Animal Law Commons^™

The Key Deer Is Headed For Extinction: How Repealing A Trump-Era Federal Rule Defining "Habitat" Could Allow Assisted Migration To Save Species Threatened By Climate Change, Kennedi Fichtel

St. Thomas Law Review

Climate change induced sea level rise is imminent. In fact, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has predicted that “[b]y 2045, the sea level in the Florida Keys will rise 15 inches . . . .” Such a projection usually invites questions about the implications for coastal residential homeowners. However, this projection means so much more for the voiceless inhabitants of the Florida Keys. Anthropogenic climate change that leads to sea level rise of this magnitude will be responsible for permanently destroying species’ habitats, and therefore impacting their ability to survive. For endangered and threatened species, this means extinction. As …

Not For Human Consumption: How To Alleviate The Cruelty Plaguing The Pet Food Industry In The United States, Bailey Frank

Animal Law Review

More than 37 billion dollars of pet food was sold in 2019, a sum that increased to approximately 42 billion dollars in 2020. In fact, forty-two of the fifty states have pet food facilities producing more than 3 million tons of animal-based pet food ingredients. Yet, in the last decade, multiple pet food brands have been found to contain trace amounts of euthanasia ‘death drugs’ and are made from 3D or 4D animals — those that are dead, dying, diseased, or disabled. While this can often cause sickness or death in companion animals, an equally urgent issue is the welfare …

Piglet Castration And Pain Relief Drugs: Revamping "Safety Drug Approval Requirements To Address "Efficacy" Requirements For Nsaids, Zoë Sigle

Animal Law Review

This Article investigates the U.S. pork industry's routine practice of piglet castration without pain relief and why no nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in piglets to relieve pain associated with surgical castration. Some countries have approved and even require the use of NSAIDs for surgical castration in piglets. However, the U.S. veterinary pharmaceutical community claims to lack validated scientific methodology to quantify pain in piglets, leading to a lack of substantial evidence to demonstrate NSAID effectiveness and thereby barring FDA-approval of NSAIDs for pain relief in piglets …

Fur-Ever Homes After Divorce: The Future Of Pet Custody, Sara Mićković

Animal Law Review

More than ever, Americans are considering their companion animals to be members of their families. However, the majority of states plainly consider companion animals to be personal property under the law in custody disputes. Therefore, when a pet custody dispute emerges in these states' courts, separated couples proceed to divide companion animals the same way they would other material belongings. At the same time, married couples in the United States are divorcing at increasing rates making these types of pet custody disputes an increasing issue in family courts around the country. Despite most states adopting this approach where companion animals …

What Comes After Defund? Lessons From Police And Prison Abolition For The Animal Movement, Michael Swistara

Animal Law Review

As the mass incarceration crisis skyrocketed, the animal protection movement adopted many of the mechanisms of the carceral state. Improving the status of animals was equated with pushing for lengthier sentences for those who caused harm to animals, placing more people into cages for longer periods of time. This disproportionally harmed Black, Indigenous, and People of the Global Majority (BIPGM) communities who are the most heavily policed, surveilled, and imprisoned. Allying with the carceral state has also harmed animals-advocates are labeled terrorists, potential allies are dissuaded from action, and companion animals are killed by officers of the state. This approach …

The (Symbolic) Legislative Recognition Of Animal Sentience, M.B. Rodriguez Ferrere

Animal Law Review

This Article will draw conclusions from the legislative recognition of animal sentience in animal welfare legislation of Oregon, New Zealand and Quebec. A range of jurisdictions have, in recent times, amended their animal welfare legislation to recognize that animals are "sentient." While seemingly a progressive and welcome advance, there are a range of reasons to doubt the actual impact of such amendments. The limited impact of the amendments within animal welfare case law in these jurisdictions appear to confirm these doubts. This Article questions whether such symbolic amendments are benign or have a damaging effect on the attempt to reform …

Front Matter

Animal Law Review

Front Matter includes Title Page, Masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for Animal Law Review Volume 28, Issue 1, 2022.

Pushing The First Domino: Freeing The Whales In Canada, Luc Paul Bourgeois

LLM Theses

In 2019, the Canadian Parliament adopted Bill S-203, titled the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act [Whales Act], to phase-out the captivity of cetaceans – that is, whales, dolphins, and porpoises – mainly for entertainment purposes. This new law reflected scientific knowledge and signaled a shift in public attitudes relating to cetacean captivity. Undeniably, this piece of legislation raises many legal and normative questions. Drawing on the capabilities approach, espoused by Martha C. Nussbaum, this paper will explore the nature and impact of the Whales Act in the Canadian political and legal landscape, as well as the newly …

Centering Animality In Law And Liberation: The Zoopolitics Of Reclaiming The Animal In Personhood, Paulina Siemieniec

Between the Species

Although there is widespread agreement that the property status of nonhuman animals is indefensible, the debate about how to remedy their situation is ongoing. This paper explores three possibilities for approaching the issue of legal status: (1) extending the existing concept of personhood beyond the human to other animals; (2) developing an alternative legal subjectivity for nonhuman animals that is neither property nor personhood; (3) redefining personhood in animal terms while retaining the rights-bearing significance of personhood and decentering the human from animal subjectivity in law. I offer a critique of the first two strategies and defend the third on …

Human As Animals - Pluralizing Humans, Karen Bradshaw

Utah Law Review

Species-based inequality is embedded in our institutions of law, government, and property. Legal distinctions between people and animals drive biodiversity loss. Recent environmental movements—including the rights of nature, animal rights, and wildlife property ownership—seek to lessen the gap in law’s unequal treatment of humans and other living things. Despite growing popular support for such reforms, legal scholars have yet to directly grapple with the mindset underlying the legal status quo.

This Article identifies and challenges institutionalized speciesism in law. It critically examines the legal treatment of non-human animals. It also presents an alternative legal worldview—one informed by scientific, cultural, and …

2020 Foreign And International Legislative Review, Brittany Rowe

Animal Law Review

This Legislative Review highlights the animal law related legislative victories 2020 brought about on foreign and international fronts.

Front Matter

Animal Law Review

Front Matter includes Title Page, Masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for Animal Law Review Volume 27, Issue 1, 2021.

Exploring The Role Of Nonhuman Animal Victims In Federal Environmental Crime Prosecutions, Melissa L. Jarrell, Joshua Ozmy

Animal Law Review

While nonhuman animals in the United States are often victimized directly or as a consequence of environmental crimes, little is known about them or the role their victimization plays in federal environmental crime prosecutions. Through content analysis of 2,588 of the Environmental Protection Agency's criminal prosecutions from 1983-2019, we identified cases where identifiable nonhuman animal victims play a central role in the prosecution. We developed a typology of victims and the consequences of their victimization, and we explored the geography, charging statutes, and penalties. Results suggest that victimization is infrequent, acute, and clusters around toxic discharges and pesticide abuse stemming …

Nonhuman Rights Or Protections: A Discussion Of The Functional Difference, If Any, Between Laws Providing Either Biocentric Rights Or Anthropocentric Protections For Nonhumans, Joel W. Glazer

Animal Law Review

This article will review examples of laws and judicial opinions that have granted rights to nonhumans, including the examples listed above, as well as a judicial opinion that grants protections, but not rights, to nonhumans. The analysis of these laws and judicial opinions is meant to answer the question of whether using the enchanted word "rights," as opposed to anthropocentric protections, confers a substantive benefit to nonhumans. Part II forms an analytical framework defining the procedural and substantive aspects of non-human rights. Part III applies that framework to judicial opinions from Argentina and the United States and analyzes whether there …

Cetacean Cultural Rights: A Third Generation Of Rights At Sea, David Peña-Guzmán

Animal Law Review

This Article discusses the cultural rights of cetaceans, as articulated in the 2010 Declaration on the Rights of Cetaceans. It argues that these rights qualify as "third-generation rights," meaning groups of cetaceans -- as opposed to individuals -- have the right to the protection of their respective cultures. The Article begins with an account of the history of third-generation rights in international human rights law. It then examines how the concept of third-generation rights can carry over into the animal rights movement. The article proposes three criteria for determining whether a group qualifies for third-generation rights. Then, it demonstrates that …

2020 Domestic Legislative Review, Tara Cooley

Animal Law Review

The 116th Congress, second session, began January 3, 2020, and ended January 3, 2021. While Congress voted on key animal-related legislation, such as the Big Cat Public Safety Act, the COVID-19 pandemic slowed -- or even halted -- proposed legislation at the federal and state levels. Despite the slowdown, local voters proposed and enacted several key initiatives, including the California Ecosystems Protection Act and Orange County, Florida's Right to Clean Water initiative.9 In addition, federally enacted COVID-19-related legislation, such as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, also addressed animalrelated issues. The World Health Organization (WHO) labeled COVID-19 …

2020 Litigation Review, Isaac Conzatti

Animal Law Review

This Litigation Review covers a varied selection of animal law related litigation that occurred in the year 2020. The coronavirus pandemic did not slow down the offenses or injustices committed against animals nor the litigation initiated on behalf of animals. While some animal-centered litigation experienced some setbacks in 2020, others sparked legislative initiatives to further protect the interests of animals. Some recent litigation highlights the need for more advocacy and legislation in order to overcome barriers imposed by lobbyists and other special interest groups. Other sections expose how pro-animal legislation has received challenges from opponents who seek to cripple protections …

Private Farms, Public Power: Governing The Lives Of Dairy Cattle, Jessica Eisen

Journal of Food Law & Policy

It is widely assumed that laws governing dairy productioninclude substantial protection of animals’ interests—that in some way the state is regulating the treatment of farmed animals and protecting them against the worst excesses of their owners’ selfinterest. In fact, across jurisdictions in Canada and the United States, the standards governing farmed animal protection are not established by elected lawmakers or appointed regulators, but are instead primarily defined by private, interested parties, including producers themselves. As scholars of animal law have noted, this has contributed to weak and ineffectual legal protection of the interests of farmed animals. The present study will …

Federal Protection For "Fur-Babies": A Legislative Proposal, Rebecca Ferrari

Pepperdine Law Review

Americans love their animals, but America doesn’t protect them. Across the country, animals continue to be classified as mere property, undeserving of any basic rights and unprotected by the animal welfare statutes that do exist, but often remain unenforced. This Article proposes a comprehensive animal protection system that includes the following components: (a) general prohibitions against animal crushing, cruelty, neglect, and abuse; (b) a civil action provision that will allow humane society officers to investigate violations of those prohibitions; (c) a provision establishing animal legal advocates to work alongside the officers and prosecute violations; and (d) an animal-suit provision to …

Global Animal Law And International Trade Law After Ec-Seal Products: An Interactional Analysis, Katie Sykes

PhD Dissertations

This thesis is a case study of the formation of new norms in international law. The norms are those that concern animal protection. The thesis argues that international trade law is playing a part in the development of international legal norms for animal protection. The theoretical model applied is interactional international law, the theory of the constructivist international legal scholars Jutta Brunnée and Stephen Toope. Interactional theory posits that legitimate, binding international law arises from norms based on shared understandings, exhibits specifically legal characteristics that correspond to Lon Fuller’s criteria of legality, and is created, maintained and supported through interaction …

A Taxonomy Of Class Actions For Animals In The United States, Tess Vickery

Animal Law Review

Class actions are commonly used to redress mass wrongs against humans— but what about mass wrongs against animals? This Article provides a comprehensive overview of the types of animal-related class actions that have been filed in the United States, predominantly in the field of consumer law, and explores how these actions can be used as a strategic tool to advance protections for animals within the confines of their legal status as property. This Article also highlights the challenges that have been faced by these animal-related class actions in obtaining class certification pursuant to Rule 23 and offers some practical strategies …

The Regulatory Vacuum: How Marijuana's Schedule I Status Imperils Endangered Species In The Emerald Triangle, Jeffrey Bausch Jr.

Animal Law Review

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the Service) is unable to adequately address Endangered Species Act (ESA) petitions because marijuana’s Schedule I status creates a regulatory vacuum. Marijuana growers use pesticides, many of which are lethal at certain concentrations. Typically, these pesticides are highly regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Farmers may only use pesticides specifically prescribed for use on the plant or crop. EPA has been unable to research or register pesticides for use on marijuana plants, and as a result, growers use pesticides at abnormally high concentrations. Wildlife in northern California and Oregon are directly harmed as …

2019 Federal Legislative Review, Patricia Estrella

Animal Law Review

The 116th Congress was historic for many reasons, and one of those reasons was major legislative progress for animals. In 2019, the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act passed,criminalizing the underlying cruelty acts in animal crushing videos. Furthermore, Congress ended the sale of healthy wild horses and burros for slaughter and committed to giving financial rewards for tips on international wildlife trafficking. Additionally, many more bills were introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate, such as the Courthouse Dog Act and the Refuge From Cruel Trapping Act. While it is still unclear whether all the bills introduced to …

Front Matter

Animal Law Review

Front Matter includes Title Page, Masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for Animal Law Review Volume 26, Issue 1, 2020.

Feeding Fido: The Case For Restitution In Ohio Animal Cruelty Convictions, Mary Walsh

Animal Law Review

This Note reviews Ohio animal cruelty convictions and makes an argument that restitution should be paid in those cases to the caretakers of the seized animals. First, this Note walks through the changing status of animals under the law from strictly property to the first anti-cruelty statutes imposed in Ohio. There is further discussion of what restitution means in cases like anti-cruelty and why it matters. The discussion then turns to why the current allowed financial sanctions are not enough to pay the fees required in housing and taking care of seized animals. Several cases in Ohio where restitution was …

Toward An Interspecies Right To Breastfeed, Mathilde Cohen

Animal Law Review

Milk is young mammals’ primary food. Yet, lactating animals raised for their milk, such as cows and goats, are subject to extreme forms of violence and control preventing them from breastfeeding their own young. Numerous human parents also lack the legal, economic, social, and emotional support they need to nurse their children. At one level, the situation of humans and that of farmed animals is incommensurable in that the latter’s reproductive and lactating capacity is typically exploited and rewarded by death when unprofitable. At another level, lactating animals of all species are in a related social status. Lactating parents, typically …

Front Matter

Animal Law Review

Front Matter includes Title Page, Masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for Animal Law Review Volume 26, Issue 2, 2020.

A Quantitative Study Of Denver's Breed-Specific Legislation, Sloane M. Hawes, Devrim Ikizler, Katy Loughney, Aurora Temple Barnes Esq., Justin F. Marceau, Philip Tedeschi, Kevin N. Morris

Animal Law Review

In August of 1989, the City and County of Denver, Colorado enacted legislation that prohibits the presence of all ‘pit bull-type dogs’ (PBTDs) within the city limits. In Denver, PBTDs are defined as: American pit bull terrier, American Staffordshire terrier, or Staffordshire bull terrier. In the thirty years the ‘pit bull ban’ has been in place, the City and County of Denver and its animal control agency, Denver Animal Protection, have committed substantial resources to removing PBTDs from the community, including patrolling communities and responding to complaints made by neighbors, conducting thorough breed evaluations of suspected PBTDs, and kenneling PBTDs …

The Meaning Of Meat, Jareb Gleckel, Sherry F. Colb

Animal Law Review

Plant-based and cell-based meat companies are vying to take over the trillion-dollar meat industry—and, in recent years, they have gained momentum. Responding to consumer demand and widespread fear about global climate change, investors like Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and even Tyson Foods began investing in alternative meat. Beyond Meat became a publicly traded company and partnered with Dunkin’ Donuts, while Impossible Foods partnered with Burger King, bringing plant-based meat products into the mainstream. But many states with strong ties to animal agriculture have sought to impede the growth of the alternative-meat market. In August 2018, Missouri became the first state …

Pets As Property: Signs Of Change In The Law Of Judgment Collections, Sande L. Buhai

Animal Law Review

Americans are deeply connected to their companion animals, regardless of what protections the law affords animals. Because the law follows culture, recent legislative and judicial developments have begun to reflect the bonds formed between human and nonhuman animals. This Article first highlights how courts and society viewed animals in the twentieth century to the present day, focusing on how courts have struck a balance between protecting animals yet still classifying them as property. While the law still views companion animals as property, this Article highlights the interstitial “property-but-not-property” framework courts use to consider the interests of animals in debt collection …