Animal Law Commons^™

For The Birds: Wind Energy, Dead Eagles, And Unwelcome Surprises, Sam Panarella

Faculty Law Review Articles

Wind turbines kill birds. A lot of birds. You would be hard pressed to find someone who is happy with that fact, including anyone in the wind energy development community. But until and unless there are technological advances in wind turbine design that eliminate their deadly impact on birds, it is something we must accept. Of course, acceptance does not and should not mean issuing a blank check to wind energy developers to wantonly injure birds. To do so would violate both the spirit and letter of a host of environmental laws that have at their core a stubborn insistence …

The Lizard, The Scientist, & The Lawmaker: An Analysis Of The Trending Fight Over The Use Of Science Under The Endangered Species Act And How To Address It, Brie D. Sherwin

Animal Law Review

Recently in Texas, the dunes sagebrush lizard—a tiny, little-known reptile living in the sparse brush and dunes of the oil and gas fields—sparked a heated discussion and criticism over the listing process under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This six-year battle ended with the withdrawal of a proposed rule to list the lizard and resulted in numerous criticisms about the role and use of scientific data throughout the process. Under the ESA, the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) is required to consider the best available scientific data when deciding whether to list a species. However, there is no …

You Don't Own Me: Feral Dogs And The Question Of Ownership, Stacy A. Nowicki

Animal Law Review

Feral dogs occupy an ambiguous position, challenging standard categories of domestication, wildness, and property ownership. This ambiguity, in turn, complicates the legal status of feral dogs. Feral dogs' property status is particularly critical, as whether a feral dog is owned by someone, or no one at all, hold implications not only for civil and criminal liability in incidents involving feral dogs, but also the legal ability of animal rescue organizations to intervene in the lives of feral dogs. Part II of this Article summarizes the application of property law to ani­mals, particularly highlighting the role played by an animal's status …

The Beastiality Proscription: In Search Of A Rationale, Antonio M. Haynes

Animal Law Review

Addressing a taboo rarely discussed in scholarly works, this Ar­ticle analyzes frequently advanced arguments supporting prohibitions on bestiality. Though on a superficial level the ar­guments seem appealing, upon closer inspection the standard justifications break down under internal inconsistencies. A dif­ferently constructed theory may not only provide a rationalized, consistent basis for regulating bestiality, but also lend greater coherence to laws regulating sexuality in general. Part II of this Article explores arguments related to consent; Part III dis­cusses bestiality impermissibly using animals as a means; Part IV examines public health arguments, largely relating to those diseases that can spread easily from …

Milestones For Animal Welfare: Public Prosecutor V. Ling Chung Yee Roy, Alvin W. L. See

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Animal law is a little-known subject in Singapore. However, the increase in public awareness and concern about animal welfare issues demand that more attention is directed at the legal aspects of such issues. An opportunity to examine this area of the law arose in the case of Ling Chung Yee Roy. The District Court, presided by District Judge Ng Peng Hong, had to decide whether the accused was guilty of an animal cruelty offence under s. 42(1)(e) of the Animals and Birds Act. The majority of animal cruelty complaints were against pet owners, of which a significant number concerned the …

The Endangered Species Act At Forty: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, Daniel J. Rohlf

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Endangered Species Act Listings And Climate Change: Avoiding The Elephant In The Room, Michael C. Blumm, Kya B. Marienfeld

Animal Law Review

The Endangered Species Act (ESA), with its reputation as the nation’s strongest environmental law, might be expected to impose some limits on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions adversely affecting listed species due to rising global temperatures. Although the federal government recently conceded that some species warrant listing because of climate change, the accompanying listing decisions revealed a federal refusal to apply the ESA to constrain GHG emissions. In this Article, we explain those decisions—involving the American pika, the polar bear, the wolverine, and the Gunnison sage-grouse—and their implications. We conclude with some surprising observations about the Obama Administration’s apparent endorsement of …

Front Matter

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Harming The Tinkerer: The Case For Aligning Standing And Preliminary Injunction Analysis In The Endangered Species Act, Danny Lutz

Animal Law Review

Reviewing preliminary injunction motions under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), most district courts evaluate “irreparable harm” through one of two lines of analysis. One line, promoted by property rights interest groups, reasons that individual mortalities might not constitute irreparable harm if they do not impact survival of the species. In contrast to this “species-level harm” analysis, another approach argues that “individual-level harm” suffices because it is irreparable to the animal. The recent First Circuit opinion in Animal Welfare Institute v. Martin attempts, but ultimately fails, to bridge the divide over which level of analysis to apply for irreparable harm under …

Getting Species On Board The Ark One Lawsuit At A Time: How The Failure To List Deserving Species Has Undercut The Effectiveness Of The Endangered Species Act, James Jay Tutchton

Animal Law Review

This Article, presented by a former general counsel for WildEarth Guardians, discusses the organization’s attempts to protect imperiled species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). By comparing extinction patterns from the past, we can see that the human impact on the Earth’s biodiversity is similar to that caused by past geological catastrophes. The ESA is the Noah’s Ark of our time, providing the best opportunity to help stem the tide of extinction. In analyzing the ESA, it is clear that the Act serves important human interests and is effective when utilized as intended. However, the United States Fish & Wildlife …

Front Matter

Animal Law Review

Front Matter includes Title Page, Masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for Animal Law Review Volume 21, Issue 1, 2014.

Dog Meat Trade In South Korea: A Report On The State Of The Trade And Efforts To Eliminate It, Claire Czajkowski

Animal Law Review

Within South Korea, the dog meat trade occupies a liminal le­gal space-neither explicitly condoned, nor technically prohib­ited. As a result of existing in this legal gray area, all facets of the dog meat trade within South Korea-from dog farms, to transport, to slaughter, to consumption-are poorly regulated and often obfuscated from review. In the South Korean context, the dog meat trade itself not only terminally impacts millions of canine lives each year, but resonates in a larger national con­text: raising environmental concerns, and standing as a proxy for cultural and political change. Part II of this Article describes the nature …

The Church Of Animal Liberation: Rights As 'Religion' Under The Free Exercise Clause, Bruce Friedrich

Animal Law Review

In this Article, I contend that a belief in animal liberation qual­ifies as religion under the Free Exercise Clause jurisprudence of the United States Constitution. Thus, every time a prison warden, public school teacher or administrator, or government employer refuses to accommodate the ethical belief of an animal liberationist, they are infringing on that person's relig­ious freedom, and they should have to satisfy the same consti­tutional or statutory requirements that would adhere were the asserted interest based on more traditional religious exercise. One possible solution to the widespread violations of the First Amendment rights of animal liberationists would be the …

2013 Federal Legislative Review, Angela Ostrowski

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

2013 State Legislative Review, Cameron Taylor

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Spirit Of The Buffalo: The Past And Future Of An American Plains Icon, William Holland

Animal Law Review

Though bison are iconically associated with the United States, their historical fortunes have often been opposite those of the U.S. As the nation expanded westward, government policy, de­mand for bison products, and changing land use perilously re­duced bison numbers. Efforts to restore bison have been complicated by overlapping legal concerns: state, federal, tribal, and constitutional. This Note examines the legal context sur­rounding bison restoration, focusing particularly on the critical herd connected with Yellowstone National Park. Former mem­bers of the Yellowstone herd, in turn, are the subjects of the Montana Supreme Court's 2013 ruling in Citizens for Balanced Use v. Maurier, …

A Strong Role For Custom In International Wildlife Litigation, Kirk W. Junker

Kirk W Junker

La Clonación Con Fines Ganaderos De Los Animales En La Ue: De La Ética Al Derecho Agroalimentario, Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

A finales del año 2013 la Comisión Europea presentó una Propuesta de Directiva relativa a la clonación de animales de las especies bovina, porcina, ovina, caprina y equina criados y reproducidos con fines ganaderos. El objetivo de dicha propuesta es garantizar la existencia de condiciones uniformes de producción para los ganaderos, protegiendo al mismo tiempo la salud y el bienestar de los animales. En este contexto, se considera que la suspensión de la técnica de la clonación y de las importaciones de clones vivos es una medida adecuada y necesaria para alcanzar el citado objetivo. Ofrece también la mejor relación …

“Gli Obiettivi Del ‘Pacchetto Di Revisione’ In Materia Di Sanità Animale, Protezione Delle Piante E Sui Controlli Ufficiali Proposto Dalla Commissione Europea”, Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

Ensuring a high level of health for humans, animals, and plants is a Treaty objective of the EU. Over time, the EU has built up a comprehensive body of law designed to prevent and manage risks to animal and plant health and the safety of the food chain at EU and national level. The law in these policy areas is enforced by means of a common set of rules on official controls to be carried out by the competent authorities in the EU Member States. The legal framework which the EU has developed so far has proven, overall, to be …

Protecting The Faithful From Their Faith: A Proposal For Snake-Handling In West Virginia, Robert W. Kerns Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

In the hills of Appalachia sing the hymns of the faithful, preaching a belief in the handling of snakes to prove loyalty to God. In West Virginia, persons may take up poisonous reptiles and pass them amidst crowds in the name of religion without legal restraints. While other states prohibit snake- handling in the name of safety, West Virginia law remains void on the issue. This Article introduces the practice of snake-handling and examines the risks posed by taking up poisonous animals whose bite may cause serious injury or death. This Article then suggests how the West Virginia law may …

Why Chinese Wildlife Disappears As Cites Spreads, John C. Nagle

John Copeland Nagle

No abstract provided.

Biodiversity And Mom, John C. Nagle

John Copeland Nagle

No abstract provided.

Playing Noah, John C. Nagle

John Copeland Nagle

The biblical story of Noah and the ark has been cited by numerous writers as a justification for the protections contained in the Endangered Species Act. In that story, Genesis reports that God instructed Noah to save two of every species from the flood that would destroy life on earth, and that after doing so God established a covenant with Noah and the animals that were saved. The story has inspired writers and activists to posit a duty to imitate Noah today when we struggle to provide the resources and the will to protect all species, however popular or obscure, …

The Commerce Clause Meets The Delhi Sands Flower-Loving Fly, John C. Nagle

John Copeland Nagle

Is the Endangered Species Act constitutional? The D.C. Circuit considered that question in National Association of Home Builders v. Babbitt in 1997. More specifically, the case considered whether the congressional power to regulate interstate commerce authorized the ESA's prohibition upon building a large regional hospital in the habitat of an endangered fly that lives only in a small area of southern California. The three judges on the D.C. Circuit approached the question from three different perspectives: the relationship between biodiversity as a whole and interstate commerce, the relationship between the fly and interstate commerce, and the relationship between the hospital …

Canines (And Cats!) In Correctional Institutions: Legal And Ethical Issues Relating To Companion Animal Programs, Rebecca J. Huss

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Uncertainty In Population Estimates For Endangered Animals And Improving The Recovery Process, Dale D. Goble

Articles

United States recovery plans contain biological information for a species listed under the Endangered Species Act and specify recovery criteria to provide basis for species recovery. The objective of our study was to evaluate whether recovery plans provide uncertainty (e.g., variance) with estimates of population size. We reviewed all finalized recovery plans for listed terrestrial vertebrate species to record the following data: (1) if a current population size was given, (2) if a measure of uncertainty or variance was associated with current estimates of population size and (3) if population size was stipulated for recovery. We found that 59% of …

All Bite And No Bark: Nonspecific Magic Words Sweep Aside Constitutional Concerns And Remove The Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf From Endangered Species Act Protection In Alliance For The Wild Rockies V. Salazar, Emily A. Cathcart

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Permitting Problems: Environmental Justice And The Miccosukee Indian Tribe, Charles Prior

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians is a federally recognized tribe that works and resides in the Everglades region of the State of Florida. The Miccosukee have been battling lax water quality standards through lawsuits since the 1990’s. Recent rulings in federal court held that the State of Florida has failed to comply with the Clean Water Act and ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to set nutrient criteria for the water bodies in the state of Florida until the Florida Department of Environmental Protection complies with the Clean Water Act.

This article uses the principles of environmental justice to analyze ways …

Climate Regulation As If The Planet Matters: The Earth Jurisprudence Approach To Climate Change, Glenn Wright

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

It is now beyond doubt that humans are having an enormously detrimental impact on the natural world. In the face of the incredible environmental challenges we face, new and radical ideas have emerged about how we should regulate human behavior. This paper briefly focuses on the failure of current legal regimes to address climate change, and considers how climate governance would look under the Earth Jurisprudence approach: setting our laws within the context of fundamental principles of ecology and planetary boundaries. Consideration is given to how existing legal concepts could be used to achieve this vision. The paper concludes that …

Land Ethic Under Attack: Keystone Xl And The War Over Domestic S(Oil), Heather Culp

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

The Keystone XL pipeline has caused recent controversy and renewed the debate over the future of fossil fuels in the United States. The project pits largely conservative groups, who argue that the pipeline will create jobs and decrease America’s dependence on foreign oil, against environmental advocates, indigenous tribes, and private landowners, who are attempting to fend off the project because they believe it will displace them of their own lands as well as disrupt the natural ecosystems that lay in the pipeline’s path. In the wake of a presidential veto of the project and renewed sentiment by the pipeline’s …