Euthanasia is NOT the Answer

Elisa D’Ortenzio
As the year 2009 comes to an end, over 4 million dogs and cats will have been euthanized in the United States alone due to over population in animal shelters. Dogs and cats that do not end up living in shelters often live as strays on the street. Television commercials such as those [...]

Disgusting Animal Abuse Case in Lithuania Leads to the Potential for Stricter Punishments for Animal Abuse

Irina Knopp
Recently, the shocking video of a dog being thrown from a bridge has circulated the internet.  Svajunas Beniuk from Kaunas, Lithuania was the culprit.  Svajunas, who was joined by at least two other people who filmed the event, took a neighbor’s dog and threw it from a bridge.  The dog had allegedly killed some [...]

The Utopian Suggestion of Natural Predator Reintroduction

Jonathan Vandina

The deer population in the Northeast has exploded. Some maintain that one of the reasons is due to the previous housing boom. During the boom, thousands of acres of land were cleared with the intentions of building homes that were never built.  This cleared land permitted sunlight to hit the ground, which facilitated grass [...]

Exotics Lose in Florida

Marjorie Levine
Last month, a red-bellied piranha was caught by a 15-year-old boy.  The next day, fish and wildlife officials caught two more in the same lake.  No, this didn’t take place in the Amazon; it happened in West Palm Beach, Florida, The Piranha is not a Florida native, but, like the New York Snowbirds, these [...]

Where Have All The Rational People Gone?

[The following post is written by one my Animal Law students who prefers to remain anonymous --dnc]

I read an article recently that really offended me. The article was written on November 21, 2009 by Gary Steiner and was published in the New York Times Op-Ed section (Steiner’s piece has already been discussed  on this blog [...]

No Humane Slaughter? No Problem (because) No Standing

David Cassuto
The 9th Circuit recently decided Levine v. Vilsack, a case challenging the  ongoing failure of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to include birds under the auspices of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA).  The case was brought by a group of plaintiffs in 2005, claiming that “inhumane methods” of poultry slaughter [...]

Protecting Animals, One Mouthful at a Time

David Cassuto
Emory University is attempting to preserve “heritage” turkeys by feeding them to its students.  The Standard Bronze and Bourbon Red turkeys are in danger of dying out due to lack of demand.  So, apparently, is the Tennessee Fainting Goat and other species that don’t fit the factory farm mold.  The lede of this Chronicle [...]

It’s a Girl!

Kate Blacker
 
Meet my new edition, Rhonda.  She was rescued by Farm Sanctuary and lives in upstate New York.  I think she has my eyes.  You, too, can sponsor a turkey just in time for the holidays.
I admit it is a bit cliché to talk about turkey cruelty on Thanksgiving.  But it is also quite an [...]

Some Further Thoughts on Gadhimai

Sandra Mekita
Tibetan Volunteers for Animals has joined forces with other animal rights activists to petition the Nepalese government to stop the slaughter of a half a million animals during a “Gadhimai” festival on November 24th and 25th.  This festival is considered the world’s largest animal sacrifice. The animals slaughtered are generally: goats, buffaloes, ducks, roosters [...]

More Human than Humans

Michael Friese
As the years go by mankind finds that it has more in common with its ape cousins than previously thought.  The ape that humans have the most in common with is the chimpanzee.  Emory University may have closed the gap even further with a new play entitled Hominids.  In this play humans enact a [...]

Does the Winter Mean Fur Coats?

Simona Fucili
As the holiday season is approaching, one cannot help notice all of the fur ads you see in magazines and commercials.  The ads portray fur coats as a symbol of elegance and status but fail to show how the original owners of these coats met their gruesome deaths.  According to the Spanish animal-rights [...]

Animal Law Grant Opportunity for Students

From the email:
Animal Welfare Trust is currently seeking applicants for our 2010 Student Grant Program.  The grant provides up to $5000 per recipient for graduate students to work on an independent research project under faculty supervision or for an unpaid position within an established organization.  Internships can be for a summer, semester, or year-long [...]

No Bunnies Threw Up in the Filming of This Ad…or Maybe Some Did?

Christine Saenz
I recently watched this “Sweet Million’s” commercial, one ostensibly cute enough to elicit a genuine “awww” from Dick Cheney. Bloggers from across the country have almost unanimously agreed that “widdle bunniewunnies riding in widdle teacupsis” is the cutest thing they have ever seen. In contrast, my non-comformist younger sister watched the 30 second clip [...]

Factory “Farmaceuticals”

Jessica Morowitz

Premarin® is a hormone replacement therapy drug manufactured by Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals.  The drug is widely prescribed to an estimated nine million women to help them cope with the symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes and night sweats.  Premarin® gets its name by virtue of what it is made from—PREgnant MARes’ urINe (PMU).  [...]

Are We Protecting Our Pets?

Sarah Murphy
Vaccination is a hotly debated topic, appearing in the news on a regular basis.  Is there a link between childhood vaccines and autism?  Is there going to be a mandatory vaccination of healthcare workers for H1N1?  Why is it though, that the issue of companion pet vaccination also does not come up during these [...]

“Voiceless” Making Itself Heard

David Cassuto
Fine op-ed on animal welfare laws here by Katrina Sharman of Voiceless, an Australian animal advocacy organization.  Parallels to the U.S. situation are clear and present…

Ohio’s Issue 2: Good for Animals?

Laura Schierhoff
On November 2nd, Ohio voters passed Issue 2, a constitutional amendment, which creates a ‘Livestock Care Standards Board’ to set standards for livestock and poultry care, food safety, disease prevention, farm management, and animal well-being.  The Board will comprise of 13 Ohioans appointed by the governor and the legislature with minimal oversight.  The Board [...]

Innocent Woman Mauled by Chimp: Who is to Blame?

Lindsay Macleod

In February 2009, Charla Nash, a 55-year-old woman was visiting her friend Sandra Herold in Stamford, Connecticut, when Herold’s pet chimp, Travis, suddenly attacked her. The crazed chimp tore off Nash’s nose, lips and eyelids before being shot dead by cops. Nash was left with no face or hands and is now suing Herold [...]

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 [...]

NEPA, Preliminary Injunctions, and Animals

David Cassuto
A few days ago, I and a few colleagues from Pace and several other American law schools met at Shanghai Jiao Tong  University School of Law with a number of Chinese academics and members of the Chinese Ministry of Environment.  We were there because the Chinese government wanted our input as it attempts to [...]

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 [...]

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 for [...]

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 Hair and [...]

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.

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 terms [...]

“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) in [...]

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 [...]

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 the [...]

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 there’s more.