Ringling Brothers Decision — Justice Denied

David Cassuto
The decision is in.  It’s a debacle.  Read about it here.  I’ll have more to say when I’ve studied the opinion.

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association — A Climate Change Hero…?

David Cassuto
Guess what?  Apparently, human contributions to climate change is still iffy science and even if it weren’t, the beef industry sequesters rather than releases carbon and should be rewarded for its zealous fight against climate change.  So says the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).  According to the NCBA, agriculture was responsible for less than [...]

AALS Animal Law Section Third Annual Panel

David Cassuto
A few years ago, after many years in the wilderness, the animal law community successfully created a section within the American Association of Law Schools (AALS).  This year will be our third and we once again have a great panel lined up for the AALS annual meeting.  The skinny follows:   

Sentient Brussel Sprouts and Other Convenient Tropes

David Cassuto
Natalie Angier writes in today’s NYT about how plants are sophisticated organisms and therefore any kind of dietary regime causes pain.  Jasmin Singer rips Angier a new one here.
UPDATE: Check out this rebuttal  as well.

Desert Rock Power Plant to Be Reassessed in Light of Threat to Fish

David Cassuto

From the Things that Never Would Have Happened Under W Desk:
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has withdrawn its Biological Assessment and the  EPA has also withdrawn the air quality permit they respectively issued last summer for the Desert Rock coal-fired power plant sited for the Navajo Nation in the Four Corners region of New [...]

Meat, Copenhagen and Climate Change

David Cassuto
Concerned citizens the world over have gathered in Copenhagen to hammer out a plan to arrest climate change and prevent a planetary apocalypse.  Many have written much about the talks (check out, for example, Andy Revkin’s blog) but at least as interesting is what’s being neither talked about in Copenhagen nor much covered elsewhere.  [...]

The Pig, The CAFO, & The Flu

David Cassuto
Excellent piece here regarding the pig CAFO/swine flu link and another one here about the inefficacy of the vaccine approach to prophylaxis.  And yet another interesting piece here about the intelligence and social nature of pigs.
In light of these developments, let’s consider the American approach to pigs: mass confinement in facilities so devoid [...]

Buggery and Factory Farming

Rodell Green was just sentenced to three years imprisonment for having sex with a horse. Over at the Atlantic Blog, correspondent Wendy Kaminer asks the following “quick question“:
Can someone explain to me why it is a criminal offense to have sex with animals but entirely legal to kill and eat them?  Surely laws against bestiality [...]

IUCN Academy Colloquium — No Animal Law Here…

David Cassuto
I’m currently in China having all kinds of interesting experiences.  For example, it was only in Shanghai a few days ago that I saw my first wheelchair-accessible urinal.  I’ve also seen more pictures of Chairman Mao in the last 2 days than I had seen in the previous . . .  well, ever.   I’m [...]

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 [...]

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 gases.

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 banded:
“The [...]

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 [...]

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 use [...]

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 [...]

Oral Sex, Animals, and the Criminal Code

Is oral sex a crime?  Not necessarily, of course.  But absent consent, it sounds like a crime to me.
Not so if the mouth belongs to an animal, according to a Burlington County, New Jersey judge who dismissed charges against a police officer accused of putting his penis in the mouths of at least 5 calves [...]

Why do anti-cruelty laws protect companion animals more than non-companion animals?

Most jurisdictions punish animal cruelty more severely if the creature harmed is a “companion animal”. Is it justified to afford more legal protection to companion animals than to non-companion animals? Some would argue that it is not. If what makes non human animals worthy of legal protection is that they are capable of feeling pain, [...]

Mary Travers Has Moved On

Perhaps it’s not legal per se, but Puff was a magic dragon so it is animal-related.  Mary Travers has left us.  The light burns just a little dimmer today.
–David Cassuto

Animal Advocates in Action: California Assemblyman Pedro Navas

I just got back from Buenos Aires where I had almost no internet access, so I hope start posting on a weekly basis from now on.
Today I want to praise California Assemblyman Pedro Navas (D-Santa Barbara) for introducing three animal cruelty related bills that were passed by both houses of the California legislature and now [...]

Sunstein Confirmed!

57-40.   Sweet!

Sunstein Filibuster Broken

The Senate voted 65-35 today for cloture on the Sunstein appointment.  That means an up or down vote on his appointment will likely happen later this week.  A little more here.  The wingnut jamboree continues, however, as Glenn Beck has thrown his formidable lack of sense or decorum into the fray.  More on this as [...]

Update on Westlaw Unfair Treatment Post – Victory for Puerto Rican Law Schools

After a conversation with University of Puerto Rico Law School Dean Aponte-Toro and Professor José Julián Alvarez, Thomson Reuters executives decided to reinstate printer services to Puerto Rican law schools. Thanks to all who helped!
Luis Chiesa

Westlaw Puerto Rico Unfair Treatment

Given that issues related to animal law are directly and indirectly referenced in various Thomson Reuters casebooks and hornbooks, I want to share with Animal Blawg readers a couple of e-mails that highlight a policy adopted by the legal publishing giant in charge of Westlaw and Foundation Press that seems to discriminate against students at [...]

Panthers in the Suburbs

[The op-ed below appeared in the Westchester Herald (ten or so pages after Ed Koch's movie review and immediately following  Congressmember Nina Lowey's piece on health care reform).  It deals with recent sightings of what appear to be a large cat in the New York suburbs.  For some good background on the issue, see this [...]

Another Look at Banning Depictions of Cruelty to Animals

John A. Humbach, Pace University School of law
As most readers here know, in United States v. Stevens, 533 F.3d 218 (3d Cir. 2008), the Third Circuit struck down the Federal statute (18 U.S.C. § 48) that prohibited the creation, sale or possession of media depicting cruelty to animals. However, both the majority and dissenting opinions [...]

First Animal Blawg Poll – Why do you believe Veganism is Morally Appealing?

Given that polls about veganism seem to be the cool thing to do these days, here’s my first foray into the internet polling world. Check out the poll’s format. Isn’t it way cooler than the one used by Leiter for his veganism poll?
Luis Chiesa

Bill to Ban Canned Hunting in NY in the Pipeline

Once upon a time, the NY State Legislature passed a bill outlawing canned hunting only to have then Governor Pataki veto it.  The current law permits canned hunts except that the animals can’t be tied to a stationary object of confined in a pen or box.  The current bill, which is pending in the Assembly [...]

Dorf on Leiter’s Poll – A Must Read!

Cornell’s Michael Dorf recently posted a very witty response to Leiter’s veganism poll. In my first post on the subject I took issue with  the poll’s “veganism is disgusting” alternative. Professor Dorf believes that the proposed poll responses “trivialize veganism”. I agree.  From his comment to Dorf’s post, it’s unclear whether Leiter understands why animal [...]

More on Leiter’s Veganism Poll

Surprisingly, my recent post about Professor Leiter’s poll on “attitudes toward veganism”  seems to have sparked substantial interest among AnimalBlawg readers. Given the attention that the post has received, I want to keep readers updated on a couple of developments regarding this topic.
First, it seems that Professor Leiter was somewhat annoyed by AnimalBlawg readers and [...]