A Day of Reckoning

David Cassuto Halloween is my birthday.  That fact alone likely would not merit the holiday’s mention here.  I note it because only this year – some forty-odd years into my marking of the day– did I stop to consider what makes this holiday unusual.  First, my son, Jesse, whose tastes seem to be rather typical [...]

Happy Birthday, Animal Blawg!!

It’s difficult to believe, but Animal Blawg just turned 1!! These last 12 months have been wonderful. Animal Blawg received only 5 or 6 hits per day during the first month or so. Slowly, but surely, the number of hits started increasing.  I’m pleased to report that during the last month or so the Animal [...]

The Dirty Side of “Clean” Energy

Micheal Friese Saving the wild salmon in the Columbia River Basin is an issue that does not get much press outside of the Pacific Northwest.  However, the possible extinction of the Columbia River Salmon has far reaching effects.  One of the more interesting issues (and representative of the greater environmental and animal advocate’s conflict) is [...]

Fish Pedicures Revisited: The Debate hits New York State

Irina Knopp The seemingly symbiotic relationship where customers lose their dead skin cells and fish get a free meal is back in the news.  This time, in my home state of New York. The procedure has spread like wildfire across the country since its establishment in the United States by John Ho at the Yvonne [...]

Interior Proposes Polar Bear Habitat

David Cassuto A while back, the Bush Administration reluctantly declared the polar bear threatened (under the Endangered Species Act) due to global warming and shrinking habitat.  It determined, however, that it would not use the ESA as the basis to require steps to curtail climate change.  Indeed, the Bushies had no intention of curtailing climate [...]

Livestock Emissions Account for 51% of Greenhouse Gases

Katie Hance In 2006, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reported that livestock accounted for 18% of greenhouse gases, making livestock emissions “one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems.”  However recently, Worldwatch Institute, a Washington D.C. environmental think-tank, reported that livestock emissions actually account for 51% of greenhouse [...]

The Crime-Fighting Leech

David Cassuto In case anyone was thinking that animal law is always depressing, here‘s a story about a leech that cracked a cold case in Tasmania.  8 years ago, a 71 year-old woman had her home invaded and was beaten and robbed.  An engorged leech was found at the scene.  Samples of the DNA from [...]

The Belgian Blues

Marjorie Levine Pictured above and here is the Belgian Blue Bull It came about naturally in the 1800s, but modern technology has been able to determine that a gene mutation preventing a control of muscle growth results in a “double-muscled” cow.  Additionally, their lean meat has been ranked amongst the best Angus being produced in [...]

Deer Hunting, the First Amendment and Connecticut

Jessica Kordas The first amendment issues in the news sparked my interest, I headed for the internet to see how U.S. v. Stevens was impacting Connecticut.  Big Game Hunting, a website with a Connecticut news page, has posted an article about US v. Stevens. The article shows particular concern that educational hunting videos will be [...]

“If Nothing Matters, There’s Nothing to Save”

Gillian Lyons This past weekend New York Times Magazine published an excerpt of novelist (writer of Everything Is Illuminated) Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book, Eating Animals.  In the article, and by extension, in the book, the author talks about his lifetime of wavering vegetarianism, and why he has decided to raise his children vegetarian. Reading [...]

Cooped Up for another Decade

Angela Garrone An important bill concerning animal rights issues was signed into law this week in Michigan.  As most of those who follow animal rights issues, specifically the treatment of animals that are processed and used in the food industry, California was the first state to ban the use of battery cages (or laying cages) [...]

Animal Blawg Poll Redux

After reading the comments to the Animal Blawg poll that I posted on “Why is Veganism Morally Appealing” and thinking about what Brian Leiter and Michael Dorf had to say about the meaning of the poll’s results (here and here), I think it is worth conducting the poll again. This time, however, I will include [...]

Ohio Humane Societies Come Out Against Issue 2

David Cassuto This just in: Ohio’s largest Humane Societies have come out against Issue 2.  You can (and should) read the full skinny at Cleveland.com but here are some choice excerpts: As Nov. 3 approaches and the debate over Issue 2 escalates, Ohio’s two largest humane societies and smaller ones, including Geauga Humane in rural Geauga [...]

Forthcoming Film: The Tiger Next Door

From the email — what looks to be a very interesting film: THE TIGER NEXT DOOR tells the story of a man named Dennis Hill who has been breeding and selling tigers from his backyard for over 15years. He has recently lost his federal license to keep the animals and is in a battle w [...]

A Goat in Sheep’s Clothing

Kate Blacker The city of Euless, Texas outlaws killing four-legged animals.  Santeria priest Jose Merced was personally informed about this rule back in 2006 when police knocked on his door and prohibited him from ritually sacrificing a goat. Speaking as an animal lover and as a vegan, I think this story sounds pretty good.  But [...]

“Vegetarian” & “Vegan”: How to Define A Cause

Katie Hance How would you define a “vegetarian”?  A “vegan”?  Animal rights scholars have not collectively provided clear definitions for these terms.  I believe that it hurts the vegetarian and vegan advocacy efforts that these causes are not clearly defined. For example, Peter Singer who advocates for vegetarianism describes avoiding eating meat or fish.  Tom [...]

Survey Says … You’re Being Deceived

By Delci Winders Meat that comes from animals who spent their entire lives in conditions like this can be labeled as “natural.” When you see the word “natural” on a meat or poultry product, what does that mean to you? If you’re like approximately half of the likely voters surveyed by Zogby on behalf of Farm [...]

Animal Advocacy in Bogotá, Colombia

I just got back from a criminal procedure conference held in Bogotá, Colombia. It was hosted by the Sergio Arboleda University and proved to be a huge success.  Before the conference, a couple of students of the Arboleda university showed us around town. One of the obvious stops was Bogotá’s historical district, especially the “plaza”, [...]

Conservation Groups Sue EPA Over Prairie Dog Poison

Jessica Morowitz            On September 23, Defenders of Wildlife and Audubon Kansas filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., against the EPA for its decision to register pesticides that kill prairie dogs.  The pesticides at issue are chlorophacinone and diphacinone, found in the products Rozol and Kaput-D.  The lawsuit alleges that by registering the [...]

You Would Never Raise Your Voice to Your Mother…

 Sandra Mekita             Walking along a crowded Boston street, you can see people stopping abruptly in front of you – if you did not run into them first – glaring at the spectacle across the street in front of a McDonalds. There are five people with signs and bullhorns surrounding a person in a beakless [...]

Supreme Court Hears Arguments on U.S. v. Stevens

David Cassuto The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday in U.S. v. Stevens, wherein the the federal law banning trafficking in illegal depictions of animal cruelty has been ruled unconstitutional by the Third Circuit.  The issues underlying this First Amendment case are complex and multi-layered (see posts here ) and there is much more to say.  [...]

SALDF Conference at Lewis & Clark

The Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark in collaboration with the Animal Legal Defense Fund and The Lewis & Clark Law School Student Animal Legal Defense Fund present… Animal Law: The Links The Animal Law Conference at Lewis & Clark October 16-18, 2009 Registration Open! Please join us this fall at Animal [...]

A Night on Broadway Worthy of Reflection

Alexandra Dunn At the encouragement of Professor Cassuto, I am back with a second blog posting.  Last night, I had the good fortune to see Wicked on Broadway to celebrate my daughter’s 10th birthday.  Known as a “Wizard of Oz” prequel, the show in fact has a tremendously empowering story line involving animals and animal [...]

NYC Bar Association To Celebrate 180th Anniversary of State’s Anti-Cruelty Law

On the 180th Anniversary of the Passage of New York State’s First Anti-Cruelty Law in 1829 Tuesday, October 13, 2009 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM Registration: There is no charge for this program.  Register A discussion of a number of bills that were left hanging when the New York State legislature went out of session, [...]

An Asssessment of Brian Leiter’s Views About Animal Blawg’s Veganism Poll

The first Animal Blawg poll that I posted some time ago caught Professor Brian Leiter’s eye several days ago. According to Professor Leiter, the results of the poll suggest that many, if not most, vegans (or at least the readers of AnimalBlawg) ascribe to either “morally abhorrent” or “morally baseless views”. For Leiter, holding that [...]

New Book Alert

Temple University Press has published a new book by Leslie Irvine (Sociology, U. Colorado at Boulder), Filling the Ark: Animal Welfare in Disasters.  Here is the publisher’s description: When disasters strike, people are not the only victims. Hurricane Katrina raised public attention about how disasters affect dogs, cats, and other animals considered members of the [...]

Trophy Hunting: It’s Not Just Plastic Gold Statues Anymore

Simona Fucili Hundreds of hunters travel to Africa every year for something they refer to as a sport, trophy hunting.  They essentially look to shoot animals to hang on their walls as trophies.  This sport not only is unethical and another form of animal cruelty, but it also creates problems that affect the ecosystem.  Although [...]

Catalonia’s Last Bullfight?

David Cassuto Photo: Carlos Cazalis for The New York Times Catalonia –  Spain’s ferociously independent northeastern region may have seen its last bullfight.