Thirty years ago, I wrote a magazine cover story about horse racing, arguing the pageantry and pomp that viewers glimpsed at the Kentucky Derby and other Triple Crown races was a veneer barely concealing a set of hazards for horses. There was widespread doping of horses on race day to enhance performance, frequent breakdowns that … Read more
The question of free expression arises in federal court actions initiated by animal fighting practitioners The First Amendment has been used as a shield by perpetrators of animal cruelty for decades. In recent federal court proceedings, cockfighters claim that staged battles between animals are a protected expression and religious exercise guaranteed by the First Amendment. … Read more
Lexington, Kentucky — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell today announced his intent to introduce the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, compromise legislation that would end the doping of Thoroughbred racehorses in the United States. The doping of American racehorses has been a controversial issue over the past five years with hundreds of horses dying … Read more
Washington, D.C. — Today, Animal Wellness Animal (AWA), the Animal Wellness Foundation (AWF), and the Center for a Humane Economy (“the Center) filed an amicus brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit supporting the United States in its defense of a federal law that applies all prohibitions against cockfighting to the … Read more
“There once was a horse; a black stallion named Carbon Copy. Carbon Copy was a perfect model of the Tennessee Walking Horse. He knew voice commands and would respond to a whistle — so people say he could take himself around a ring to show off without anyone on his back. Carbon Copy was the … Read more
The globally unmanageable hopscotching of COVID-19 between living beings is today putting a spotlight on one of the most obscure, ruthless, and frivolous of animal use industries: the production of wild animals on fur farms, particularly mink raised for their pelts. Seemingly more susceptible to getting COVID-19 than dogs or cats or most other mammals, … Read more
by Josh Marquis Dave Aronberg, a member of AWA’s National Law Enforcement Council, oversees an office of over 300 employees, including 120 prosecutors as the elected State Attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida. Dave was recently elected without opposition to a third (four-year) term, having first been first elected in 2012. For his first case, … Read more
by Robert Ferber First stated by Roman philosopher Cicero in 63 B.C. and restated countless times by other philosophers, criminologists, politicians and even Gilbert & Sullivan in “The Mikado”, the basic tenet of the rule of law is letting the punishment fit the crime. The logic is simple. A jail sentence for a convicted bank … Read more
Press Release The animals were all placed for adoption by the Bureau of Land Management’s adoption programs, which put federally protected equines at risk of slaughter WINDSOR, UNITED KINGDOM — This month, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, II recognized lifelong horseman and Animal Wellness Action executive director Marty Irby “for his extraordinary efforts to reduce violence … Read more
by Wayne Pacelle In July, AWA and the Center for a Humane Economy released a report that, in an exacting manner, documents scores of ongoing violations of California’s ban on selling body parts of kangaroos (CA Penal Code 653o). The Center developed the first of its kind list identifying kangaroo skin soccer cleats, listing 72 models of shoes from … Read more
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