Legal Niches

Euthanasia is NOT the Answer

Posted on November 29, 2009
Elisa D’Ortenzio As the year 2009 comes to an end, over 4 million dogs and cats will have been euthanized in the United States alone due to over population in animal shelters. Dogs and cats that do not end up living in shelters often live as strays on the street...

Disgusting Animal Abuse Case in Lithuania Leads to the Potential for Stricter Punishments for Animal Abuse

Posted on November 29, 2009
Irina Knopp Recently, the shocking video of a dog being thrown from a bridge has circulated the internet.  Svajunas Beniuk from Kaunas, Lithuania was the culprit.  Svajunas, who was joined by at least two other people who filmed the event, took a neighbor?s dog and threw it from a bridge...

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...

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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 [...

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