AWI Quarterly Term Archive
Government/Legal
California Foie Gras Ban Back on Track
Farmed AnimalsIn a unanimous opinion, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision striking down California’s ban on foie gras. The production of foie gras requires gavage, the...
Animal Abuse Prompts Pet Shop Shut Down
Companion AnimalsIn 2013, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman established an Animal Cruelty Initiative to focus on prosecuting animal cruelty crimes and protecting consumers from unscrupulous companion animal dealers. Earlier this...
House Committee Votes to Hobble Horse Protections
EquinesThe Senate Appropriations Committee voted to maintain the long-standing ban on horse slaughterhouse inspections by the US Department of Agriculture. Prohibiting these inspections effectively prevents such plants from operating in...
More Convictions in Kentucky Cockfighting Bust
There is more good news regarding a multijurisdiction cockfighting case first reported in the fall 2015 AWI Quarterly. The case focused on the Big Blue Sportsman’s Club in eastern Kentucky, where cockfights...
Ohio Court Says Pets Are More than Property
Companion AnimalsThere is another addition to the growing body of case law acknowledging that companion animals are not mere property. As reported by the Toledo Blade late last year, Ohio’s 6th District Court...
Umpteenth Attempt to Undermine ESA
Marine Wildlife, Terrestrial WildlifeThe 115th Congress has declared war on the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Even though the ESA has a 99 percent success rate in preventing the extinction of listed species and 90...
AWI Sheds Further Light on USDA Site Scrub
Animals in LaboratoriesAWI’s latest analysis of the enormous number of vital animal welfare records still missing from the US Department of Agriculture’s website reveals that, following the Contender Farms v. USDA lawsuit...
AWI Sues Wildlife Services in Northern California
Terrestrial WildlifeOn June 21, AWI and allies sued the Wildlife Services program of the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) over the program’s “Wildlife Damage Management”...
AWI Report: Humane Slaughter Enforcement up, but Serious Problems Remain
Farmed AnimalsIn 1996, animal scientist Dr. Temple Grandin conducted an audit of 24 federal slaughter plants for the US Department of Agriculture. She found that only 30 percent of the plants...
USDA Declines to Improve Slaughter Regulations
Farmed AnimalsAt a slaughterhouse in Pennsylvania last year, an employee made three attempts to render a pig unconscious with a rifle, with the animal vocalizing after each shot to the head....