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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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...
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...
International Wildlife Trade Conference Secures Essential Protections for Imperiled Species
The international wildlife trade is a multibillion-dollar industry that impacts hundreds of millions of plants and animals. It is often fueled by unsustainable demand for imperiled species and their body...
Trump Administration’s Proposed Regulations Would Gut the Endangered Species Act—Again
Yesterday, the Trump administration unveiled proposed sweeping changes to Endangered Species Act (ESA) regulations that would undermine the law’s original intent and leave threatened and endangered wildlife at a heightened...
US to Ban Seafood Imports from 42 Nations to Protect Whales, Dolphins
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) determined today that 42 nations may not export certain seafood products to the United States because fishers in these countries catch marine mammals in violation of...
North American Environmental Commission Confirms Mexico’s Role in Imperiling Vaquita
A commission under the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) released a report yesterday confirming that Mexico’s unwillingness to enforce its own wildlife protection, trade, and fisheries laws is driving the extinction of...
Yahoo! Japan Sells Polluted Whale and Dolphin Meat Products to Unsuspecting Consumers
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and an international coalition of animal protection and environmental groups are calling on Yahoo! Japan and its parent company, the LY Corporation, to stop selling...
As Iceland Calls Off Fin Whale Slaughter, Japan and Norway Launch Cruel, Unsustainable Whale Hunting Seasons
Japan and Norway resumed slaughtering whales this month, while Iceland’s only fin whaling company has decided that it will not hunt this summer, citing a declining demand for whale meat...
Trump Administration Seeks to Slash Habitat Protections for Endangered Wildlife
Today the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (the Services) issued a proposed rule that would undermine protections for habitat that threatened and endangered species need to...
President Trump’s Day-One Actions Will Decimate Wildlife Habitat
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed multiple executive orders designed to advance policies that are disastrous to wildlife and their habitats. The orders expand oil and...
US Government Agrees to Halt Seafood Imports Tied to Deadly Bycatch of Whales, Dolphins, Other Marine Mammals
Conservation groups reached an agreement today that will require the United States to stop importing seafood that does not meet US standards for protecting marine mammals. The seafood ban will go into...
China Overtakes US in Captive Orca Numbers
Investigators have confirmed that, for the first time, China has overtaken the United States as holder of the highest number of captive orcas (22). A report released today by the China...
AWI Appalled by Iceland’s Plan to Hunt More Than 2,000 whales
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is deeply disappointed by today’s announcement that Iceland’s Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries has issued whaling permits that could result in the death of more than...
Lawsuit Seeks to Protect Marine Mammals from Foreign Fishing Gear, Enforce Seafood Import Bans
Conservation and animal protection groups sued several federal officials and departments today in the US Court of International Trade over their failure to implement the import provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection...
UNESCO Keeps Mexico Vaquita Habitat on World Heritage ‘In Danger’ List
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee renewed its call today for urgent action to protect the critically endangered vaquita porpoise in Mexico. With merely six to eight individuals estimated remaining, the vaquita faces...
USMCA Council to Investigate Mexico’s Failure to Protect the Vaquita
After a two-year delay, the Council of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) voted unanimously yesterday to investigate Mexico’s failure to protect the critically endangered vaquita porpoise. Mexico has not enforced its own...
New Survey: No More Than Eight Vaquita Remain
Only six to eight critically endangered vaquita may remain on the planet, the Mexican government announced last week in reporting the results of a new survey. Compared to the 8...
NOAA Greenlights Gray Whale Hunt for Makah Tribe
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is disappointed with yesterday’s decision by federal regulators to issue a waiver of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to the Makah Tribe of Washington state to...
New Analysis: Troubling Levels of Forever Chemicals Found in Norwegian Whale Meat
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and other animal protection and conservation organizations are calling on the Norwegian government to expand testing of all whale meat sold for human consumption and...
Japan and Iceland Approve Fin Whale Hunts, Despite Record Low Demand for Whale Meat
Today, Japan and Iceland decided to allow each country’s last remaining whale companies to hunt fin whales, the second largest animal on the planet. Adopting the recommendations of a pro-whaling...