The ABA Journal Blawg 100

The more contact people have with Animal Law, the better it is for all (including and especially nonhuman animals).  That is the guiding principal of this blog.  Towards that end, the folks at the (Shameless) Marketing Desk have asked me to share the email below with you.  They have further asked me to let you know that if you should be inclined to pay a visit to the Blawg 100 site and spread the word about the Animal Blawg, that would be alright with them. 

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Some Thankful Sea Lions

Gillian Lyons

According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, since 2008 40 California Sea Lions have been removed from the Bonneville Dam area (which straddles the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington.) 25 of these sea lions were euthanized, 10 were given to aquariums and 5 were captured and subsequently died (of unspecified causes.)  Why was such a charismatic species being systematically removed from the area?  The sea lions feed on spring chinook salmon and steelhead when the fish become stymied by the Dam and such action was needed, the agency claimed, to protect the endangered and threatened fish runs.  Apparently, however, NMFS determined that only those sea lions that were “persistent offenders” and were caught repeatedly eating salmon or steelhead deserved the “removal” sentence, and as of March 2010, the agency had a list of 64 sea lions eligible to be euthanized for such behavior.        

Turkey Pardons (reprised)

David Cassuto

As I sat down to type some Thanksgiving thoughts, I found myself returning to what I wrote a couple of years ago, back when this blog was first beginning.  I’m still saddened and bewildered by the idea of pardoning turkeys.  And, since not many people read the blog back then, I offer those now two-year old thoughts back up again for your consideration.

Much has been said about the ritual of Thanksgiving and its accompanying slaughter of hundreds of millions of defenseless birds, most of who lived short lives of unrelenting and abject misery. I have little to add to what’s already out there except my own indignation and sorrow. But I do have something to say about the Thanksgiving ritual, particularly the embedded legal contradiction in the practice (discussed by Luis below) of pardoning turkeys.         

Law Student Grant Opportunity

David Cassuto

From the email — another fab-o opportunity for students interested in animal issues.

Animal Welfare Trust is currently seeking applicants for our 2011 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 duration. Applications are due on March 1, 2011. Details about the grant program, the application process, and information on past recipients can be found on our website at www.animalwelfaretrust.org under “student internships.”

Check Out The Most Recent Issue of the Journal of Legal Education

David Cassuto

Because it has 4 (count ’em 4!) articles on animal law and animal legal education including one by Friend of the Blog, Bruce Wagman.

Amidst All the Slaughter — Abuse. Who Knew?

David Cassuto

Photo by Scott Nelson for the New York Times

From the morbid irony desk:

In this article about the demoralizing struggles of an animal activist in the Arab world, we learn that:

At the Basateen slaughterhouse, near the vast cemetery known as the City of the Dead, butchers stride about in knee-high rubber boots, surrounded by lakes of feces, blood and urine. It was here that [an] Australian reporter documented animal abuses in 2006.

I know I was shocked to learn that in a slaughterhouse located in the City of the Dead — amid butchers wading through lakes of feces, blood, and urine — some animal abuses were committed.  Shocked, I tell you.

White-tailed Deer and Valley Forge National Park

Gillian Lyons

Earlier this year, the National Park Service announced their plan to reduce the white-tailed deer population of Valley Forge National Park.  On October 4, the Service announced that the “lethal reduction phase” was set to begin this November and would take place over the next 4 years.  Overall, by 2014, the Service plans to eliminate 80% of the Park’s deer population, reducing the herd from over a 1000 to less than 200.  After 2014 the Park Service plans to maintain the herd’s shrunken population with the use of birth control.  The reason for this cull?  According to the Park Service, the deer population, overgrown as it is, is detrimental to the park’s flora and fauna- consuming more plant life than can be re-grown, and destroying habitat for the park’s other wildlife.