AAVS News
July 30, 2026
Legal action for birds who need protection
Our Long Fight for Birds Continues
AAVS has joined Humane World for Animals and the Avian Welfare Coalition in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for unlawfully exempting an untold number of birds from coverage under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The lawsuit builds on the success of AAVS’s 20 year-long campaign that gained AWA protection for birds, who were previously excluded from the law.
“For decades, we and our co-plaintiffs have fought to ensure that birds have basic protections under the Animal Welfare Act,” said AAVS president Luke Klein. “After years of delay, the USDA finally issued basic care standards for birds not bred for research—only to create a sweeping loophole that leaves an untold number of birds and breeders outside federal oversight and keeps critical information out of public view.”
The new lawsuit challenges an exemption in the AWA regulations for breeders that sell 200 or fewer “small” birds (parakeets, lovebirds, finches) per year. This means there is little, if any, oversight regarding the care and treatment of these birds—no penalties and no public accountability for those failing to ensure animal welfare.
Whether it’s 195 birds or 205 birds, they all have the capacity to suffer, and an arbitrary number should not dictate whether they deserve to be protected from neglect and abuse. The lawsuit argues that the USDA’s arbitrary exemption is unlawful. And we would add that it’s just plain WRONG!
Other News
Be in the Know, Check Out the A-V
Government agencies and public universities continue to do business with Inotiv, the owner of notorious animal supplier Envigo, despite the latter’s unprecedented guilty plea for the crime of conspiring to knowingly violate the Animal Welfare Act and Clean Water Act regarding its now-shuttered beagle breeding facility in Virginia. Now available online for free, the A-V issue, “Does Crime Pay?” digs into how Inotiv and its subsidiaries have continued to receive millions of dollars in public funding despite Envigo pleading guilty to “prioritiz[ing] convenience and profits over…the humane treatment of animals.” Yet Inotiv is still in business, despite declaring bankruptcy and seeing its stock value plummet to zero.
More Funding Needed to End Animal Testing in EU
Prompted by an initiative backed by more than one million European Union citizens, the European Commission produced a road map to help end the reliance on animals in chemical safety testing. While animal use in chemical testing has been on the decline, over 15 million animals were used in the EU between 2015-2023. An editorial in the journal Nature states that the development and use of non-animal methods in chemical safety testing is “too slow” and that a substantial increase in funding is needed to create an “animal-free regulatory system.”
Sanctuary Moment
Equine Advocates
Did you know that the United Nations designated July 11 as World Horse Day? Although the day has passed we still want to take the time to celebrate horses. Smart, curious, social, and powerful yet gentle, horses are amazing animals. And how can anyone not smile when they meet a horse, especially for the first time!
Despite their friendly, good-natured demeanor, horses are exploited in several ways. Many are forced to spend long days pulling carriages alongside cars on busy roads, while others are made to perform dangerous tricks in circuses, used as pawns in horse racing and gambling, and even to produce pharmaceuticals like antivenoms, vaccines, and hormone replacement therapies.
If you’d like to learn more about horses, take a look at Equine Advocates’ social media. A longtime recipient of AAVS sanctuary grants, Equine Advocates does an awesome job highlighting the horses in their care and educating their followers about horse health and welfare. Be sure to check them out!