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In September, Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) reintroduced the Humane Transport of Farmed Animals Act (HR 5286)—bipartisan legislation to improve transport conditions for farmed animals in the United States. The bill would establish fitness for travel standards—mirroring those already in place for livestock exported abroad—to prevent animals who are sick, injured, disabled, or are otherwise in
In December, the House Natural Resources Committee voted to advance HR 4776, the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act. Targeting the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), our country’s basic charter for protecting the environment, the SPEED Act would narrow the scope of federal actions that receive an environmental review, as well as limit
For more than half a century, the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) has played a crucial role in safeguarding marine mammals from myriad threats—from entanglement in fishing gear to human-caused noise pollution—enabling many vulnerable populations to recover. Despite its success and long-standing bipartisan support, in late July, Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) released draft legislation that
The Ejiao Act (HR 5544), led by Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), was reintroduced in September to protect donkeys from the inhumane trade in their hides. Donkey hides are boiled to produce a gelatin known as “ejiao” that is used in traditional Chinese medicines and added to supplements, aphrodisiacs, cosmetics, and food items. An estimated 5
In October, AWI assisted with a fly-in that brought over 200 farmers to Capitol Hill to meet with congressional offices in support of California’s Proposition 12, which sets minimum space requirements for egg-laying hens, breeding pigs, and veal calves while also prohibiting the in-state sale of eggs, pork, and veal that do not meet those
Imagine not being able to lift your head for hours on end in a moving vehicle. For horses forced to travel in double-deck trailers, this is the reality. While experts agree that the proper ceiling height for horse trailers is 7–8 feet, double-deck trailers, which are designed to transport shorter livestock such as cattle and
The House Natural Resources Committee has continued to pursue a markedly anti-wildlife agenda by teeing up action on an array of bills to weaken and eliminate protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The committee spent July holding meetings on bills that would delist the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
On June 24, the Refuge from Cruel Trapping Act (HR 4108), was reintroduced by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). This bill would prohibit the possession or use of body-gripping devices, such as steel-jaw leghold traps, Conibears, and snares, within the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) with limited exceptions. The NWRS is home to more than 380
In encouraging news, both Senate and House fiscal year 2026 Agriculture Appropriations bills winding their way through Congress contain provisions that continue to bar horse slaughter operations in the United States. The House and Senate Interior Appropriations bills also maintain long-standing protections against the slaughter and lethal control of wild horses—provisions absent from the administration’s
On any given day, you’ll find Nancy Blaney, AWI’s director of government affairs, sprinting through the halls of Congress, camped out at a committee hearing, and/or intercepting a potential ally at a reception to bend an ear. It’s never been an easy job. Early in her career, Nancy traveled to her home state of Pennsylvania
Ridglan Farms, one of two remaining US breeders of beagles for research (and the country’s second largest dog breeder overall), faces grave allegations of animal cruelty following release of footage taken by activists who broke into its Wisconsin facility, as well as corroborating eyewitness accounts from employee whistleblowers. Allegations range from neglect, failure to provide
In line with its recently announced initiative to prioritize human-based research (see AWI Quarterly, summer 2025), the NIH announced in July that moving forward, all new calls for funding from the agency, known as notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs), that relate to animal experimentation must now also “support human-focused approaches such as clinical trials, real world data, or
We are delighted to report that on July 15, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled in our favor in our lawsuit to protect thousands of wild horses in Wyoming and preserve millions of acres of their designated habitat. Represented by the public interest law firm Eubanks & Associates, AWI, American Wild
The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of California in July, alleging that a combination of its “voter initiatives, legislative enactments, and regulations” have contributed to higher egg prices. In particular, the legal challenge singles out California’s Proposition 12 (passed by nearly 63 percent of the state’s voters in 2018), which prohibits
Every year, hundreds of millions of farmed animals are shipped across the United States to breeding, feeding, and slaughter facilities—transport that represents one of the most stressful experiences in a farmed animal’s life. AWI research, chronicled in the newly published second edition of our report Farmed Animals in Transport: The Twenty-Eight Hour Law, indicates that a
A pair of bipartisan bills currently before Congress would protect octopuses, finfish, and marine ecosystems from the animal welfare and environmental ills of marine factory farms in the United States. In April, Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) reintroduced the Keep Finfish Free Act to prohibit federal agencies from issuing permits for commercial
The Third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC 3) took place in Nice, France, in June. One of its priorities was to advance implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG14)—one of 17 such goals established by the United Nations in 2015—which aims to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.” At
The Trump administration’s aggressive “energy dominance” agenda is posing a serious threat to ocean wildlife and fragile marine ecosystems. Upon taking office, the president swiftly declared a national “energy emergency,” rescinding Biden-era bans on Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic offshore drilling and calling for the dismantling of a slew of offshore drilling safety regulations. Such safety
This summer, AWI worked with Emmy and Tony Award–winning actor Alan Cumming on a video in support of the Captive Primate Safety Act (HR 3199/S 1594) that was posted on AWI social media platforms on July 11. The bill, reintroduced in Congress by Reps. Mike Quigley (D-IL), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Julia Brownley (D-CA), and Nancy
The Good: Plans to Reduce Animal Experimentation On April 10, the US Food and Drug Administration announced it would phase out animal testing for certain drug studies. The agency published a roadmap that outlines a six-prong approach to reducing toxicity testing in animals over the next three years and six scientific and technical steps for