Legal Niches

Top 75 Blogs for Vegans and Vegetarians

Posted on November 19, 2009
One blogger’s take: find it here (and look for us!).

?Voiceless? Making Itself Heard

Posted on November 19, 2009
David Cassuto Fine op-ed on animal welfare laws here by Katrina Sharman of Voiceless, an Australian animal advocacy organization.  Parallels to the U.S. situation are clear and present…

?One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, No Fish?

Posted on November 19, 2009
Jennifer Church This Monday, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the international body that sets annual tuna fishing limits, announced a reduction in the fishing quota of the Bluefin Tuna.  However, most scientists agree that the reduction does not go far enough to save bluefin tuna from near extinction...

Romeo?s Law

Posted on November 19, 2009
Gillian Lyons In response to public outcry of a videotaped beating of a Labrador Retriever, Romeo- on April 16, 2008 Kentucky passed S.B. 58 (dubbed Romeo?s law) which amended § 525.135 to state that the ?torture of a dog or cat is a Class A misdemeanor for the first offense and a Class D felony [...

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?BatManu?

Posted on November 17, 2009
Stephen Iannacone On Halloween night, Manu Ginobili, a shooting guard for the San Antonio Spurs, swatted down a bat that got loose in the AT&T Center.  The bat had been loose for most of the game and after several failed attempts by the Spur?s mascot to catch the bat in a net, Ginobili got close enough [...

Long Island House of Horrors: Animal Abuse in a Suburban Backyard

Posted on November 17, 2009
Katy Steere   On November 5, 2009 43-year-old Sharon McDonough of Selden, New York was arrested on charges of running a ?pet concentration camp? in her Long Island home. Upon investigation, the remains of at least 20 dogs were found buried in her backyard in shallow graves...

Ohio?s Issue 2: Good for Animals?

Posted on November 16, 2009
Laura Schierhoff On November 2nd, Ohio voters passed Issue 2, a constitutional amendment, which creates a ?Livestock Care Standards Board? to set standards for livestock and poultry care, food safety, disease prevention, farm management, and animal well-being...

Oreo?s Survival Ends With Euthanization

Posted on November 15, 2009
Tiffany Gallo On June 18, 2009 New Yorkers were outraged and saddened to hear that a one-year old pit bull mix was beaten and thrown off the roof of a six floor building in Brooklyn.  Oreo suffered two broken legs and a fractured ribcage, but miraculously survived the fall...

Does Your Pet Need an iPhone?

Posted on November 14, 2009
Bridget Crawford “Pet Acoustics” makes an iPhone app so that “you and your pet can experience the power of Pet Acoustics? music for your dog, cat or horse from your iPhone, iPod Touch or other music player.” Here’s the official description from the company’s website: Just as music for humans can change the mood and [...

Innocent Woman Mauled by Chimp: Who is to Blame?

Posted on November 13, 2009
Lindsay Macleod In February 2009, Charla Nash, a 55-year-old woman was visiting her friend Sandra Herold in Stamford, Connecticut, when Herold’s pet chimp, Travis, suddenly attacked her. The crazed chimp tore off Nash’s nose, lips and eyelids before being shot dead by cops...

The Pig, The CAFO, & The Flu

Posted on November 12, 2009
David Cassuto Excellent piece here regarding the pig CAFO/swine flu link and another one here about the inefficacy of the vaccine approach to prophylaxis.  And yet another interesting piece here about the intelligence and social nature of pigs. In light of these developments, let’s consider the American approach to pigs: mass confinement in facilities so devoid [...

Can U.S. v Stevens Bite Back?

Posted on November 09, 2009
Irina Knopp I am currently working on a paper that looks at the case, arguments for and possible consequences of U.S. v Stevens. Recently, I?ve found several articles online suggesting that the statute in the case thought to promote animal rights in America could possibly hurt animal rights groups...

NEPA, Preliminary Injunctions, and Animals

Posted on November 05, 2009
David Cassuto A few days ago, I and a few colleagues from Pace and several other American law schools met at Shanghai Jiao Tong  University School of Law with a number of Chinese academics and members of the Chinese Ministry of Environment.  We were there because the Chinese government wanted our input as it attempts to [...

Buggery and Factory Farming

Posted on November 04, 2009
Rodell Green was just sentenced to three years imprisonment for having sex with a horse. Over at the Atlantic Blog, correspondent Wendy Kaminer asks the following “quick question“: Can someone explain to me why it is a criminal offense to have sex with animals but entirely legal to kill and eat them?  Surely laws against bestiality [...

IUCN Academy Colloquium ? No Animal Law Here?

Posted on November 03, 2009
David Cassuto I?m currently in China having all kinds of interesting experiences.  For example, it was only in Shanghai a few days ago that I saw my first wheelchair-accessible urinal.  I?ve also seen more pictures of Chairman Mao in the last 2 days than I had seen in the previous ...

A Day of Reckoning

Posted on October 31, 2009
David Cassuto Halloween is my birthday.  That fact alone likely would not merit the holiday’s mention here.  I note it because only this year ? some forty-odd years into my marking of the day– did I stop to consider what makes this holiday unusual...

Happy Birthday, Animal Blawg!!

Posted on October 27, 2009
It’s difficult to believe, but Animal Blawg just turned 1!! These last 12 months have been wonderful. Animal Blawg received only 5 or 6 hits per day during the first month or so. Slowly, but surely, the number of hits started increasing.  I’m pleased to report that during the last month or so the Animal [...

The Dirty Side of ?Clean? Energy

Posted on October 26, 2009
Micheal Friese Saving the wild salmon in the Columbia River Basin is an issue that does not get much press outside of the Pacific Northwest.  However, the possible extinction of the Columbia River Salmon has far reaching effects.  One of the more interesting issues (and representative of the greater environmental and animal advocate?s conflict) is that [...

Fish Pedicures Revisited: The Debate hits New York State

Posted on October 25, 2009
Irina Knopp The seemingly symbiotic relationship where customers lose their dead skin cells and fish get a free meal is back in the news.  This time, in my home state of New York. The procedure has spread like wildfire across the country since its establishment in the United States by John Ho at the Yvonne Hair and [...

Interior Proposes Polar Bear Habitat

Posted on October 23, 2009
David Cassuto A while back, the Bush Administration reluctantly declared the polar bear threatened (under the Endangered Species Act) due to global warming and shrinking habitat.  It determined, however, that it would not use the ESA as the basis to require steps to curtail climate change...

Livestock Emissions Account for 51% of Greenhouse Gases

Posted on October 23, 2009
Katie Hance In 2006, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reported that livestock accounted for 18% of greenhouse gases, making livestock emissions ?one of the most significant contributors to today?s most serious environmental problems...

The Crime-Fighting Leech

Posted on October 23, 2009
David Cassuto In case anyone was thinking that animal law is always depressing, here’s a story about a leech that cracked a cold case in Tasmania.  8 years ago, a 71 year-old woman had her home invaded and was beaten and robbed.  An engorged leech was found at the scene...

The Belgian Blues

Posted on October 20, 2009
Marjorie Levine Pictured above and here is the Belgian Blue Bull It came about naturally in the 1800s, but modern technology has been able to determine that a gene mutation preventing a control of muscle growth results in a ?double-muscled? cow.  Additionally, their lean meat has been ranked amongst the best Angus being produced in terms [...

Deer Hunting, the First Amendment and Connecticut

Posted on October 19, 2009
Jessica Kordas The first amendment issues in the news sparked my interest, I headed for the internet to see how U.S. v. Stevens was impacting Connecticut.  Big Game Hunting, a website with a Connecticut news page, has posted an article about US v. Stevens...

?If Nothing Matters, There?s Nothing to Save?

Posted on October 16, 2009
Gillian Lyons This past weekend New York Times Magazine published an excerpt of novelist (writer of Everything Is Illuminated) Jonathan Safran Foer?s new book, Eating Animals.  In the article, and by extension, in the book, the author talks about his lifetime of wavering vegetarianism, and why he has decided to raise his children vegetarian...

Cooped Up for another Decade

Posted on October 16, 2009
Angela Garrone An important bill concerning animal rights issues was signed into law this week in Michigan.  As most of those who follow animal rights issues, specifically the treatment of animals that are processed and used in the food industry, California was the first state to ban the use of battery cages (or laying cages) in [...

Animal Blawg Poll Redux

Posted on October 14, 2009
After reading the comments to the Animal Blawg poll that I posted on ?Why is Veganism Morally Appealing? and thinking about what Brian Leiter and Michael Dorf had to say about the meaning of the poll?s results (here and here), I think it is worth conducting the poll again...

Ohio Humane Societies Come Out Against Issue 2

Posted on October 13, 2009
David Cassuto This just in: Ohio’s largest Humane Societies have come out against Issue 2.  You can (and should) read the full skinny at Cleveland.com but here are some choice excerpts: As Nov. 3 approaches and the debate over Issue 2 escalates, Ohio’s two largest humane societies and smaller ones, including Geauga Humane in rural Geauga County, today announced [...

Forthcoming Film: The Tiger Next Door

Posted on October 12, 2009
From the email — what looks to be a very interesting film: THE TIGER NEXT DOOR tells the story of a man named Dennis Hill who has been breeding and selling tigers from his backyard for over 15years. He has recently lost his federal license to keep the animals and is in a battle w the [...

A Goat in Sheep?s Clothing

Posted on October 10, 2009
Kate Blacker The city of Euless, Texas outlaws killing four-legged animals.  Santeria priest Jose Merced was personally informed about this rule back in 2006 when police knocked on his door and prohibited him from ritually sacrificing a goat. Speaking as an animal lover and as a vegan, I think this story sounds pretty good...

?Vegetarian? & ?Vegan?: How to Define A Cause

Posted on October 10, 2009
Katie Hance How would you define a ?vegetarian??  A ?vegan??  Animal rights scholars have not collectively provided clear definitions for these terms.  I believe that it hurts the vegetarian and vegan advocacy efforts that these causes are not clearly defined...

Survey Says ? You?re Being Deceived

Posted on October 09, 2009
By Delci Winders Meat that comes from animals who spent their entire lives in conditions like this can be labeled as “natural.” When you see the word ?natural? on a meat or poultry product, what does that mean to you? If you?re like approximately half of the likely voters surveyed by Zogby on behalf of Farm Sanctuary, [...

Animal Advocacy in Bogotá, Colombia

Posted on October 08, 2009
I just got back from a criminal procedure conference held in Bogotá, Colombia. It was hosted by the Sergio Arboleda University and proved to be a huge success.  Before the conference, a couple of students of the Arboleda university showed us around town...

Conservation Groups Sue EPA Over Prairie Dog Poison

Posted on October 08, 2009
Jessica Morowitz            On September 23, Defenders of Wildlife and Audubon Kansas filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., against the EPA for its decision to register pesticides that kill prairie dogs.  The pesticides at issue are chlorophacinone and diphacinone, found in the products Rozol and Kaput-D...

Never Say Never: Bikers and Puppies, a good mix.

Posted on September 30, 2009
Gillian Lyons The other day I received an email from a family friend who had recently discovered a new National Geographic show that focuses itself around the rescue group Rescue Ink. Rescue Ink is, according to its website, ?a rescue group unlike any you?ve seen before: a bunch of tattooed, motorcycle-riding tough guys who have joined [...

Catalonia?s Last Bullfight?

Posted on September 30, 2009
David Cassuto Photo: Carlos Cazalis for The New York Times Catalonia –  Spain’s ferociously independent northeastern region may have seen its last bullfight. According to the NYT: Over the last three decades or so, dwindling interest among young Catalans has combined with pressure from animal-rights advocates and from Catalan nationalists to cripple toreo in Catalonia...

Revenge Is Not Best Served Fried

Posted on September 30, 2009
Via the AP (here), this weird story: Authorities say a Houston-area woman who was burned up at her former common-law husband fried their pet goldfish and ate some of them. Pasadena police say it’s a civil matter and no charges will be filed. The seven goldfish were purchased together by the couple during happier times...

The Horses Aren?t the Only Ones Wearing Blinders

Posted on September 29, 2009
Elizabeth Bennett Strolling along Central Park South, one is overcome by the rancid smell of horse urine and manure.  Looking up, there are ornate carriages that mimic fairy tales and majestic horses who would love to go for a stroll.  To many, this is picturesque and the perfect addition to a romantic getaway in New York [...

CLONED BEEF, It?s what?s for dinner.

Posted on September 28, 2009
Tara Dugo The world was fascinated when Dolly, the first cloned animal, was introduced in 1996.  As factory farmers have always been struggling to obtain livestock that produce more meat, milk, eggs, etc., it is no surprise that the cloning of Dolly made way for the introduction of cloning to the farming industry...

Massachusetts Greyhound Track Holds its Last Race

Posted on September 28, 2009
Lindsay MacLeod The Greyhound Protection Act (GPA) is a Massachusetts statute that will phase out commercial dog racing by 2010. It was enacted as Question 3 on the November 4, 2008 ballot in Massachusetts.  It will shut down Massachusetts two remaining race tracks, Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park and Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere, by January 1, 2010...

Michigan Farm Animal Welfare Bill Awaits Governor?s Signature

Posted on September 27, 2009
David Cassuto The Michigan legislature has passed a bill that would give animals used in agriculture some breathing and living space.  Among other requirements, the bill requires that: A FARM OWNER OR OPERATOR SHALL NOT TETHER OR CONFINE ANY COVERED ANIMAL ON A FARM FOR ALL OR THE MAJORITY OF ANY DAY, IN A MANNER THAT [...

Oral Sex, Animals, and the Criminal Code

Posted on September 25, 2009
Is oral sex a crime?  Not necessarily, of course.  But absent consent, it sounds like a crime to me. Not so if the mouth belongs to an animal, according to a Burlington County, New Jersey judge who dismissed charges against a police officer accused of putting his penis in the mouths of at least 5 calves [...

Mansploitation for the Animal Cause

Posted on September 24, 2009
September 24th, 2009 image source: The Stranger, Sep 24 – 30, 2009, Vol. 19, No. 3 Ummm?this Seattle alt paper (think Village Voice, left-coast style) takes a page from PETA?s playbook (see here, e.g.) and then flips it, exploiting men?s bods for the animal cause...

The Standing Conundrum

Posted on September 23, 2009
Gillian Lyons One of today?s hottest debates in the field of animal law is the status of animals as property. (For more on one aspect of this property debate- take a look at Gary Francione?s Animals as Property.)  To my mind, one of the most important aspects of this debate is how this current property status [...

Why do anti-cruelty laws protect companion animals more than non-companion animals?

Posted on September 23, 2009
Most jurisdictions punish animal cruelty more severely if the creature harmed is a ?companion animal?. Is it justified to afford more legal protection to companion animals than to non-companion animals? Some would argue that it is not. If what makes non human animals worthy of legal protection is that they are capable of feeling pain, [...

Monkeys, Torture and Tort Law

Posted on September 23, 2009
David Cassuto InVivo Therapeutics Corp. recently sued the Oregon Health and Science University, alleging that the rhesus monkeys InVivo purchased were defective.  Apparently, many of the monkeys — which were slated for spinal cord experiments – did not survive the surgery that was supposed to prepare them for their ordeal...

Dog Fighting in a Day Care Center

Posted on September 23, 2009
Maybe those who maintain that humanity represents the acme of evolution (or even something better) can help explain this. –David Cassuto

Could the Murder of 32 Dogs be the Key to Tougher Anti-Cruelty Laws in Russia?

Posted on September 22, 2009
Irina Knopp As a Russian-American, I am familiar with the culture that values expensive furs and leather boots well above the rights of the animals used to make the products.  The furs are a status symbol and an asset.  Leather is used because it?s more durable and reliable, a leftover of the Soviet Era when a [...

?Pain-Free? Meat?

Posted on September 22, 2009
Jennifer Church Adam Shriver, a philosopher at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, published an article earlier this month in Neuroethics, contending that cows should be genetically engineered to be unable to feel pain.  Several news articles and blogs have discussed his idea, including Telegraph and Animal Law Online...

It was a Mistake to Kill All the Pigs?

Posted on September 21, 2009
From the Fallibility Desk: Apparently, it was a mistake for Egypt to react to fear of the swine flu by killing all of its pigs.  Gee, you think? –David Cassuto

Animal Law ? Sometimes It?s Personal

Posted on September 21, 2009
I recently received an email from a colleague telling me about this blog: http://justicefordunkin.blogspot.com/.  The blog focuses on the plight of a woman whose dog was killed by the police during a traffic stop.  I know nothing about this case or the people involved but the woman’s horror and grief at the loss of her [...

Call for Papers: Mid-Atlantic Symposium on Animal Law

Posted on September 20, 2009
Call for Papers The Animal Law Section of the Maryland State Bar Association, in conjunction with the University Of Baltimore School Of Law and the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Law, will host the first-ever regional Mid-Atlantic symposium on animal law...

Florida?s Python Predicament

Posted on September 19, 2009
Jonathan Vandina It?s 4 PM. The hot Florida sun has warmed the thermo regulated American alligator (Alligator missipiensis) with the ability to satisfy its day long hunger. The tiny touch receptors on the mouth of the apex predator feel an unexpected yet familiar sensation...

CAFOs ? An Unregulated Assault on the Air & Water

Posted on September 18, 2009
David Cassuto Today?s NYT does a good job of describing the environmental and human health crisis wrought by CAFOs.  It does a less good job of describing the horrendous conditions imposed on the animals thus confined.  Still, a lot of tragedy gets captured in this little vignette: In June, Mr...

Mary Travers Has Moved On

Posted on September 17, 2009
Perhaps it’s not legal per se, but Puff was a dragon so it’s animal- related.  Mary Travers has left us.  The light burns just a little dimmer today. –David Cassuto

Ohio?s Issue 2

Posted on September 17, 2009
Laura Schierhoff In February, the Humane Society of the Untied States (HSUS) met with members of Ohio?s livestock industry to discuss passing humane legislation in that state.  HSUS had its eye on Ohio to pass legislation to ban the use of poultry cages, veal crates and gestation stalls...

A Victory for ?Flipper?

Posted on September 17, 2009
Chris Cuomo Each year hunters in the western Japanese town of Taiji hunt and kill over 2,000 dolphins by hand.  Activists worldwide have attempted to end this gruesome display of animal cruelty, but have been unsuccessful. Under International Whaling Commission regulations, whaling is banned, but the hunting of dolphins is still permitted...

Animal Advocates in Action: California Assemblyman Pedro Navas

Posted on September 16, 2009
I just got back from Buenos Aires where I had almost no internet access, so I hope start posting on a weekly basis from now on. Today I want to praise California Assemblyman Pedro Navas (D-Santa Barbara) for introducing three animal cruelty related bills that were passed by both houses of the California legislature and now [...

Post Prop 2 ? The Struggle Continues

Posted on September 16, 2009
In case you were wondering whether the passage of Proposition 2 would make factory farmers go quietly into that good night… Welcome to the brave new world of “colony cages.” –David Cassuto

Nonhuman Animals, Human-Created Environments

Posted on September 15, 2009
Karl Coplan Sunday?s New York Times article about the threat to the La Cienega marsh on the Mexico-US border raises interesting questions about human responsibilities to maintain human-created environments that have been occupied by natural species.  The La Cienega marsh was created by the diversion of Arizona agricultural runoff too high in salt content to be [...

Pets Sitting On High?

Posted on September 14, 2009
Sarah Murphy Many people seem to be spending more and more on their cats and dogs.  High quality animal food (i.e. actually edible) can now be found in ordinary super markets, ?gourmet? treats abound with some classified as USDA-certified organic, cat grass can be purchased alongside heirloom tomatoes at the Farmer?s Market and pet beds come [...

National Lawyers Guild Activist Handbook

Posted on September 14, 2009
The National Lawyers Guild has published a new booklet for animal and environmental activists entitled: Operation Backfire: a Survival Guide for Environmental and Animal Rights Activists.  You can download it here It offers some background on the AETA and AEPA (predecessor to AETA) and how to comport yourself when detained or questioned by law [...

Sunstein Confirmed!

Posted on September 10, 2009
57 -40.   Sweet!

Animal Law Symposium This Weekend

Posted on September 10, 2009
At Lewis & Clark: The Science, Ethics & Law of Animal Testing in the 21st Century:  Are We on the Verge of a Paradigm Shift? Full skinny available at: http://www.lclark.edu/law/centers/animal_law_studies/nas_symposium/index.php –David Cassuto

Some Blawg News

Posted on September 09, 2009
As regular readers know, I teach animal law both at Pace Law School (which is my academic home) and at Fordham Law School.  The number of students interested in animal law has grown exponentially in the 6 years I have been teaching the course and interacting with students — a number of whom have gone [...

Sunstein Filibuster Broken

Posted on September 09, 2009
The Senate voted 65-35 today to block cloture on the Sunstein appointment.  That means an up or down vote on his appointment will likely happen later this week.  A little more here.  The wingnut jamboree continues, however,  as Glenn Beck has thrown his formidable lack of sense or decorum into the fray...

A Sub-Optimal Ruling on the Rocky Mountain Wolf Hunt

Posted on September 09, 2009
Judge Molloy has refused to stop the wolf hunt that has already begun in Idaho and will soon begin (September 15th) in Montana.  Yet his decision to deny the preliminary injunction sought by Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club, the Humane Society & others does  acknowledge that the plaintiffs will likely prevail (eventually) on the merits...

California?s ?Pet Responsibility Act?

Posted on September 09, 2009
The California Legislature is once again attempting to control pet overpopulation through proposed bill SB 250 “Pet Responsibility Act” which outlines how owners must sterilize their cats/dogs.  The bill also imposes a penalty for violating these sterilization guidelines except in specified circumstances...

What ?Cage-Free? Means ? An Appeal from the RSPCA in England

Posted on September 07, 2009
The RSPCA is asking for your help.   The EU recently passed legislation designed to improve chicken welfare.  Unfortunately, the legislation is drafted in such a way as to allow more chickens to be packed into “rearing sheds.”   Already, the chickens lack the space to move or flap their wings; it’s the equivalent of a [...

Sunstein Update — No Recess for the Nutjobs

Posted on September 05, 2009
The congressional recess hasn’t stopped the wingnutathon against Cass Sunstein’s nomination to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. This opinion piece looks to rally all right-thinking Americans against radical ideas like: “[T]he law should impose further regulation on hunting, scientific experiments, entertainment, and (above all) farming to ensure against unnecessary animal suffering...

Radio as Animal Enterprise ? Some Further Thoughts on AETA

Posted on September 05, 2009
The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for downing two towers in Snohomish County, Washington.  The ELF statements declared that: “AM radio waves cause adverse health effects including a higher rate of cancer, harm to wildlife, and that the signals have been interfering with home phone and intercom lines...

Stores, Food, Dogs and Oregon

Posted on September 04, 2009
Apparently, folks in Portland like to bring companion animals into food stores, a predilection that the Oregon Agriculture Department (Food Safety Division) wishes to discourage. The law states that only “service” animals may enter food stores...

Thinking of Going into Animal Law?

Posted on September 03, 2009
Read this. Some how-to advice from one of the field’s rising stars. –David Cassuto

Wolf Hunt Update

Posted on September 02, 2009
The wolf hunt in Idaho and Montana has begun (I first blogged about it here). A number of environmental groups sued, asking for an injunction but, since Idaho released the details of its plan of the hunt only 2 weeks ago, the court was left with very little time to consider the case...

PETA’s Use of Women

Posted on August 31, 2009
PETA takes a lot of grief from the animal advocacy community and from feminists for its use of naked or sparsely clad women in its public events. This blogger offers a contrasting view. For my part, though I find the controversy surrounding PETA’s methods interesting and worth having, I worry that the resulting schisms in [...

Publishing Opportunity for Non-fiction Animal Prose

Posted on August 31, 2009
from the email… Call for Submissions: Animals For an upcoming issue, Creative Nonfiction is seeking new essays about the bonds-emotional, ethical, biological, physical, or otherwise-between humans and animals. We're looking for stories that illustrate ways animals (wild and/or domestic) affect, enrich, or otherwise have an impact on our daily lives...

Bestiality and the Sex Offender Registry

Posted on August 30, 2009
If you were wondering whether judges in Kansas were paid enough, the answer is “NO.” Judges in Kansas have to sometimes decide whether a person caught en flagrante with his ex-girlfriend’s dog (after sneaking into her garage) should have to register as a sex offender...

Ted Kennedy & Animals

Posted on August 27, 2009
Ted Kennedy’s death is a great loss for all kinds of reasons but not much of the eulogizing has focused on his animal advocacy. This piece does a nice job of summarizing the Senator’s long-time devotion to animal causes — from animal fighting, to factory farming, to seal hunting, he sometimes led, sometimes followed, but [...

IUCN Study of Elephant Meat Trade — Consulting Opportunity

Posted on August 26, 2009
From the email — an opportunity to lead a study for the IUCN Species Survival Commission on the elephant bushmeat issue in Central Africa. Note the looming application deadline. The Impact of the Elephant Meat Trade in Central Africa Call for Applications - Deadline 4 September 2009 1...

Update on Westlaw Unfair Treatment Post – Victory for Puerto Rican Law Schools

Posted on August 26, 2009
After a conversation with University of Puerto Rico Law School Dean Aponte-Toro and Professor Jos Juli n Alvarez, Thomson Reuters executives decided to reinstate printer services to Puerto Rican law schools. Thanks to all who helped! Luis Chiesa

Westlaw Puerto Rico Unfair Treatment

Posted on August 24, 2009
Given that issues related to animal law are directly and indirectly referenced in various Thomson Reuters casebooks and hornbooks, I want to share with Animal Blawg readers a couple of e-mails that highlight a policy adopted by the legal publishing giant in charge of Westlaw and Foundation Press that seems to discriminate against students at [...

Deer Culling in Westchester ? Rhetoric vs. Reality

Posted on August 23, 2009
I recently received the email below from my colleague (and occasional guest-blogger), Vanessa Merton.  I found the topic so interesting (and topical — see the panther post below) and the email such a good read that I asked her if I could post it on the blawg...

Panthers in the Suburbs

Posted on August 22, 2009
[The op-ed below appeared in the Westchester Herald (ten or so pages after Ed Koch's movie review and immediately following  Congressmember Nina Lowey's piece on health care reform).  It deals with recent sightings of what appear to be a large cat in the New York suburbs...

Another Look at Banning Depictions of Cruelty to Animals

Posted on August 21, 2009
John A. Humbach, Pace University School of law As most readers here know, in United States v. Stevens, 533 F.3d 218 (3d Cir. 2008), the Third Circuit struck down the Federal statute (18 U.S.C. § 48) that prohibited the creation, sale or possession of media depicting cruelty to animals...

First Animal Blawg Poll ? Why do you believe Veganism is Morally Appealing?

Posted on August 21, 2009
Given that polls about veganism seem to be the cool thing to do these days, here’s my first foray into the internet polling world. Check out the poll’s format. Isn’t it way cooler than the one used by Leiter for his veganism poll? Luis Chiesa

Leiter Poll ? The Sequel

Posted on August 16, 2009
Brian Leiter has reported the results of his poll here and contributed his own analysis of veganism, which he concludes to be a “kind of harmless and in many ways sweet eccentricity.”  I am omitting his preceding discussion, which is quite thoughtful and interesting and bears reading in its entirety...

More on the Meat/Climate Change Nexus

Posted on August 14, 2009
The link between livestock agriculture (particularly but not exclusively industrial agriculture) and climate change is getting some serious discussion, albeit not by those who actually pass laws about such things.  I’ve blogged about the issue here and am finishing up an essay for the Animals & Society Institute on CAFOs and climate change...

Who Gets to Know What About Whom Regarding Animal Experimentation

Posted on August 13, 2009
Guest blogger: Vanessa Merton I know absolutely nothing about the legal merit of the ruling described below, but it raises the question whether personal identifier data about particular individual researchers legitimately should be withheld from these reports, in an era when scientists like Dr...

Vegetarianism is Immoral??

Posted on August 12, 2009
Apropos of the dustup surrounding the Leiter Poll, this guy over at the National Review thinks vegetarianism (and, one would assume, veganism) is immoral.  His argument is beyond shallow but that’s the way these things sometimes go. H/T: Animal Ethics...

Bill to Ban Canned Hunting in NY in the Pipeline

Posted on August 12, 2009
Once upon a time, the NY State Legislature passed a bill outlawing canned hunting only to have then Governor Pataki veto it.  The current law permits canned hunts except that the animals can’t be tied to a stationary object of confined in a pen or box...

Dorf on Leiter?s Poll ? A Must Read!

Posted on August 10, 2009
Cornell’s Michael Dorf recently posted a very witty response to Leiter’s veganism poll. In my first post on the subject I took issue with  the poll’s “veganism is disgusting? alternative. Professor Dorf believes that the proposed poll responses “trivialize veganism”...

More on Leiter?s Veganism Poll

Posted on August 10, 2009
Surprisingly, my recent post about Professor Leiter’s poll on “attitudes toward veganism”  seems to have sparked substantial interest among AnimalBlawg readers. Given the attention that the post has received, I want to keep readers updated on a couple of developments regarding this topic...

Pennsylvania Bar Institute to Host Animal Law Seminar

Posted on August 09, 2009
August 13th and 26th in Mechanicsburg and Philadelphia respectively.  This is the PBI’s 6th year doing this.  CLE is available.  More info here.

A Bill to Ban Aerial Wolf Hunting

Posted on August 08, 2009
I’m fresh off the Long Trail.  Every year, my son and I head into the Vermont woods to be together and to be alone.  These are the best of times. During my absence some good things happened.  For example, Judge Sotomayor got confirmed.  Plus, a few tentative steps were taken to halt the shooting of wolves [...

Leiter?s Poll on Veganism

Posted on August 08, 2009
Over at the “Law School Reports” blog, Professor Brian Leiter is conducting an interesting (unscientific) poll on “what is your attitude towards veganism?”.  Given that I’m a vegetarian, I voted for the option stating “Veganism is the morally most defensible dietary regimen, and I admire those who adopt it and wish I could do the [...

Journalists Argue that Criminalizing the Depiction of Animal Cruelty is Counterproductive

Posted on August 06, 2009
A respected association of journalists – the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) – filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case dealing with whether it is a violation of the first amendment to criminalize the depiction of animal cruelty...

Animal Cruelty Now a Felony in Arkansas

Posted on August 03, 2009
As of July 29th, 2009 (last Friday), animal cruelty became a felony in Arkansas.  Act 33 makes torturing a dog, cat or horse a felony on first offense, punishable by up to 6 years in prison and a $10k fine.  There’s a 5 year sentencing enhancement if any of these acts are committed in front [...

Bullfights in?.California?

Posted on August 03, 2009
One of the most vexing problems that animal advocates face is fighting animal cruelty that is justified by reference to religious traditions. David has written about the problem here. A not so well known instance where there is a clash between religion and cruelty is in California?s San Joaquin Valley, where the hot [...

Brief Ruminations on Spanish Anti-Cruelty Laws

Posted on August 01, 2009
While writing the syllabus for the comparative criminal law seminar that I will teach in Buenos Aires this September, I stumbled upon Spain’s anti-cruelty statutes. It seems that in Spain it’s only a crime to mistreat companion animals (Art...

Joyce Tischler is ABA TIPS Animal Law Section Honoree

Posted on July 30, 2009
Joyce Tischler will be honored by the Tort, Trial & Insurance Practice (TIPS) Animal Law Section at the American Bar Association which convenes this week in Chicago.   Tischler, co-founder of the ALDF and animal advocate for three decades, will be presented with the Excellence in the Advancement of Animal Law Award...

Animal Advocacy: A Threat to All That?s Right and Good?

Posted on July 29, 2009
Here’s a newsflash: animal rights people control the discourse on animal issues.  At least that was the message of the recent meeting of the Animal Agriculture Alliance.  One speaker, Professor Wes Jamison of Palm Beach Atlantic University, opined that animal advocates drape their message in a cloak of religiosity because people are ignorant about [...

Finch Fighting Ring Broken Up

Posted on July 27, 2009
Good grief; who even knew there was finch fighting?  Another day, another gruesome exploitative use of animals in the news… –David Cassuto

Racing ?At? (Not ?To?) the Airport

Posted on July 24, 2009
Today, I learned that county officials would like to install slot machines in Miami International Airport (MIA).  Generally, I disapprove of slot machines; they embody all the bad about gambling (anti-social, no skill involved & you can’t beat the house) and none of the good (skill involved, you can beat the house, and it’s social)...

Sunstein? More on the Inertia Sweepstakes

Posted on July 22, 2009
Yes, there are other things to blog about but the Cass Sunstein nomination saga is both perversely fascinating and important.  Sunstein’s views on animal issues are at best tangential to the position of Head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs...

Sunstein, Chambliss and the Pound of Flesh

Posted on July 21, 2009
In case you were wondering what (among other concessions) Cass Sunstein had to do to move his nomination forward, here’s a little tidbit.  Sunstein wrote Saxby Chambliss a letter, which Chambliss then read into the Congressional Record, in which Sunstein promises to  ?respect? gun rights and ?not take any steps to promote litigation on behalf [...

In Memoriam: Frank McCourt

Posted on July 20, 2009
To my knowledge, Frank McCourt did not spend a lot of time thinking about animal issues.  However, he was the first person who taught me to care about writing and to appreciate the power of language.  He did that as he did everything — with a twinkling eye and a raft of good stories...

AETA?s First Legal Challenge

Posted on July 19, 2009
We knew that the government would eventually invoke the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) and now it has.  Earlier this year, authorities arrested 4 activists for alleged threats and vandalism against research facilities at UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley and charged them under AETA...

If Everyone Were Vegetarian?

Posted on July 17, 2009
We wouldn’t have the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile crashing into people’s homes. –David Cassuto (is not making this up…)

Wild Horse Protection Bill Makes it Through the House

Posted on July 17, 2009
As usual it wasn’t pretty (the term “sausage-making” seems disturbingly apt), but H.R. 1018, a federal bill to protect wild horses and burros from commercial sale and slaughter and also from wholesale government-sponsored killing, made it through the House...

Sunstein Nomination: The Hold is Lifted

Posted on July 16, 2009
Saxby Chambliss has stepped out of the way.  Confirmation is apparently within reach. –David Cassuto

Sunstein Nomination Inches to a Standstill

Posted on July 15, 2009
It would seem that Senator Chambliss remains worried about his peeps’ potential exposure to lawsuits by animals should Cass Sunstein be confirmed.  He also doesn’t like the fact that Professor Sunstein does not view the 2nd Amendment as a a blanket license to own weapons...

The United States Doesn?t Torture? Animal Testing in the Military

Posted on July 15, 2009
Charles J. Rosciam is a retired captain with the Navy Medical Services Corps ? a combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient.  He and 16 other retired armed forces medical personnel are attempting to convince the Department of Defense (DOD) to stop torturing and killing animals as part of its trauma training program...

Sunstein Nomination Inches Forward

Posted on July 14, 2009
Cass Sunstein will meet with Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) today in an effort to convince him (Chambliss) that Sunstein’s thoughtful and comparatively moderate positions on animal rights and welfare won’t result in him (Chambliss) and his constituents facing lawsuits from pigs and other confined animals...

On Animals, Death & the Media

Posted on July 14, 2009
A Cal-Maine industrial egg facility in Texas caught fire last Thursday.  The facility was damaged but fortunately, no one was hurt.  Oh yeah, and 800,000 hens died. Stephanie, over at Animal Rights – Change.Org, lays bare the media’s indifference to animals...

Obama Backs Bill to Ban Prophylactic Antibiotics

Posted on July 13, 2009
In a potentially promising development, President Obama’s Principal Deputy Commissioner of Food and Drugs testified in support of a bill that would ban subtherapeutic antibiotic use in animals.  The reason: pumping animals full of antibiotics is bad, bad, bad...

On Dumb Animals and Climate Change

Posted on July 13, 2009
Today, Krugman uses the metaphor of boiled frogs to bring home the reality of collective inaction on climate change.  He is referencing the fact that if you put a frog in cold water and then heat the water, the frog won’t know that it’s being cooked (until it’s too late)...

Food and Environment

Posted on July 12, 2009
I spend a lot of time talking about the ethics of industrial farming as it relates to the treatment of animals.  Now, I want to say a few words about diet, environment and the law.  On average, Americans consume forty-five more pounds of meat per year than they did fifty years ago...

No Standing to Object to Foie Gras

Posted on July 11, 2009
New York is the foie gras capital of the United States.  Several years ago, the Humane Society, among several other complainants, asked the Commissioner of Agriculture to declare foie gras an adulterated food product.  The underlying rationale was that force-feeding ducks causes them to become diseased, as evidenced by their engorged livers...

Canned Hunting of Endangered Species is Illegal

Posted on July 09, 2009
From the Stuff You Probably Thought Was Too Obvious to Have to Sue About Desk: A district court in Washington D.C. has struck down a Bush Era U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service rule that allowed canned hunting of endangered species.  Canned hunting is the shooting of semi-tame animals on fenced  “ranches” (see here for some previous [...

Dorgan?s Proposed Folly ? Elk Hunting in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Posted on July 08, 2009
Today’s NYT has an editorial on a proposed elk hunt in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.  The herd has grown to over 900 animals since 1985, when elk were reintroduced to the region.  Apparently, a herd of that size stresses the ecosystem so Senator Dorgan has proposed a “common sense” solution of allowing [...

Nationwide Dogfighting Crackdown Leads to 26 Arrests

Posted on July 08, 2009
7 states, 400 dogs.  Apparently this was not one large ring.  Just lots of people around the country with vicious, sadistic streaks.  Read all about it here. –David Cassuto

What you can do to Stop the Monkey Business in Puerto Rico

Posted on July 07, 2009
Unfortunately, my hometown of Puerto Rico continues to struggle with cruelty related issues. After the dog killing fiasco that took place in the town of Vega Baja in 2007, one hopes that Puerto Ricans have become more cognizant of these types of issues...

New York Animal Law in Perspective

Posted on July 06, 2009
Many believe that state animal cruelty laws are not tough enough and that states ought to implement an ?eye for an eye? approach.  Others believe such approaches would be no more effective for crimes against animals than for crimes against people.  In New York, laws are evolving but what’s going on elsewhere? Similar to [...

Sunstein Redux

Posted on July 02, 2009
Will Harvard’s Cass Sunstein become an animal advocate in the White House? If confirmed by the Senate as the Head of the Office of Management and Budget’s Office ofInformation & Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), Sunstein would be responsible for the office which reviews all regulatory proposals from the Administration...

GEIG ? A Coda

Posted on July 01, 2009
This was a very productive 5 day meeting of GEIG.  In addition to attending some fine discussions and papers over the last several days, I also officially joined the IUCN CEL Ethics Specialist Group, something I mistakenly thought I had done in Barcelona at the IUCN Congress back in the fall...

The Ethics of Culling Wildlife ? More News from GEIG

Posted on June 29, 2009
Dateline Florence (I just like saying that), where the Global Ecological Integrity Group Conference continues: One of today’s speakers — an ecologist from Australia — asked: When is it ethically appropriate to cull wildlife to reduce the disease threat to humans? While I am pleased that such questions get posed, they raise predicate questions which seldom get [...

Taking Animal Advocacy Seriously (Part 2 of 3)

Posted on June 29, 2009
A couple of months ago I wrote a post on why it is that people fail to take animal advocacy seriously. Today I want to elaborate that claim by illustrating it with a recent example. As most readers of AnimalBlawg probably know, President Obama swatted a fly during an interview with John Hardwood several weeks [...

Talking Factory Farming and Vivisection in Florence

Posted on June 26, 2009
I’m in Florence at the moment and, when not gawking at the Duomo, am attending the annual conference of the Global Ecological Integrity Group (GEIG).  This conference offers a good venue to talk to my fellow enviros about animal issues.  The audience tends to be receptive, albeit sometimes skeptical — just the kind of folks [...

Proposed Ban on Exotic Animals in Westchester Hits Wall (of Legislators)

Posted on June 25, 2009
This past Monday, at the invitation of the Committee to Ban Wild and Exotic Animal Acts, Michelle Land and I attended a meeting of the Legislation Committee of the Westchester Board of Legislators.  We were there to testify in favor of proposed legislation banning USDA certified “dangerous” animals from county property...

Pennsylvania State Senator Fights for Animal Cruelty Bill

Posted on June 24, 2009
Thomas Caltagirone, Chair of the Judiciary Committee of the Pennsylvania State Senate, authored an animal cruelty bill that is currently languishing even though it passed the House unanimously in March.  The bill would outlaw ear cropping and “debarking” of dogs...

Geese and Airplanes ? Is Extermination the Answer?

Posted on June 22, 2009
Guest Blogger Alexandra Dapolito Dunn, Pace Law School.  June 22, 2009. This is my first contribution to the Animal Blawg.  I mentioned to my colleague, Prof. David Cassuto, that I was somewhat troubled by recent stories about how Canadian geese are being managed at LaGuardia Airport following the ?double bird strike? which [...

Antibiotics in Your Organic Lettuce and Other Tales from the Factory Farm

Posted on June 20, 2009
I’m writing a piece about CAFOs and climate change for the Animals & Society Institute, which, as you might imagine, is not a cheerful pursuit.  Still, even with all my carping about antibiotics in animal feed, I had not realized that vegetables like corn, potatoes and lettuce absorb antibiotics when fertilized with livestock manure...

Free Speech at the Margins ? ALDF and Animal Law Profs File Amicus Brief in U.S. v. Stevens

Posted on June 18, 2009
In U.S. v. Stevens, the Supreme Court will decide whether a federal law forbidding depictions of animal cruelty violates the First Amendment.  Suzanne first blogged about the case here.  ALDF and animal law professors from all over the country (of whom I am one) recently filed an amicus brief in this case...

Misplaced Activism?

Posted on June 17, 2009
I found the trailer for The Cove the other night while browsing the apple.com/trailers. You can find it here.  I?m encouraged that this is on the front page of the trailers page; it gives me hope that it might been seen by more people than it would if it were advertised only in independent movie [...

Duck Liver, Bob Herbert and the Plight of the American Worker

Posted on June 15, 2009
Zoe Weil does a fine job taking Bob Herbert to task for his cavalier dismissal of the plight of the ducks at an upstate NY foie gras facility.  Herbert concerns himself with the exploitation of the workers at the facility — which is all to the good...

Industrial Agriculture and What NOT to Read During Summer Vacation

Posted on June 14, 2009
Washington State University assigned Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma to all incoming freshmen as required summer reading.  The idea: to spur a debate about industrial agriculture and its impact on American society.  Great idea, right?  I guess not...

Agriculture Exempt from Carbon Caps Under Waxman-Markey

Posted on June 12, 2009
Anyone who was hoping that the climate change bill currently making its way through Congress would have any significant impact on global warming should read this post at Grist.  As the bill currently reads, agriculture is exempt from any carbon caps (despite a carbon footprint exceeding that of the transportation sector)...

New Peer Review Format at Pace Environmental Law Review

Posted on June 12, 2009
I have mentioned before that, in my view, environmental law and animal law are inseverably linked.  In the spirit of bridging the counter-productive gulf between between the two disciplines, I note the following announcement from the Pace Environmental Law Review: Pace Environmental Law Review is Raising the Bar with Peer Review As of August 1, 2009, Pace Environmental [...

Animal Law in New York

Posted on June 11, 2009
Guest Blogger: Stephen Iannocone It seems that animal law is beginning to evolve in the state of New York. While animal cruelty has not been on the same level as a mere traffic violation for quite some time, New York Law continues to move in the right direction...

What to do About our Non-Vegetarian (vegan) Loved Ones

Posted on June 09, 2009
I always struggle with how to deal with my non-vegetarian (vegan) loved ones. On the one hand, I love them to death and don’t want to alienate them by continuously explaining to them the immorality of some of their food choices. On the other hand, I feel that I have a moral obligation to let [...

The Underbelly of Horse Racing

Posted on June 07, 2009
Summer Bird won the Preakness yesterday.  So, perhaps now would be a good time to revisit the world of thoroughbred racing (Luis first posted about it here). A Few Basic facts: - Horse racing is a $4 Billion industry - racehorses weigh over 1000 pounds, but have been selectively bred to have smaller legs ? you do the [...

More on Cows and Climate

Posted on June 06, 2009
Following up on the post below, this article in the NYT bears a look.  Some in the dairy industry (e.g. Stonyfield Farms) are experimenting with feeding dairy cows plants instead of corn to see if it lowers their methane output.  Guess what?  It does...

Week-Long Series at Slate on ?Pepper the Stolen Dog Who Changed America

Posted on June 03, 2009
Slate features an important, fascinating and disturbing  tale of dog who was kidnapped from her home in Pennsylvania and made the subject of a grotesque series of experiments (which I will not dignify with the adjective “scientific”) by Ivan Pavlov (of “Pavlov’s dog” fame)...

Agriculture, Climate Change and the UNFCC

Posted on June 03, 2009
The International Federation of Agricultural Producers has produced a declaration addressing the role of agriculture in both causing and potentially mitigating climate change.  The document bears reading in its entirety both for what it says and for what it does not...

Fish Feel Pain; Now What?

Posted on June 02, 2009
Guest blogger: Elaine Hsaio One of the most common arguments for not eating meat is animal suffering, but this rationale all too often stops short at recognizing the pain of other beings.  Common example: pescatarianism.  Fish don’t feel pain or experience suffering, so we can continue to eat fish despite having given up [...

The Continuing Impact of Proposition 2

Posted on June 01, 2009
In the wake of Prop 2, lawmakers in California have apparently been bitten by the animal protection bug.  Legislation is working its way through both chambers that would ban tail-docking of dairy cows, ban importation of eggs from out-of-state facilities that use unacceptable battery cages, abolish large-scale puppy mills, and increase the penalties for poaching [...

Dolphin Slaughter in Denmark

Posted on May 29, 2009
From the email:  Thanks to Laura Westra for this translation of the Italian text: SHAME!  It is Incredible that it should exist! what todo? other than report it and offer these images as far as possible. DENMARK; A SHAME …pictures…. Although this appears incredible, every year in Denmark this brutal and bloody massacre happens in the [...

GRIDA in Rearview ? A Most Excellent Event

Posted on May 28, 2009
Only time for a brief word about the GRIDA conference b/c I?m now at a different conference, this time of the Rocky Mountain Mineral law Foundation.  The GRIDA event was outstanding.  Lecture topics ranged from animal behavior to AETA.  Among the highlights: David Favre advanced his vision of animals as living property; Steve Wise sketched [...

Some Thoughts On a Shelter Closing

Posted on May 23, 2009
Several posts on this blawg have commented on the troubling reality underlying the legal status of animals, which is that so long as animals remain property under the law, any legal advances are only made in terms of animals? relationships to humans, not for the sake of any inherent right to autonomy...

The Otter Hunt Reborn

Posted on May 20, 2009
En route to Montreal for the GRIDA Animal Law Conference (see post here), I picked up some Canadian newspapers.  From the NationalPost, I learn that aboriginals on Vancouver Island hope to kill 1% of the region?s sea otters per year for ?ceremonial reasons...

Animal Issues Front & Center at Sunstein Confirmation Hearings

Posted on May 18, 2009
Cass Sunstein, President Obama’s choice for administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (a sort of Administrative Law Czar), is a law academic (U of Chicago and now Harvard) and an advocate and scholar of animal law.  He supports (among other things) the creation of a private right of action for animal protection [...

Some Good News from the Courts

Posted on May 18, 2009
Hot off the email: Dear friends and colleagues, I?m happy to share with you that the story of Animal Legal Defense Fund  v. Woodley has been reported on with great care as a big feature story in the June issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. It?s a fantastic tribute to the huge team [...

Animal Law Symposium: The Impact On & Opportunities For Animals in the Current Political and Economic Climate

Posted on May 15, 2009
Call for Papers The Animal Law Section of the Maryland State Bar Association, in conjunction with the University Of Baltimore School Of Law and the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Law, will host the first-ever regional Mid-Atlantic symposium on animal law...

Vilsack Going South on Us

Posted on May 15, 2009
My low expectations for Secretary Vilsack (USDA) were briefly raised with Kathleen Merrigan’s appointment to the #2 spot over there (see post here).  Then I read stuff like this, where Vilsack tells Congress that the “vast, vast, vast majority of farmers who are raising livestock are very sensitive” to the need to be careful about [...

Great News for Farmed Animals from Both Sides of the Atlantic

Posted on May 14, 2009
On the US side, Maine has become the sixth U.S. state to ban extreme confinement of certain factory-farmed animals! It joins Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and California in what has become a massive and sustained push by people across the country to better the living conditions of animals in factory farms...

What Price Sushi? Tuna on the Brink

Posted on May 13, 2009
The bluefin tuna can go from 0 to 60 mph in 5 seconds. Underwater.  One of the top predators in the ocean, the fish can grow to 10 feet in length and weigh 1500 pounds.  It also makes really good sushi — dead bluefin can sell for over $100,000.  Consequently, it has been fished to [...

Live Skinning Raccoon Dogs and Other Tales from the Fur Farm

Posted on May 13, 2009
Sometimes, information presents itself that is so stirring, so disturbing, so utterly inconceivable that even those of us paying attention to these issues are shaken to the core. Such was the case when I chose to view the undercover video of a Chinese fur farm taken by investigators of Care for the Wild, EAST International, and [...

Another Cool Animal Scholarship Opportunity

Posted on May 10, 2009
Call for papers: for the new multidisciplinary and international Journal of Animal Ethics to be published by the University of Illinois Press in partnership with the Ferrater Mora Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics in 2010. The Journal will be a journal of inquiry, argument, and exchange dedicated to exploring the moral dimension of our relations with animals...

Polar Bears, Secretary Salazar and Climate Change

Posted on May 09, 2009
Polar bears cannot catch a break.  The Bush Administration reluctantly declared the bear a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)  a year or so ago.  The threat arose because of shrinking habitat caused by polar ice melting.  That ice melt is, of course, a result of climate change...

Animal Law as Masculine Sentimentalism?

Posted on May 07, 2009
That?s a possibility I hadn?t considered before.  But I think Susan Pearson (History, Northwestern University) is onto something.  On May 15, 2009, Dr. Pearson will present her paper ?The Dove Has Claws?: Anticruelty Reform and Masculine Sentimentalism in Gilded Age America at the Newberry Library in Chicago...

European Parliament Bans Trade in Seal Products

Posted on May 06, 2009
The European Parliament has banned all trade in seal pelts and seal products.  The move was strongly criticized by Canada and particularly by the Canadian Sealers Association, which insists that the Canadian method of clubbing young seals to death on the ice is humane...

Swine Flu: Born in North Carolina

Posted on May 06, 2009
So it turns out that the H1N1 or (let’s call it what it is:) SWINE Flu is a Tarheel.  This outstanding post in Daily Kos tells the story about how the genes of this most recent virus are traceable to a 1998 outbreak at a Sampson County, North Carolina industrial hog facility...

Pulled Pork Ad

Posted on May 06, 2009
Words fail me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9K8jQQ8g3A&feature=player_embedded –dnc hat tip: Feminist Law Professors

Pete Seeger, Hope, & Animals

Posted on May 04, 2009
Yesterday, I attended Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday celebration (and benefit for the Clearwater) at Madison Square Garden.  The music and spirit of Seeger (and the Weavers) was a huge presence in my house during my childhood and remains so to this day...

U.S. Justice Dept Joins the Fight

Posted on May 03, 2009
The U.S. Justice Department has joined the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) in a lawsuit against Hallmark Meat Packing and Westland Meat Company, Inc. for defrauding the federal government. The Humane Society of the United States had filed a qui tam action in federal district court against the two companies following their abusive treatment [...

Babies and Pigs in Diapers

Posted on May 01, 2009
Nadya Suleman, the California mother of 14 children, has said in a recent news interview that she is considering adopting a pet pig and/or a small dog.  PETA is urging Ms. Suleman to refrain.  According to PETA, a representative of that organization sent Ms...

Veggie School Lunch Options

Posted on May 01, 2009
Wyntergrace Williams, the 14-year-old daughter of talk show host Montel Williams, is lobbying the U.S. Congress to reform the Child Nutrition Act to more accurately reflect the health benefits of vegetarian and vegan meals in public school lunches by offering more non-meat and non-dairy options...

The Politicization of Animal Use

Posted on May 01, 2009
 Conservative political radio talk show political host Rush Limbaugh has joined forces with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to support a U.S. crackdown on ?organized dog fighting and other animal cruelty crimes? according to the Washington Times...

PETA and . . . Michael Vick

Posted on May 01, 2009
PETA continues to break new ground in the unusual approach to animal advocacy sweepstakes.  Apparently, Micheal Vick is in talks with PETA to become a spokesperson for the organization.  We can interpret Vick’s motives in a number of ways.  Perhaps he has rehabilitated himself and developed a love (or at least respect) for animals while [...

CAFO Calumny

Posted on April 29, 2009
Today’s NYT reports that the pork industry is incensed at the public relations drubbing their industry has taken as a result of the swine flu outbreak.  Tom Harkin’s response is to call the virus the “so called” swine flu.  Yep, that ought to take care of it...

Hog CAFOs and the Swine Flu Outbreak ? You Do the Math

Posted on April 27, 2009
Flying below the media radar (at least in the United States) is an apparent link between a Smithfield Farms hog confinement facility in Veracruz, Mexico and the swine flu outbreak.  Although it has received little attention here, the issue has gotten significant coverage in the Mexican media...

Free Speech or Free Tyranny?

Posted on April 26, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to finally determine whether selling videos depicting animal cruelty should be constitutionally-protected speech. This year, it will hear the case of United States of America v. Robert J. Stevens. The defendant, who sold dogfighting and hog-dog fighting videos, was the first person to be convicted under a 1999 federal law [...

Tail-Docking Goes the Way of the Dodo

Posted on April 22, 2009
In addition to ultimately being killed, and to (for most), being severely confined indoors, without fresh air, soil or trees, American factory-farmed animals are subjected to a horrifying line-up of painful physical mutilations. These are all a result of farmers’ desires to keep their work easy and predictable, and reflect the shift to factory-farming that [...

The Helmsley Controversy Continues?

Posted on April 22, 2009
This one’s for Professor Crawford… The Washington Times reports today that Leona Helmsley’s estate trustees have allocated $136 million of the trust’s first dole-out of $137 million (out of an estimated total of $5 billion) to medical charities rather than dog charities ? the latter being what some animal advocates feel her will indicated she wished...

Animal Terror(ists)

Posted on April 21, 2009
So, a few days after the administration gets roundly criticized for suggesting that former members of the military might be susceptible to right-wing extremism, we learn today that the FBI’s Most Wanted “Domestic Terrorist” is an animal rights activist who has allegedly bombed two offices in northern California...

Content Cows Come from Cariocas, not California

Posted on April 19, 2009
Whenever I talk to someone about becoming a vegetarian, I have to be very conscious of the argument I present. I usually start by letting people ask me questions about my own lifestyle, rather than come off as an agenda pusher.  But where we go from there is another matter...

Animal Scholarship Opportunity in Social Text

Posted on April 18, 2009
Call for Papers: Special Issue of Social Text SPECIES We are soliciting papers for a special issue of Social Text titled SPECIES.  The past decade has witnessed the emergence and crystallization of a field of scholarship hailed as “Animal Studies” or alternatively, the ?Post-human turn...

Fur Is Green?

Posted on April 17, 2009
Guest Blogger: Seth Victor Today I discovered the “Fur Is Green” campaign, sponsored by the Fur Council of Canada. I don’t think anyone who reads this blog will find this campaign anything less than absurd. While I could possibly see someone buying the “Respect for the Land” and “Respect for the People” prongs, I find immense [...

Wording Is Everything

Posted on April 16, 2009
I am delighted that my post has generated so much cogitation.  As the debate continues, though, I want my position clearly understood.  What I said was that vegans and omnivores alike must examine their roles in the industrial food apparatus and in that context stated that it is intellectually inconsistent to decry animal cruelty while [...

It Depends on the Cheeseburger

Posted on April 16, 2009
David’s post on the morality of food choices is generating an important debate. What spurred the discussion was David’s assertion that “[a]s a matter of intellectual consistency, it makes no more sense to decry animal cruelty while eating a cafeteria cheeseburger than to condemn racism while attending a lynching”...

Defending Diet Defensively

Posted on April 15, 2009
Interesting piece in today’s NYT about Jeffrey Masson and his path to veganism.  It’s heartening that in the space of a couple of weeks the Gray Lady featured Kristof’s piece (mentioned below) and this one, both of which deal with diet and animal rights...

Summer Grants for Law Students Interested In Animal Law

Posted on April 15, 2009
From the email: ALDF Summer Research Grants: Through the funding of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the Animal Legal & Historical Center will be able to offer four $1,000 summer research grants. Under our grant program students are assigned topics and they draft a paper for posting on the website along with relevant primary legal materials...

Animals in the entertainment industry ? deception and cruelty

Posted on January 23, 2008
Gary from AnimalWritings sent me a link to this fascinating video on animals used in the entertainment industry. Aired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada’s public broadcasting network, the film is a follow-up to an investigation done in 1982...

Evolution and human/animal rights

Posted on January 21, 2008
The ideology of human rights is based on the exceptionality of humans. As stated in the Declaration of Independence, it is something intrinsic in humans that justifies these special “universal” standards of decency. Enter evolution and the concept that our animal neighbors are also relatives...

Policing the borders of the rights-bearing community

Posted on January 17, 2008
American culture has basically accepted the concept of human rights. This concept was expressed in the Declaration of Independence as the idea that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...

FDA?s cloned animal decision ? the real victims

Posted on January 15, 2008
Today, the FDA released a report stating that meat and milk from most cloned animals are safe to eat. This report gives industry the green light for marketing cloned animal products, since it indicates that the FDA will not seek a ban on the products...

Striking at the Roots ? book review

Posted on January 11, 2008
Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism, by activist Mark Hawthorne, is an inspiring new book to kick off the new year. It really IS a practical guide to animal activism — it has chapters on many different methods of animal activism, from leafleting and tabling to corporate campaigning and multimedia to [...

Where we?ve been?winter break recap

Posted on January 07, 2008
We’re finally back from our long winter’s nap…or our last extended winter break before we enter the real world of jobs and two-day holidays. It’s a little hard to get back in gear after such a long hiatus. Also, the mere act of being vegan in the deep south (where our families are) required [...

Our prolonged absence and upcoming return?

Posted on January 02, 2008
Joel and I have been out of town for the past few weeks — visiting family for the holidays — and we’ll be back next week. Our apologies for the blog silence. Till then, we wish all creatures a happy New Year!

Conservatives and animal issues

Posted on December 18, 2007
At the TAFA conference last summer, PETA’s Bruce Friedrich said something that made me curious. He mentioned that political conservatives in the media have been more helpful with getting out the word on animal issues than political liberals tend to be, and they are often more sympathetic than liberals are...

The Democratic primaries and Big Meat

Posted on December 15, 2007
(Joel and I have been in the middle of exams lately, but the regular posting will start again as soon as we’re finished.) While none of the main contenders for the Democratic nomination are terribly great when it comes to animal issues, Hillary Clinton wins the award for Sucking Up the Most to the Big Meat [...

Red meat is the Donald Trump of cancer

Posted on December 13, 2007
http://tastebetter.com/story/Red-meat-is-as-bad-as-you-ve-heard Though the cancer connection itself is not exactly news, I thought this comic way of describing the problem was certainly worth a link.

Vegetarian in the western world

Posted on December 11, 2007
Gandhi vowed at a young age not to eat meat or drink alcohol. In India, where Jain and Hindu thought over centuries had legitimized such a lifestyle choice, this was not a terrible hardship. Then Gandhi traveled to England to study law. Gandhi openly stated that it was difficult to maintain an ethical lifestyle [...

Why does veganism make other people so mad?

Posted on December 10, 2007
I’ve often wondered why other people sometimes get defensive when they realize I’m vegan — why is it such a personal affront that I’ve chosen not to eat animal products? In his new book, Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights, Bob Torres has an insightful paragraph on this dynamic...

A Vegan Option on Every Menu

Posted on December 07, 2007
Wouldn’t it be nice if every restaurant had at least one vegan item labeled on the menu? No more asking the chef to make a “vegetable plate,” restaurant-speak for “plate of grilled vegetables that all taste alike and won’t fill you up...