress for imperiled species—and would be out of step with the views of the American public, who consistently express widespread support for this law. Use AWI’s Action Center to write your members of Congress and urge them to oppose these attacks: https://www.congressweb.com/AWI/529?framed_parent_url_id=5F577FB3-5056-86BC-D9754A52E4DFBD1E

Since its inception 75 years ago, AWI has used scientifically grounded advocacy to make a difference for the welfare of animals everywhere. Throughout 2026, we’ll be recognizing this anniversary by highlighting key moments from AWI's history across our social media accounts. We hope you’ll join us in celebrating progress, fighting to prevent setbacks, sharing your own stories, and continuing to work toward a better world for animals—together.

Each year, tens of thousands of equines—many of whom are former racehorses—are shipped from the US to Canada and Mexico,...
05/14/2026

Each year, tens of thousands of equines—many of whom are former racehorses—are shipped from the US to Canada and Mexico, where they are brutally killed in slaughterhouses. After giving it their all on the track, these racehorses are discarded and sold—sometimes just days after their last race—to individuals who care more about turning a quick profit than animal welfare. However, a new law in Maryland is bringing these horses one step closer to safety.

The state adopted legislation in April that prohibits the purchase, sale, transfer, or transport of racehorses if they are destined for slaughter. As one of the most prolific racing states in the US and home to some of the country’s foremost racetracks—including Pimlico, traditional host of the Preakness Stakes—Maryland's new law will be a lifeline for countless horses who may have otherwise met a grisly end.

AWI is grateful that Maryland’s racehorses will be better protected from slaughter—and we believe that every horse deserves the same protection. Congress has the opportunity to permanently ban horse slaughter in the United States, while also ensuring that American horses are not exported out of the country to be slaughtered for human consumption, through the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act.

Please join us in urging federal legislators to support this bill and ensure that no American horses are subjected to this horrific practice.

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