Animal Welfare Institute
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awionline.org
Animal Welfare Institute
@awionline.org
Seeking to improve the welfare of animals everywhere: in agriculture, in commerce, in our homes and communities, in research, and in the wild.
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Hello, @bsky.app!

Since 1951, the Animal Welfare Institute has been dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people. We seek better treatment of animals everywhere—in agriculture, in commerce, in our homes and communities, in research, and in the wild. Learn more at AWIonline.org. 🐾
The 2026 Animal Welfare Institute Scholarship is now open! 🎓

The scholarship is open to US-based high school seniors who plan to pursue a career helping animals. Recipients will receive a one-time award of $3,000. Learn more and apply: awionline.org/scholarship
November 24, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Shopping for #Thanksgiving dinner? Deceptive food labels prey on our desire for better treatment of animals, but some labels are more meaningful than others. 🦃

Save our guide to common food labels for when you go shopping: awionline.org/sites/defaul...
November 21, 2025 at 4:26 PM
The Trump administration is, once again, proposing sweeping changes to Endangered Species Act regulations that would leave threatened and endangered wildlife at a heightened risk of extinction. We fought these rules during the first term, and we’re ready to fight them again.
November 20, 2025 at 9:40 PM
AWI hosted an exhibition booth at this year’s American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (#AALAS) National Meeting in Long Beach! Animal care techs, vets, lab managers, and more stopped by to pick up materials and learn more about improving welfare for animals in labs.
November 19, 2025 at 10:42 PM
TAKE ACTION: Urge your US representative to oppose the SPEED Act, a bill that would disregard science and allow projects such as new power plants, oil and gas development, and logging to move forward without proper consideration of environmental impacts: www.congressweb.com/AWI/533?fram...
November 19, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Bird flu is resurging on turkey farms, raising concerns about #Thanksgiving turkey prices.

But the costs go beyond the supermarket, as millions of farmed animals are killed using a cruel method that induces heatstroke while producers are compensated for losses with taxpayer dollars.
November 18, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Educators, visit our booth, #1308, at this week's Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching, presented by the Science Teachers Association of Texas, in Dallas!

We have free books, lesson plans, & more, all designed to help teachers incorporate more compassion in the classroom. #STATCAST25
November 13, 2025 at 8:36 PM
TY, @thegazette.com, for publishing this op-ed by AWI’s Dr. Joanna Grossman. Congress must oppose the Save Our Bacon Act (H.R. 4673) and the Food Security and Farm Protection Act (S. 1326) to protect animals—and states’ rights. www.thegazette.com/guest-column...
Opinion: Save Our Bacon Act is the same old sob story
Republican Iowa U.S. Rep. Ashely Hinson flips pork chops at the Iowa Pork Producers state fair tent Aug. 15, 2025.  …
www.thegazette.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Meet Nancy Blaney. Your federal legislators probably have.

Nancy, AWI Government Affairs Program Director, has spent decades fighting for protections for animals. Read her profile in the AWI Quarterly: awionline.org/awi-quarterl...
November 10, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Last month, the Trump administration announced it had finalized plans to begin oil & gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Ironically, this announcement, which would impact 700+ species that call the refuge home, came just before #PolarBearWeek.
November 7, 2025 at 7:07 PM
This week, AWI’s Humane Education team is returning to North Carolina for the North Carolina Science Teachers Association conference! Stop by booth 312 for free books, lesson plans, and more, all designed to help teachers incorporate more compassion in the classroom. #NCSTA
November 6, 2025 at 9:09 PM
TY, Ava Kofman & @newyorker.com, for shedding light on allegedly neglectful and sometimes deadly conditions for primates at Alpha Genesis and for highlighting AWI’s report, “Trends in Animal Welfare Act Enforcement.”

Read the piece here: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
The Runaway Monkeys Upending the Animal-Rights Movement
A troop of macaques escaped one of the largest primate-breeding facilities in America. Now a strange coalition of uncompromising activists and MAGA loyalists is demanding that all lab animals be set f...
www.newyorker.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:51 PM
A new study from Kansas State University researchers and AWI Companion Animal Program director Claire Coughlin offers new insight and adds to a growing body of evidence regarding the substantial overlap between child abuse and animal abuse.

More here: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lyq4X18Yd....
November 3, 2025 at 10:10 PM
What do penguins, seals and whales all have in common? 🐧🦭🐋

They depend on Antarctica’s krill, a shrimp-like crustacean that’s also a massive carbon sink. Right now, krill fishing is at record highs, threatening the entire ecosystem.
October 30, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Earlier this month, AWI staff attorneys Adrienne Craig and Ashley Ridgway attended the 33rd Animal Law Conference (#ALC2025), organized by the @animallegaldefense.bsky.social and the Center for Animal Law Studies, in Chicago!
October 29, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Big news for animals in Puerto Rico: The Federación Protectora de Animales signed an agreement with the PR Dept. of Education to provide humane education training for 8,000 educators so they can teach hundreds of thousands of students the importance of being kind to animals.
October 28, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Today is #WorldKangarooDay, and we’re joining Kangaroos Alive to recognize these beloved Australian marsupials—and raise awareness of the danger they face from commercial hunting.

Learn more at worldkangarooday.org 🦘
October 24, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Good news for octopuses! Last week, Chile became the first country in Latin America to introduce legislation to ban octopus farming nationwide. AWI applauds this historic move toward the protection of octopuses. 🐙

Learn more about octopus farming: awionline.org/content/octo....
October 23, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Earlier this month, AWI staff joined @wfa.org colleagues in NYC for the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. As a WFA member organization, AWI believes in the importance of connecting animal welfare with the UN’s sustainable development goals. #UNGA80 #WFAatNGA
October 20, 2025 at 6:10 PM
TAKE ACTION: Please contact your US representative and ask them to help improve conditions for livestock transported across the United States by cosponsoring the Humane Transport of Farmed Animals Act (H.R. 5286)! www.congressweb.com/AWI/536?fram...
Help Protect Vulnerable Farmed Animals During Transport!
Each year, millions of farmed animals are subjected to long, grueling journeys across the US. Their only source of federal protection from stress and suffering on these trips is the Twenty-Eight Hour ...
www.congressweb.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Good news! Today, IUCN published its updated Red List of Threatened Species, reaffirming its “endangered” designation for long-tailed macaques, despite pressure from the biomedical research industry to downlist the species. Learn more: awionline.org/press-releas...
IUCN Reaffirms Long-Tailed Macaques’ Endangered Status Despite Industry Pressure
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) today released an update to its Red List of Threatened Species. The update revealed that the long-tailed macaque (LTM) remains listed as “enda...
awionline.org
October 10, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Going grocery shopping? Check out AWI’s updated guide to help you choose more compassionate dairy, egg, meat, and seafood products and debunk common (and confusing!) labels: awionline.org/sites/defaul...
October 9, 2025 at 10:02 PM
TY to @repluna.bsky.social and others who joined a letter from Republican lawmakers to the House Agriculture Committee calling for the next farm bill to be free of language that would undo Prop 12 and similar state-level standards aimed at improving conditions for farmed animals.
October 9, 2025 at 3:50 PM
This #WorldOctopusDay, octopuses are facing unprecedented threats as companies abroad work to create the first large-scale commercial octopus farms.

Urge your senators to cosponsor the OCTOPUS Act, which would prohibit this cruel practice in the US: awionline.org/action-cente...
October 8, 2025 at 6:48 PM
New AWI analysis reveals a worrisome trend: In the wake of a Supreme Court decision, the USDA appears to be moving away from fining alleged Animal Welfare Act violators. Instead, it is issuing ineffective official warnings. Learn more: awionline.org/press-releas...
New Analysis: Animal Welfare Act Enforcement Deteriorates Following SCOTUS Ruling
The US Department of Agriculture, long known for its lackluster enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), appears in recent years to have drifted even further away from enforcement efforts. Since m...
awionline.org
October 8, 2025 at 2:38 PM