Animal Law Commons^™

Note To Athletes, Nfl, And Nba: Dog Fighting Is A Crime, Not A Sport, Phyllis G. Coleman

Faculty Scholarship

Americans were finally forced to face the issue of animal abuse and professional athletes when investigators discovered 66 pit bulls, in addition to dog fighting equipment, at a home owned by "pro football's most electrifying quarterback." Although Michael Vick insisted he did not live in the house, and initially denied knowledge of any such activity on his Virginia property, stories of his involvement continued to swirl around the Atlanta Falcons' franchise player. On July 17, 2007, Vick and three others were indicted by a federal grand jury for competitive dog fighting, procuring and training pit bulls for fighting, and conducting …

Oats, Water, Hay, And Everything Else: The Regulation Of Anabolic Steroids In Thoroughbred Horse Racing, Bradley S. Friedman

Animal Law Review

In May 2008, a horse named Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby, narrowly beating a filly named Eight Belles. Just as Eight Belles crossed the finish line, she collapsed and was put to her death in front of millions of viewers as a result of her two broken legs. As the world tried to make sense of the tragedy, the prominent trainer of Big Brown casually announced that he administered anabolic steroids before the race to enhance Big Brown’s performance and that he would continue to give steroids before every other race for the same reason. Thus, the issue of …

Front Matter

Animal Law Review

Front Matter includes Title Page, Masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for Animal Law Review Volume 16, Issue 1, 2009.

California Proposition 2: A Watershed Moment For Animal Law, Jonathan R. Lovvorn, Nancy V. Perry

Animal Law Review

This essay explores the legislative and legal campaign to enact California Proposition 2: The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, approved by California voters on November 4, 2008. The authors direct the legislation and litigation programs for The Humane Society of the United States, and, along with many other individuals and organizations, were centrally involved in the drafting, campaigning, and litigation efforts in support of the measure.

Caring For Dolphins, Otters, And Octopuses: Speciesism In The Regulation Of Zoos And Aquariums, Marla K. Conley

Animal Law Review

Current regulations for zoos and aquariums rely heavily on standards established by industry associations, and the government increasingly expects public display facilities to self-monitor. Unfortunately, the industry associations charged with policing zoos and aquariums lack the enforcement authority necessary to ensure that animals kept in these facilities receive adequate attention or resources. This article argues that marine animals kept in public display facilities, such as zoos and aquariums, should benefit from the same level of regulatory protection as their land-bound counterparts. Even though marine animals demonstrate intellectual abilities equivalent or superior to those of land-bound animals, federal regulations allow facilities …

Natural Behavior, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Alaskan Wolf War: The Public Trust Doctrine Missing In Action, Edward A. Fitzgerald

Animal Law Review

Wolf killing in Alaska is authorized by the Board of Game (BOG), an agency captured by hunting and trapping interests. The BOG’s wolf killing policies have generally been supported by state legislatures and governors. Alaskan courts have not halted the wolf killing. The courts have viewed wolf killing as an issue of administrative law and deferred to BOG expertise. This article argues that the courts should have invoked Alaska’s public trust doctrine, which prevents the granting of preferences over state natural resources. The courts should have also rigorously examined the BOG’s wolf killing policies and protected the wolf as a …

Ringling Brothers On Trial: Circus Elephants And The Endangered Species Act, Mark Eichelman

Animal Law Review

In February 2009, the case of American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, et al. v. Feld Entertainment, Inc. was heard in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs, four animal rights organizations and one former elephant handler for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, brought a citizen suit against Feld Entertainment, Inc. (FEI), owner of Ringling Brothers, alleging that the Circus’ use of bullhooks and leg tethers on its endangered Asian elephants constituted illegal “takings” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). FEI argued that the plaintiffs did not have standing to …

Front Matter

Animal Law Review

Front Matter includes title page, masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for Animal Law Review Volume 15, Issue 2.

A Call To Action: Concrete Proposals For Reducing Widespread Animal Suffering In The United States, Dana M. Campbell

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Using Dogs For Emotional Support Of Testifying Victims Of Crime, Marianne Dellinger

Animal Law Review

Courts and prosecutorial offices around the nation have started using service dogs to support emotionally frail child witnesses who are unwilling to testify but for the calming presence of a dog. Proponents claim that this new type of therapeutic jurisprudence helps bring criminal defendants to justice in cases where the testimony of the complaining witness is crucial to the prosecution’s case. Opponents fear the infringement of the defendants’ rights to a fair trial because of the dogs’ potential to prejudice a jury to come out in favor of the witnesses.

This article analyzes the legal foundations supporting the use of …

2007-2008 Legislative Review, Nancy R. Hoffman, Robin C. Mcginnis

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Speaking For The Modern Prometheus: The Significance Of Animal Suffering To The Abolition Movement, Elizabeth L. Decoux

Animal Law Review

There is a great divide in animal advocacy between Abolition and Welfare. Abolitionists seek to end the property status of animals. Welfarists, while acquiescing in the categorization of animals as property, seek to improve the conditions in which those animals live and die. Abolitionists have worked toward their goal for decades, and Welfarists toward theirs for centuries, but animals continue to suffer and die in ever-increasing numbers. This Article reviews the theories and methods of Abolitionists and Welfarists and suggests one reason that they have failed to relieve animal suffering and death: Welfarists use the right tool in the service …

Animals As Vulnerable Subjects: Beyond Interest-Convergence, Hierarchy, And Property, Ani B. Satz

Animal Law Review

This Article presents a new paradigm, premised on the equal protection principle, for the legal regulation of human interactions with domestic animals: Equal Protection of Animals (EPA). EPA combines the insights of vulnerability theorists with the equal protection principle and capability theory to create a mechanism for recognizing the equal claims of human and nonhuman animals to protections against suffering. Under such an approach, domestic animals—like humans—have claims to food, hydration, shelter, bodily integrity (including avoiding pain), companionship, and the ability to exercise and to engage in natural behaviors of movement.

Existing animal welfare and anti-cruelty laws, despite their stated …

Son Of Sam And Dog Of Sam: Regulating Depictions Of Animal Cruelty Through The Use Of Criminal Anti-Profit Statutes, Emma Ricaurte

Animal Law Review

In 1991, Congress enacted 18 U.S.C. § 48, which prohibits the interstate sale and distribution of depictions of animal cruelty, in response to the proliferation of animal “crush videos” on the Internet. In 2008, the Third Circuit, in United States v. Stevens, a case involving dog fighting, held that the law was an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. In April of 2009, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari. Discussions about the regulation of depictions of animal cruelty have largely focused on whether the child pornography or obscenity exceptions to the First Amendment should be extended to include …

Outside The Box: Expanding The Scope Of Animal Law, William R. Cook

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Building Our Future, Joyce Tischler

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Statute Of Anne-Imals: Should Copyright Protect Sentient Non-Human Creators?, Dane E. Johnson

Animal Law Review

This article explores questions of whether copyright protection can and should extend to works created by captive animals such as gorillas, chimpanzees, and elephants. Commentators have considered similar questions in the artificial intelligence context and generally rejected the notion that computers can create works sufficiently free of human involvement to merit copyright protection. As our understanding of animal intelligence increases, however, the case for reconsideration of copyright’s constitutional and statutory boundaries becomes stronger. This article examines those boundaries and offers a proposal for granting limited copyrights to animals under a theory along the lines of David Favre’s equitable self-ownership concept.

The Japanese Dolphin Hunts: In Quest Of International Legal Protection For Small Cetaceans, Rachelle Adam

Animal Law Review

This article sets out to explore the international legal status of those dolphins targeted by the Japanese drive hunts. It is estimated that over two thousand five hundred small cetaceans—dolphins, porpoises and small whales—will be killed as a result, out of a total of over twenty thousand killed annually in Japan by direct catch. It is argued that since we have literally pushed them to the brink of extinction, we have an ethical duty towards dolphins, to stop the cruelty perpetrated against them by man and to ensure the survival of their species. And our ethical duty towards them should …

See Spot Eat, See Spot Die: The Pet Food Recall Of 2007, Kate Paulman

Animal Law Review

When dogs and cats across the country fell inexplicably ill in March of 2007, their human companions became sick with worry. Veterinarians eventually determined contaminated pet food was the source of these illnesses. Melamine, an industrial chemical used in cookware, furniture, and industrial fertilizers, contaminated wheat gluten manufactured in China and utilized in many pet food brands in the United States and Canada. This contamination led to a recall of more than 200 brands of pet food - the largest in American history. This comment explores the reasons behind the contamination and the ensuing recall. The author identifies inadequate domestic …

Front Matter

Animal Law Review

Front Matter includes title page, advisors, and table of contents for Animal Law Review Volume 14, Issue 2.

Front Matter

Animal Law Review

Front Matter includes title page, masthead, advisors, and table of contents for Animal Law Review Volume 15, Issue 1.

Two Major Flaws Of The Animal Rights Movement, Geordie Duckler

Animal Law Review

In its current guise, animal rights advocacy imposes few intellectual demands on its proponents, usually requiring little more than a colorful Web site and a college dictionary, the former to construct an audience, and the latter to provide the emotion-laden phrases needed to inflame that audience into supporting stringent penalties for animal-related crimes. Hard thought is not really essential for animal rights advocates to be able to proclaim an end to animal abuse or an allegiance to easing animal suffering, and the standard advocate toolkit simply need not include “rational legal analysis” among the apparatus utilized to rail against mistreatment, …

Fifteen Volumes Of Animal Law, Laura Cadiz

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Got Organic Milk? "Pasture"-Ize It! An Analysis Of The Usda's Pasture Regulations For Organic Dairy Animals, Fatema Merchant

Animal Law Review

Trouble brews, on the other hand, for those advocates who aim farther afield, who demand that animals be granted formal legal rights. Graphics and adjectives alone are vastly insufficient to validate just how that project would operate under the law or how science and logic would support a formal position on animals as “rights-holders.” Unhappily, the animal rights movement, as it takes such aim, has shown that it is weaker, not stronger, for the effort. Separate from its vulnerability to criticism by those politically opposed, a call for legal rights for animals is without justification on the very two pillars …

2007-2008 Legislative Review, Blair Mcrory

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dog Meat In Korea: A Socio-Legal Challenge, Rakhyun E. Kim

Animal Law Review

This article explores the dog meat debate in Korea from a socio-legal perspective. It first examines the legal status of dogs and dog meat, and the legal protection for dogs under the old and new legislative frameworks. It then discusses socio-legal challenges to banning dog meat in the Korean context, employing examples of both legal approaches taken by other countries and the politics of dog meat in Korea, specifically. The article argues that the controversy over dog meat must be reframed and dog meat be socially redefined in order to protect dogs, which are currently caught in the conflict over …

Using A Jury Of Her Peers To Teach About The Connection Between Domestic Violence And Animal Abuse, Caroline Forell

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lessons Learned: Acting As Guardian/Special Master In The Bad Newz Kennels Case, Rebecca J. Huss

Animal Law Review

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia appointed Rebecca Huss as the guardian/special master of the pit bulls that were the subject of the case against Michael Vick relating to dog fighting. In April of 2007, the Surry County Sheriff’s Department seized fifty-three pit bulls from Vick’s home in Virginia. According to the facts set forth in the plea agreement, dogs on the property were killed and subjected to violent dog fights. Similar to human victims of abuse, the dogs needed someone to represent their best interests during litigation. Huss was in charge of determining whether …

Using Special Masters To Advance The Goals Of Animal Protection Laws, Alexis C. Fox

Animal Law Review

This article suggests that courts should appoint special masters to large-scale animal abuse cases. The work of special masters in two recent high profile cases, Sarah v. PPI and Vick, demonstrate that special masters can help advance the goals of the animal protection movement in three ways. First, special masters can ensure that individual animal victims are cared for once they are rescued from large-scale abuse situations. Second, court orders that appoint special masters to large-scale animal abuse cases insert a best-interest-of-the-animal analysis into formal court proceeding. Finally, court appointed special masters may encourage better enforcement of animal protection laws …