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Animal Law Commons

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Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Animal Law

Letting The Apes Run The Zoo: Using Tort Law To Provide Animals With A Legal Voice, Tania Rice May 2013

Letting The Apes Run The Zoo: Using Tort Law To Provide Animals With A Legal Voice, Tania Rice

Pepperdine Law Review

Science is increasingly showing us that animals have many cognitive similarities with humans. In addition to calls for changes in our animal protection statutes, members of the legal community have begun debating over whether animals, or a certain category of animals, should be granted legal rights. This approach has the potential for drastic societal ramifications. David S. Favre has proposed a tort action for animals as a compromise to the animal rights debate. This Comment explores the different approaches to seeking improved conditions for animals, and proposes an adjusted tort cause of action in response to criticisms of Favre's tort.


A Hen In The Parlor: Municipal Control And Enforcement Of Residential Chicken Coops, Chris Erchull Jan 2013

A Hen In The Parlor: Municipal Control And Enforcement Of Residential Chicken Coops, Chris Erchull

Student Competition Writings

The locavore movement and similar trends in sustainable agriculture and health are renewing interest in backyard residential chicken coops. This Article analyzes some of the regulatory approaches cities and towns have taken to address backyard residential chicken coops. The Article focuses on how regulation can support and encourage the beneficial aspects of keeping backyard chickens while mitigating the potential harmful impact of excessive or irresponsibly managed residential chicken coops. In particular, the Article examines common trends in local regulation, like limits on the number and sex of birds allowed in each residential yard, setback and structural requirements, and animal welfare …


2012 Federal Legislative Review, Carolyn Greenshields, Kimberly White Laduca Jan 2013

2012 Federal Legislative Review, Carolyn Greenshields, Kimberly White Laduca

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.


Empowering Market Regulation Of Agricultural Animal Welfare Through Product Labeling, Sean P. Sullivan Jan 2013

Empowering Market Regulation Of Agricultural Animal Welfare Through Product Labeling, Sean P. Sullivan

Animal Law Review

In many Western nations, rising public concern about the welfare of agricultural animals is reflected in the adoption of direct regulatory standards governing the treatment of these animals. The United States has taken a different path, tending to rely on a “market-regulation” approach whereby consumers express their desire for specific welfare practices through their purchasing decisions. This Article explores the failure of market regulation and the welfare-preference paradox posed by consumers who express a strong preference for improved animal welfare in theory, but who simultaneously fail to demand heightened welfare standards in practice. It argues that market regulation is failing …


Meat Labeling Through The Looking Glass, Bruce Friedrich Jan 2013

Meat Labeling Through The Looking Glass, Bruce Friedrich

Animal Law Review

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates meat labeling under the statutory authority of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA). The FMIA’s labeling preemption clause prohibits labeling requirements beyond federal requirements, and would thus preclude state causes of action on the basis of deceptive labels that were properly approved under federal law. Through the eyes of Kat, a hypothetical consumer concerned with the origins of the meat she purchases for her family, this Article argues that consumers should be able to pursue state law claims based on fraudulent animal welfare labels on packages of meat. This is true for …


Legislation To Protect The Welfare Of Fish, Kelly Levenda Jan 2013

Legislation To Protect The Welfare Of Fish, Kelly Levenda

Animal Law Review

This Article examines the marginalization of fish under current animal welfare laws and regulations, explores the treatment of farm-raised fish during transport and slaughter, and proposes legislation and regulations in these two areas. While evidence indicates that fish are capable of experiencing pain, fear, and suffering—the traditional considerations informing concepts of animal welfare—current pre-slaughter transport and slaughter practices are completely uninformed by notions of fish welfare. Comparing the cognitive and sensory capacities of fish to other animals currently receiving animal welfare recognition through official regulation, this Article argues that protections afforded to animals during transport and slaughter should similarly apply …


Dignity As Perception: Recognition Of The Human Individual And The Individual Animal In Legal Thought, Joseph Vining Jan 2013

Dignity As Perception: Recognition Of The Human Individual And The Individual Animal In Legal Thought, Joseph Vining

Book Chapters

'To their murderers these wretched people were not individuals at all. They came in wholesale lots and were treated worse than animals.' This was Telford Taylor, beginning the presentation of the 'Medical Case' at the Nuremberg Trials after the Second World War. The 'Medical Case' was not about genocide or war or the conduct of war. It was about experimentation on human beings; and it was this trial that produced the 'Nuremberg Code', the first control of such treatment of human beings by one another. The word 'individual' came naturally to Taylor the lawyer as a starting point, and with …


Bullhooks And The Law: Is Pain And Suffering The Elephant In The Room?, Trevor J. Smith Jan 2013

Bullhooks And The Law: Is Pain And Suffering The Elephant In The Room?, Trevor J. Smith

Animal Law Review

In the United States, violent use of “bullhooks”—sharpened, steel-tipped rods—on captive elephants at carnivals, circuses, and zoos is all too routine. Yet animal-welfare advocates struggle to protect elephants from the (mis)use of bullhooks under the current regulatory regime. At the federal level, advocates cannot consistently rely on either the Animal Welfare Act or the Endangered Species Act, due to these statutes’ narrow provisions, standing limitations, and inconsistent enforcement. State animal-protection laws are equally deficient, as only two states have defined suffering and abuse clearly enough in their statutes to enable effective prosecution of elephant mistreatment, and plaintiffs in even these …