AWI Quarterly Term Archive

Quick Read

Desert Dolphinarium Shuttered for Now

Marine Wildlife

Dolphinaris, a swim-with facility in the Arizona desert near Scottsdale, opened with eight dolphins in October 2016. AWI and other groups alerted the proprietors and the public that housing dolphins...

Entanglement Is Grim New Norm for Whales

Marine Wildlife

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports 76 confirmed cases of large whale entanglements in US waters in 2017. Given the fact that whales can become entangled in areas far...

Japan Set to Leave IWC

Marine Wildlife

On December 26, Japan announced that it will leave the International Whaling Commission (IWC), ending its 65-year membership in the organization. In an associated announcement, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga...

New Field Test Could Help Foil Shark Smugglers

Marine Wildlife

Researchers from Stony Brook University, Florida International University, and BLOOM Association in Hong Kong have developed what they call a “reliable, field-based, fast … and cost effective” protocol for detecting,...

Court Castigates USFWS for Rolling Back Red Wolf Protection

Terrestrial Wildlife

On November 5, AWI and co-plaintiffs won a significant victory in our ongoing litigation to protect red wolves, when a federal court agreed that the US Fish and Wildlife Service...

National Academies to Tackle Wolf Taxonomy

Terrestrial Wildlife

In an appropriations bill passed in March, Congress directed the USFWS to obtain an independent assessment on the taxonomic status of the red wolf and the Mexican gray wolf—both of...

Victory! BLM Stands Down on Sterilization Scheme

Equines, Terrestrial Wildlife

In the last Quarterly, we discussed the Bureau of Land Management’s plan to conduct mass surgical sterilization experiments on wild horses from the Warm Springs Herd Management Area in Oregon....

AWI Updates Refinement Database

Animals in Laboratories

AWI’s Laboratory Animal Advisor, Dr. Joanna Makowska, has updated AWI’s database on the refinement of housing, husbandry, care, and use of animals in research. More than 600 new entries were...

Massachusetts Adds to Animal Cruelty Statute

Companion Animals

When Massachusetts strengthened its animal cruelty statute in 2014, it also set up a task force to make additional recommendations. A new law resulted—signed in August—that raises certain penalties and...

Cranky Mice? Corncob Bedding May Be Culprit

Animals in Laboratories

AWI recently attended the annual meeting of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) in Baltimore—the largest meeting on laboratory animals in the United States. At this year’s meeting,...