Animal Welfare Act

We see the headlines about natural disasters all the time – hurricanes in the South, wildfires in the West, flooding, tornadoes, and the list goes on. But do we stop to think about how those natural disasters affect animals, especially those housed in zoos, sanctuaries, and other licensed facilities...

Many people know that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is the agency tasked with administering the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). But did you know that this is the 50 th anniversary of that Act? In 1965, a Dalmatian named Pepper was stolen from her backyard by a dealer, who then...

Years passed, but no one was able to get near the stray dog roaming the 90 acres of the Ely Shoshone Tribal District in Nevada. Tribal members had tried many times to corral her, to no avail. Then, in 2011, the stray became pregnant, giving birth to a litter under a walkway at the tribe’s clinic...

USDA/APHIS’ Animal Care program enforces the federal Animal Welfare Act, which sets standards for humane care and treatment that must be provided for certain animals that are exhibited to the public, bred for commercial sale, used in biomedical research, or transported commercially. Individuals...

Hello, I’m Dr. Andrea (Andy) Morgan, Associate Deputy Administrator of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)’s Animal Care (AC) program. In 1985, when I hadn’t been out of vet school long and was working at a small animal practice, I got ahold of a brochure about APHIS’ Public...

In late May, two zoos in central North Dakota were hit hard by flooding. The disaster prompted the need for a swift evacuation of the animals. In Bismarck, the Missouri River threatened to submerge the Dakota Zoo and its 500+ animals under as much as seven feet of water, and in Minot the Roosevelt...

Each year, APHIS protects millions of animals nationwide that are covered by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The Act, and accompanying regulations developed by APHIS, set Federal standards of care for animals that are bred at the wholesale level, used in research, transported commercially, or...