Animal Legal and Historical Center

The Animal Legal and Historical Center is an absolutely invaluable website for anyone interested in animal law. Founded by Professor David Favre, an eminent and longstanding animal law scholar at Michigan State University School of Law, this voluminous and constantly updated website organizes over 12oo full text cases and 1400 statutes into subject areas. It also includes comprehensive descriptions and explanations of the original sources, original articles, links to articles on every conceivable animal law topic, and news updates on hot topics in animal law. If that weren’t enough, it also includes an international collection of materials.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund has recently released the sixth edition of it’s amazing resource, Animal Protection Laws of the United States of America and Canada. The entire 4000 pages, in searchable form, can be downloaded for free, and will provide you with “a detailed survey of the general animal protection and related statutes for all of the states, principal districts and territories of the United States of America, and for all of Canada; [and] up-to-date versions of each jurisdiction’s laws.”

Many law schools now provide research guides to animal law in their online library guides and, while they may not provide links which outsiders can use to access the materials, they can be a useful starting point for those who want to do research in this area who have access to Lexis or Westlaw, or other ways of accessing the materials. For example, UCLA’s Libguide provides a very useful research guide to animal law. Of particular interest is the section called Getting Started: Suggested Readings for Those New to Animal Law, which compiles articles of interest to those just finding out about animal law to help them in their journey. And, while you’re at it,  you should be aware that Westlaw itself now includes animal law as an individual subject area in its database.

There are now so many animal law journals published by law schools that it’s impossible to keep up! It’s so exciting. They include the venerable Animal Law out of Lewis and Clark, which has been published regularly since 1994(!), the Journal of Animal Law out of Michigan State University, and the Stanford Journal of Animal Law and Policy.

For less scholarly, and more newsy ways to stay on top of animal law, you might want to regularly peruse new issues of The Animals’ Advocate, published by the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Another great resource is the Animal Blawg, which was founded by Professor David Cassuto of Pace Law School, and is updated quite regularly. Or, quickest and easiest, just “like” the facebook page of the Animal Law Committee of the American Bar Association’s TIPS section, where articles of interest to animal lawyers — and animal lovers — are posted on a daily basis.

As most of you already know, Vegan Mainstream not only “provides marketing solutions” to vegan businesses, but also empowers and supports an eager and thriving vegan community (such as through their Facebook page, which is interactive and full of current AR happenings). The upcoming webinars are one hour long, totally free, and — if you ask me — a much more productive way of spending your lunch hour than playing Snood (which, okay, I also thoroughly enjoy).

Another set of upcoming animal-themed webinars come to us thanks to the ASPCA, are also one hour long and offered at no cost, and focus on the subject of animal abuse, with an emphasis on animal law. They include “The AniCare Approach for Treating Animal Abuse: What it is and how you can use it,” “Non-Human DNA in Criminal Cases,” “The Psychological Aspects of Maltreated Animals,” and “Common Issues Law Enforcement and Prosecutors Confront When Investigating and Litigating ‘Puppy Mill’ Cases.”

Also on the webinar circuit is Julie Lewin, the passionate activist behind the book Get Political for Animals. Though not yet up on the website, we hear through the grapevine that she will next be offering her series of webinars on that same topic starting later this month. On January 21, at 1 pm EST, you can view “Get Political for Animals and Win the Laws They Need in Your Town, City, County or State”; on Sunday, January 29, at 1 pm EST there’s “How the Lawmaking Process Really Works — and How Your Political Group for Animals Impacts Each Step”; and, on Sunday, February 5, at 1 pm EST, you can see, “How to Launch and Run a Political Organization for Animals in Your Town, City, County or State — and the Simple Steps It Takes to Do It.” These sound like the perfect next step for those who were intrigued by what our intern Sally so eloquently talked about last week – changing the law for animals. In addition to the above scheduled webinars, Julie even offers private ones, all as part of the National Institute for Animal Advocacy. To register, first email Julie at jlewin[at]nifaa.org and, once she tells you there’s still an opening, donate what you can afford on the website. Don’t forget to join her email list to stay up to speed about current webinars.

We at Our Hen House have talked about using Webinars for Animal Rights before. Beyond just attending the ones that Vegan Mainstream, the ASPCA, and Julie Lewin are offering — and ones that other advocacy groups have offered in the past, sometimes even as online conferences — maybe you want to go further into webinar world. If you are a person with a unique skill set that can be plugged into changing the world (and we all have one, folks, as we discussed in our recent workshop on activism that is now available online), perhaps its time for you to dust off your webcam and start your own webinar. These can include subjects such as vegan nutrition, using art to speak up for animals, Leafleting 101, animal law, and about a bzillion other pro-animal themed subjects.

Another plus? You don’t have to leave your living room. You can even be naked from the waist down, and no one would know. Which gives me an idea: “Change the World Wearing No More than a Necktie?” Perhaps…

Now, you can view the entire workshop for free on the Lewis & Clark website (just fyi — viewing it requires that your computer be up to date with Silverlight). It’s a good workshop to even have on in the background as you do house chores or the likes. In other words, you only really need to hear it.

Even more exciting for us (since we did, in fact, already attend our own workshop) is that the vast majority of the workshops presented throughout the weekend are now up on the Lewis & Clark site. We are pretty stoked to catch up on some of the ones we missed, and revisit the workshops we already attended. Some highlights include “Drawing Connections Between Animal Law and Other Disciplines” by Taimie Bryant and Maneesha Deckha, “Developing New Legal Theories to Help Animals: Benefits and Limitations” by Kathy Hessler and Matthew Liebman, and “Where Did Your Food Really Come From? A Guide to Food Labeling,” by Carter Dillard and Will Fantle.

March 30-31, 2012

Of course, humans share their vulnerability not only with other humans, but with all the sentient creatures of this planet. That is why it is exciting to see that the latest project of this Initiative is a workshop entitled, “An Uncomfortable Conversation: Human Use of Animals.” And it’s also exciting to see that it recognizes that, not only do animals share humans’ vulnerability, they are additionally vulnerable to the enormous suffering imposed upon them by humans.

A few of the guiding questions for the workshop are: “Where do our obligations to animals originate — their capacity to suffer or other morally relevant properties; rights; relation to humans, and/or vulnerability to harm?” “What is the significance of the fact that humans create and control the permanent dependency of domestic animals?” and “Are animals made vulnerable by their legal status as property, human creation, or use, and how should individuals, private entities, or the state respond to such vulnerability?”

If these are the kind of questions that intrigue you, a call for papers has been issued, and proposals are due on February 1, 2012. The workshop itself will be held on March 30-31, 2012.

During that time, I was the lead organizer and coordinator of a coalition called ctEQUALITY. We were a group of over 40 organizations who were leading a campaign to pass a transgender non-discrimination bill in Connecticut. The coalition had been at it for several years — the bill had been raised repeatedly and died at some point during the legislative session each time — but we felt like 2011 was our year. And it was.

Change the world for animals... through legislation.

In October 2011, Connecticut became the 15th state to include gender identity and gender expression in its non-discrimination laws. This was a hard-earned, satisfying, and important victory. One of things that made it so meaningful was the number of people — everyday Connecticut folks — who got involved in our effort by talking to their legislators about why our bill was so important to them, their families, and their communities. And the legislators listened. There is little I’ve experienced that is as rewarding as watching a legislator stand up during a vote and, in remarks to her colleagues about why she will support your bill, reference a meeting with a constituent that educated her on our issue, thereby persuading her to cast a vote in our favor. Call me a nerd, but democracy in action is pretty darn cool.

Over the course of 2010 and 2011, I evolved into a brazen advocate. While I was once shy about even talking to my state senator’s aide over the phone, I turned into a loudmouth who wouldn’t hesitate to tap a legislator on the shoulder while in line at the Legislative Office Building’s cafeteria. I knew my issue and talking points so well that I actually relished any opportunity I had to make a case for my bill.

Now that I am almost six months vegan (5 months and 23 days, to be exact), I am itching to use my passion for legislative advocacy to change the world for animals. I’ve read about the changes that can be made at the state level, whether through ballot initiatives, like California’s Prop 2, also known as the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, which prospectively eliminates veal crates, gestation crates, and battery cages, or through the legislature, like Oregon’s SB 616, which, when it was signed into law this past June, allowed judges to include companion animals when protecting domestic abuse survivors via restraining orders. These are just two examples of successful state laws passed for animals.

However, while it’s clear that my interest in animal rights can be easily funneled into legislative advocacy, I have been pretty intimidated at the thought of going there because I’ve only ever really talked to people I know about my veganism, and about my interest in animal protection.

Then something dawned on me. Legislators are people I know. They’re my neighbors, people I follow on Twitter, my Facebook friends, the folks I run into at the farmers’ market. I must’ve made this same point a bazillion time when I was trying to persuade ctEQUALITY’s prospective volunteers and citizen activists to reach out to their legislators. If I can articulate to a peer, colleague or neighbor why a certain issue is important to me and my community, I’m basically 75% of the way to lobbying my state representative!

If you’re like me and are either new to animal rights or new to legislative advocacy, I invite you to make 2012 the year you tune into how animals are faring in your community and state, and start talking about it with the people you elected to represent you. With that in mind, I have a couple of steps that might help ease you through the process.

This place is full of your friends and neighbors.

1. Find out who your state representative and senator are. My favorite way to do this is to visit Project VoteSmart and look up my reps by my 9 digit ZIP code. (You will need those extra 4 digits that come after your ZIP code, which you can quickly look up at the USPS website.) Project VoteSmart should tell you who all of your elected officials are. For finding your state legislators, you will want to click on “State Legislative.”

2. Find their contact info. In most cases, Project VoteSmart is great about linking you to all kinds of contact info. However, if it’s not telling you how to contact your legislators, you can find out easily enough by going to the website of your state legislature, which you can find using the super handy database at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

3. Familiarize yourself with the issue. Google around. Find out what organizations are already advocating on this issue, and then ask them for their talking points and tips about how to approach your legislator. Animal Legal Defense Fund offers a handy tool to tell you what the laws are like in your state, and the Humane Society of the United States will tell you about much of the animal-related legislation currently pending in your state. The best part is that, as a citizen activist, you’re not expected to know tons of heady legal information or wonky policy data about whatever issue you want to discuss. You’re expected to know the issue, sure, but more importantly, to be able to passionately assert why something is so important to you. And you can expand “you” to include your family, friends, children, community, etc.

4. Get in touch. In-person contact is best, but a phone call, email, tweet or Facebook message is a great start. I really like this list of pointers when it comes to the actual conversation you’re going to have with your legislators. Take a look to give you a sense of how the meeting should go. Once you  make contact, you can make your case over the phone or in an email, or you can make an appointment to visit your legislator’s office or meet in the district somewhere — maybe over a soy latte at a nearby coffee house, or in a local park. If you have likeminded friends and neighbors, so much the better — invite your legislator to a local home where you will all be gathered (don’t forget the vegan cupcakes). Remember that legislators are most persuaded by those who have the power to vote them in (or out) of office, so gathering people from other districts, or talking with legislators outside of your district, will be less effective.

These are just a few tips to start getting involved in policy advocacy in your community. For most people, it just takes getting over the initial hump of not knowing who their legislators are and/or being intimidated about making contact. Remember that laws in our communities are made by passionate advocates who are persistent and committed, and aren’t afraid to let those with the power to make laws know it.

If you’re intrigued by legislative advocacy to benefit animals, you might also check out Julie Lewin’s book, Get Political for Animals and Win the Laws They Need, which is a must-read for any animal advocate interested in lobbying for change. Farm Sanctuary also has some helpful pointers on their website, including “How to Lobby for Farm Animals in Your State Legislature and in Congress,” “A Resource Guide to Bill Drafting,” “Raise Farm Animal Awareness at a Town Hall Meeting,” and, for our Northern neighbors, “Advocating for Farm Animals in Canada.”

As for myself, I certainly didn’t start out as a teacher. I am a lawyer, and have been for longer than I care to admit in this blog entry. But law was one of the first areas of academia to focus on animal issues in a serious way, and law schools were eager to find people with some expertise in the brand new field of animal law to teach courses. Thus, about 5 years ago, my teaching career was born.

These days, when I’m not running Our Hen House with Jasmin, I teach animal law as an adjunct at 3 law schools in New York City — positions I hold near to my heart, even if it has caused me a few grey hairs in the process. Incidentally, those grey hairs are thanks to the nature of the work itself, given that I am, since birth, an introvert. It has nothing to do with my incredible and eager students, nor does it involve the coursework, which I frequently find riveting. There are so many aspects of teaching that I love — but, let me tell you, I never thought I would be the one standing at the podium. I have found that, sometimes, animal advocacy combines with life in an unusual and unpredictable way. I am, indeed, “the professor and Mariann.” (If you are too young to get that reference, I don’t even want to know about it.)

If you’ve never taught before, it may — at first, anyway — seem a bit daunting. It certainly did for me (and, truth be told, it still has its moments). In order to ease your way in, one way to start fairly small is to explore the adult education resources in your area. Perhaps there is a formal adult education program at your local community college, or your nearby high school. Or perhaps your community library has adult ed programs. Or there may be a private provider of continuing education courses, such as New York’s Open Center. Look at the current course offerings and think about what sort of class you would want to pitch that would fit in with the type of courses they offer. One idea might be a broad introduction to the issues involved in animal rights. Another idea is a focus on animals in food production. Or, if you’re a lawyer, you could teach one on the fundamentals of animal law. That could be a great opportunity to inform people on the laws concerning some of the everyday issues that confront them regarding their pets, while also broadening their knowledge-base about animal exploitation.

Can you cook? (If so, feel free to drop by for dinner.) A course in the fundamentals of vegan cooking is one of the most valuable things you could offer someone who wants to live more compassionately, but doesn’t know where to start. And such a course could give you the entrée (pun intended) to offer people some much-needed information about vegan nutrition. People are hungry for this information (pun intended again), and, as you make it available to them, you can literally save their lives — along with the animals. How’s that for food for thought?

If you have some academic credentials, you might want to think about moving beyond adult education. Animal studies is now a growing and vibrant part of almost every academic field, as the New York Times has recently recognized, and undergraduate courses in animal studies are booming, as is also evident from the directory kept by the Animals and Society Institute. Our friend David Wolfson, who has taught animal law for many years, is now teaching an undergraduate Animals and Public Policy course at New York University, as part of their minor in Animal Studies. These kinds of opportunities are going to be growing by leaps and bounds, and there are not that many people with the expertise to fill them. Moreover, we certainly don’t want to see the field of animal studies coopted by industry, or by people with a shortsighted view of the issues.

Needless to say, undergraduate teaching gigs may be difficult to get for the beginner. However, community colleges could certainly be a possibility. It’s 2012 — the year of taking chances! That’s according to me, anyhow — and I just made that up right now. But, hey, let’s go with it. If teaching is something you’ve always wanted to do, but it seems scary to you, that’s because it’s a Big Deal. But it’s also a totally necessary step in terms of long-term change for animals, and there are ways of approaching it that are both attainable and fulfilling. It doesn’t have to be terrifying. Don’t make it harder than it is.

While we’re on the subject, if you are, like me, a lawyer, remember that there are still not a lot of people out there with an expertise in animal law, and there are a ton of law schools adding courses — so the possibility of getting an adjunct professorship is very real. If there’s already a course at your local law school, think about pitching a separate course on, say, companion animal law, or farmed animal law, or some kind of other subset of animal law. Or, if all of this seems way too daunting, think about hooking up with your bar association to teach a Continuing Legal Education program on your area of expertise. Believe me, one thing can lead to another!

Maybe teaching feels outside your comfort zone. If so, try to rethink. While you may have to brush up your public speaking skills (Toastmasters, anyone?) or overcome your shyness (if I can do it, anyone can), you already possess the most important thing that any teacher can have — the truth.

There are dozens and dozens of job openings at PETA.

As for me, though it was my friend Marisa Miller Wolfson (of Vegucated) who, 8 years ago, showed me some footage of factory farming, effectively turning my long-time vegetarianism into full-fledged, passionate veganism — it was the subsequent week-long volunteer trip I took to PETA that brought my activism into full-swing.

If you’re in the market for a job in animal rights, there are currently 41 openings with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in the U.S. alone. They fit every category you can think of, including administration, media, communications, campaigning, science, and investigations. And the domestic openings span the country — from NYC, to Washington, DC, to Norfolk, VA, to Los Angeles, to even a few telecommuting positions. There are also ample PETA positions overseas, such as in Asia, Australia, India, and the UK.

In browsing around, some of the highlights of these positions included, for me anyway, Media Officers, both in NYC and in DC, a Production Artist in Norfolk, a Celebrity Marketing Coordinator in PETA’s brand-spanking new office in LA, a Translator for PETA Asia, and a Campaign Coordinator in either PETA India or in Japan. There are literally dozens more.

I am, to say the least, in absolute awe of the amount of materials PETA produces, and, as is evidenced by our first paragraph, the amount of  influential changemakers it has created (superstar phenomenon Maggie Q is one of thousands of celebrities who also attributes her animal rights and vegan awakening to PETA). Even though many of them have gone on to have their own spin on their activism and outlook, there is no question as to who was at the root of their awakening.

All of this said, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (and again and again): You do not need to work for an animal rights organization, or a vegan restaurant, or a vegan PR firm, in order to create change for animals. Truly, one of the most powerful things you can do for animals is to spread the message of non-violence and compassion in your everyday lives in a way that works for you. That is clearly the essence of what we talk about here in Our Hen House. Changemakers come in all shapes and sizes. We hope that the multimedia tools and resources we offer daily help you to figure out what shape and size you are, and how to plug that into animal activism.

But for those of you whose hearts desire nothing greater than a job in animal rights — I get that. I spent years working for AR organizations, including as the campaigns manager at Farm Sanctuary (by the way, they are also hiring) – a job I held very close to my heart, and a position that allowed my activism to grow by leaps and bounds. And, of course, I am lucky enough to write for my favorite publication on the planet, VegNews Magazine (shameless plug: keep an eye out for my article, “Veganism Saved My Life,” in the February 2012 issue). And, as you can see, I started my own advocacy organization. So if there’s one thing I understand, it’s the unrelenting gnawing at your heartstrings that leaves you no other choice but to pursue a career in vegan advocacy and animal rights. Just know that you don’t have to go down that road to change the world for animals. But if you do, I hope that some of the resources we highlighted this week are helpful to you. And I wish you the best of luck in your search, and a happy, healthy, compassionate, changemaking New Year.

So it’s no wonder that so many of those who care about animals are eager to get involved in legal work. Of course, many, many lawyers who care about animals don’t make animal law their career. Instead, they help out animal organizations by doing pro bono work whenever they can. Or, even better, by bringing lawsuits that do good for the animals and make them a lot of money at the same time. But for those who want to do this full-time, there are some opportunities out there. Here are a few current ones:

For law students, an upaid summer internship with an animal protection organization is the most valuable experience that you can get, regardless of whether you ultimately make animal law your full-time career, or your part-time passion. Compassion Over Killing is seeking legal interns for this summer and I can’t think of a better learning opportunity than working with Cheryl Leahy, COK’s general counsel and one of the best and the brightest that animal law has to offer. For more information, contact COK at legal[at]cok.net. The Humane Society of the United States is also seeking interns for their crack legal department.

On the professor front, Lewis and Clark University currently has a few outstanding opportunities. They are seeking a visiting faculty member to teach animal law starting in the 2012-2013 academic year . They are also seeking an administrator (with teaching responsibilities) for their brand spanking new LLM program in animal law. And even if you’re not a professor, if you have an expertise in animal law, don’t hesitate to check out whether you local law school has a course in animal law. If not, you may be just the person they are looking for to start one up.

Careers in Animal Law

Lawyers who want a job practicing law with an animal protection organization have to look to organizations large enough to have a legal department, or at least a general counsel, and these will not always be organizations with a specifically vegan philosophy. But, as long as the job doesn’t involve work that you actually don’t believe in, that can actually present a wonderful opportunity to bring a vegan philosophy into your workplace. These jobs can be hard to find, but they’re out there. One organization that is looking right now is the ASPCA, which wants to fill two remote positions, Legal Advocacy Counsel, which will involve the provision of back-up and hands-on assistance to prosecutors and investigators involved in animal cruelty cases across the country, and State Legislative Director. Another possibility is to look for an opportunity on the environmental side of animal law. For example, Defenders of Wildlife is currently seeking an Endangered Species Policy Associate, and Earthjustice is seeking associate attorneys in its offices in Florida and Alaska.

For further ideas on how to find a job in animal law, or to fit animal law into your career, you might want to check out Yolanda Eisenstein’s new book, Careers in Animal Law.

Why am I telling you this? Because when I first saw the work of a Turkish photographer named Mehmet Turgut, I thought of that strange early morning encounter and the stranger’s words. Specifically, I thought that Turgut had taken a concept, an idea, and had seen it best and created truly inspiring photographic images.

A stunning image from Turgut's 5199.

The Turkish paper, Today’s Zaman, tells the story of Turgut’s current project, titled “5199,” which refers to Turkey’s animal protection law. Turgut believes that the law, in addition to being weak to begin with, is neither appropriately enforced nor implemented. For “5199,” which will be on display in a public space in Istanbul through December 19 before it moves to another space in a different part of the city, Turgut photographed Turkish celebrities posing as abused or exploited animals. Using recognizable, high profile people to embody the sad, shocking lives of exploited animals is sure to grab attention.

In addition, Turgut manipulated portraits of celebrities to create hybrid human-animal creatures. When I see these images, the destinies of both the animal and the human are swapped, melded, confused, and played with. And since, really, we’re all animals — some human, some non-human — animal suffering is our suffering. Their fate is our fate. Animals are not other unless we choose to see them as such.

As if it weren’t enough to draw the public’s attention to animal exploitation with such striking images, while managing to make a profound statement about current animal law in his country, Turgut is donating proceeds from the sale of his work to the Animal Rights Federation. “I do not intend to give up this issue,” says Turgut, in the aforementioned article. “I will point out this issue on all occasions and for as long as I can.”

Don’t miss more incredible images from the exhibition.

Photo at top of blog is from Turgut’s “5199.”

The Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) must have been reading the margins of my grad school notebooks because, together with Lawyers in Defense of Animals, Inc. (LIDA), they are doing just that. With the new online certificate program, Animals, Community and the Law, SPAA and LIDA are making the fight against animal exploitation infinitely more winnable by identifying loads of stakeholders — everyone from elected officials to public health administrators, community developers, attorneys and citizens.

The beauty of this program is that it intends to arm anyone who regards animal policy as their “responsibility, interest, mission, or curiosity” with the knowledge and skills they need to end animal exploitation. In other words, in offering this certificate to, well, anyone who cares about animals, they are making us all stakeholders. This program of study (three “knowledge courses” and a practicum) will “make available knowledge usually reserved to law school students.” While focused primarily on companion animal issues, at least one of the courses, “Animal Cruelty and the Law,” promises to also look at the way the law relates to institutional animal use, including research and food.

The program takes place entirely online and is accessed at the student’s convenience — there are no set times for classes and participation is done via online discussion boards. It’s not just the convenience of this program that I love. It’s how useful it is to almost anyone who wants to change the world for animals. Whether or not animal rights is part of your career, volunteerism, activism, or simply something you care deeply about, this program will prepare you to effect change in your community on behalf of animals. You don’t need any prior experience or knowledge to enroll, and the courses, which can be taken for graduate credit, are taught by LIDA board members.

If, like me, you often daydream about going to grad school (again), but find the time and financial commitment of traditional programs prohibitive and intimidating, perhaps a course of study that is intellectually stimulating, incredibly applicable, and offered in affordable, bitesized chunks is in order!

There’s a t-shirt maker up in Vermont who has done just that. Just by making his incredibly popular t-shirts bearing what anyone would think of as the virtuous, and utterly uncontroversial, slogan, “Eat More Kale,” Bo Muller-Moore has managed to get some folks in the chicken torturing business to make total fools of themselves. Nice work!

The marketing whizzes at Chick-fil-A (which, I want to take a minute to note, is an incredibly bad product name — are they trying to misspell “filet”? Is it some kind of play on words? I don’t get it) are, of course, known for their particularly offensive series of commercials in which cartoon cows use signs to encourage people to “eat mor chikin.” Get it? Isn’t that hilarious?!? You see, if you eat more chicken, you won’t be eating beef, and so cows will be spared some of the torture and hideous deaths you’re going to bestow on chickens instead. Ha! And the other thing that’s really funny is that cows are so stupid that they don’t know how to spell! Wow, I am laughing so hard my sides are splitting! This is apparently what passes for humor in the utterly sick world of selling people death. One can only imagine the amount of denial that one must have to enter into about what meat really is in order to find amusement in this travesty.

Eat More Kale

But, I digress…. My focus today isn’t the severe psychological dysfunction that underlies the “humor” in the Chick-fil-A ad campaign. It’s the fact that the folks who run that charming company seem to think they now have the prerogative to prohibit anyone else from telling people to “eat more” of anything other than chicken and have threatened to sue Muller-Moore if he does not stop selling his shirts and turn over his website to Chick-fil-A. No, I am not kidding. Of course, the whole purpose behind trademark laws is to prevent people from confusing one brand with another, thus giving the interloper a free ride on a well-established brand that someone has spent time and money on. So, apparently Chick-fil-A’s lawyers think that people are running to buy “Eat More Kale” shirts from some guy in Vermont because of the incredibly offensive ad campaign depicting cows telling people to” eat mor chikin.” Crazy, right? But apparently they have, with their fancy cease-and-desist letters, scared many other businesses into not encouraging people to eat more whatever.

Bo Muller-Moore

Happily, unlike those other victims of corporate lawyer threats, our trusty Vermont t-shirter is not rolling over. It kind of reminds me of the David and Goliath tale of the McLibel case, where the geniuses who run McDonald’s made fools of themselves trying to sue two English activists who had handed out flyers claiming, among many other things, that McDonald’s was culpable for animal cruelty. If you want to learn the very entertaining story of how that turned out for Mickey D (not well, I can assure you), you should check out the excellent documentary made about that case, which you can watch online for a fee, or you can get from Netflix.

If you are interested in supporting Muller-Moore, you can, of course, buy a t-shirt online. Fair warning — unfortunately, he also sells “Cheese” t-shirts and it appears to be referring to dairy-derived cheese. I wish we could think of a way to sue him for that!

Designed primarily for use by law enforcement personnel, this guide, issued by the DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, offers “tools, practices, and procedures that contribute to effective responses to dog-related incidents and encounters where dogs are present.” As we all know, shootings of dogs by the police — completely unnecessary and unwarranted shootings — are all too common. Law enforcement encounters with dogs happen all the time, whether officers are making traffic stops, serving warrants, investigating, or even pursuing suspects, and all too often innocent dogs get caught in the middle.

The Problem of Dog-Related Incidents and Encounters

This guide provides some desperately needed advice to officers in handling such dog-related incidents with sensitivity and intelligence, rather than just knee-jerk fear. It offers an “in-depth look into developing effective strategies in assessing a dog’s environment; what dog posture, vocalization, and facial expressions mean; options for distracting and escaping from a dog; defensive options in dealing with a dog; asking the right questions in dog investigations; and effective gathering of dog evidence and report writing.” 

This is clearly an important resource, and anyone interested in this issue should not only familiarize themselves with this report, but should make sure that their local law enforcement agency is aware of it and will use it to educate officers in handling dog-related incidents safely, for all the parties involved. You can download it for free or order copies on the DOJ website.

Although animal lawyers around the country are focused intently on this case, for plenty of other lawyers, it’s just one more preemption case, and for non-lawyers, it’s just another example of legal mumbo-jumbo. The sick and injured pigs who are at the center of the case can get lost amongst the legal technicalities. Clearly, for activists, this presents an opportunity to remind everyone that this high-profile case truly matters — that pigs sent to slaughter suffer horribly, and states should be allowed to pass laws protecting animals when the Federal government has failed to do so.

Photo courtesy Farm Sanctuary (www.farmsanctuary.org)

That’s one reason we are so excited that the New York University Student Animal Legal Defense Fund managed to get some of their most prestigious faculty members — Catherine Sharkey, William T. Comfort, III, Roderick Hills, Jr. and Richard Epstein, as well as New York Court of Appeals Judge, Robert Smith — to participate in a “moot court” of the case, in which they act out the roles of advocates and judges, to air the arguments on each side and inform the audience about the case. Even better, they videotaped the event, and a link to the video  and the article about the event ended up on the front page of the NYU Law website.

In spite of all the technical legal issues involved, it’s not possible to discuss this case in this kind of detail without considering the animal cruelty issues at its center. Thus, all of the people who went to this event or watch this video because they are interested in the legal scholarship involved or impressed by the participants now have had an opportunity to be introduced to the ones who really matter here — the pigs.

Photo at top of blog: Courtesy of Farm Sanctuary

***

If “animal lover with a Facebook account” applies to you, then you, too, could have the makings of great animal activist.

Ever had the thought that there’s way too much wrong with the world for one person to have a meaningful impact, and then thrown your hands up in frustration, giving up on the seedling of the great idea you have? If, like me, you’ve been known to have the occasional freak-out (who hasn’t?), I’m here to implore you to reconsider your surrender. I know that the next time I feel that way, I am going to follow Jennifer Peterson’s lead.

We like. We LOVE.

Every now and then, I’m reminded that I should value Facebook for reasons beyond how it facilitates creeping around other people’s lives or admiring my own one-handed iPhone self-portraits. I got one of these reminders today when I learned that Los Angeles-based Peterson used Facebook (with a side of good old-fashioned networking) to garner a gigantic win for animals – the banning of sales of live animals in malls across the United States.

According to Global Animal’s report, the line between one person’s passion and significant, measurable change was pretty darn direct. Peterson, longtime dog lover and rescue adopter, did some digging around about pet stores and puppy mills, unearthed galling information about how horrifically puppies in those environments are treated, started a Facebook page to gather like-minded people to protest puppy stores and mills, and then reached out to a personal contact she had at Macerich, a shopping center developer. Once she provided the company with information about just how heinous puppy mills are, it was merely a matter of teaming up with Macerich to develop a plan for a companywide ban on pet sales in their malls. Once that plan was in place, two amazing things happened: Macerich decided not only to not renew the leases of pet stores that sell animals, but they decided to take it one step further, and are now “opening humane stores offering adoptions of rescued pets.”

Okay, actually, a third amazing thing happened: triumphant and refueled after this incredible victory, Peterson has committed to pressing forward with plans to shut down the puppy mill industry altogether, a job that doesn’t seem so Herculean, given how much she has already accomplished.

So, what does this mean for you, animal lover? Or for me, just a passionate animal advocate who sees something terribly wrong and unfair in our society’s treatment of animals, but isn’t sure how to take even one step in a useful direction? Simple. It means that we can take inventory of what we already have — connections, social networks, resources, Facebook and Twitter accounts — and start building an effort for change. If you’ve ever joined a vegan Meet-Up at Meetup.com or jumped into an AR thread on Facebook, you know how quickly allied, passionate people build community. Once these communities come together, discussions are flowing and animal advocates are trading ideas, and dialoging about changing the world for animals. Then all you need are action steps. And, well, the change practically makes itself.

Now that you’ve finished reading this blog post, why not start a dialogue among your activist peers regarding the animal issue that currently tugs the strongest at your heartstrings? Each of us has a subset of animal rights that reaches us the strongest. What is yours, and what do you hope to accomplish? Try to keep your goals as measurable and specific as possible. Why not get the dialogue going, perhaps by tweeting a link to this blog post and sharing your pithy thoughts (in 140 characters or less). Or start your own Facebook group about that animal issue you care so deeply about. Alternatively, if you’re more of an IRL (“in real life”) kinda person, post a notice at your local vegan restaurant or health food store, or start talking to your buddies at the dog park and bat around some ideas for advocacy, education, or activism in your community. Engage your peers with your campaign.

Jennifer Peterson proved that it’s just as easy as starting the conversation, and seeing who jumps in.

What’s the story here in the United States? The current state of the law is not entirely clear, but if this happens to you, you might want to see a lawyer.

First and foremost, the 19th annual Animal Law Conference (wow — 19th?!) will be held next weekend, on October 14-16, at Lewis and Clark Law School in the very vegan-friendly city of Portland, OR. We are on cloud 9 about speaking there. Our workshop will take place on Sunday, Oct. 16, and will cover one of our favorite topics — the one you can’t get us to shut up about — incorporating animal activism into your everyday life (and exploring ways to amp up what you already do to change the world). It is entitled “Enough Already. DO Something for Animals!” While at this one-of-a-kind conference, we are also thrilled that we’ll have the opportunity to hear so many exciting speakers, including Sarah Baeckler of the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, David Cassuto of Pace Law School (who you can check out on our podcast), Carter Dillard of the Animal Legal Defense Fund (also featured on our podcast), Kristen Stilt of the Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals, and so many other movers and shakers from the world of animal law. Our bags are packed (well, not really…), and we can’t wait (yes, really)!

In fact, we are so eager about this trip that we will be going out to Lewis and Clark Law School a day early for a separate Animal Law Review Symposium. This symposium is being organized by the students who publish the student-run law review, Animal Law – the first journal dedicated to animal law issues in the country, and one that remains the best known of what is now a wide array of such journals. The symposium will feature some of the leading voices in international animal law, including Maneesha Deckha, Professor of Law at the University of Victoria, who will be speaking on the intersections between critical animal studies and animal law, and the aforementioned David Cassuto, who will be discussing climate change and animal agriculture, with a particularly sharp focus on what’s happening in Brazil.

Animal Law Conference

Beyond that, and back here on the east coast, two very cool programs that are coming up at New York University Law School should also be on your radar. One is a panel on the environmental effects of factory farming, featuring such luminaries as New York Times columnist Mark Bittman, animal law professor extraordinaire David Wolfson (who has also been featured on the podcast), and Jon Lovvorn, the director of the Animal Protection Litigation team at the Humane Society of the United States. The other NYU Law School event to note is a faculty “moot court” of the upcoming arguments in National Meat Association v Harris, wherein the Supreme Court will decide the validity, under federal law, of California’s no-downer law.

Toward the end of this month, Mariann will be speaking in one of our favorite cities, New Orleans (which, by the way, is finally beginning to expand it’s vegan options), at the 3d Annual Continuing Legal Education program of the Louisiana Bar Association’s Animal Law Committee. The program, entitled “Animal Law 3.0”  will feature speakers on companion animal law as well as farmed animal law, and promises to be dynamic and eye-opening.

Though not directly related to animal law, since your calendars are clearly in front of you now, please also note that on October 29, we will be presenting a workshop at the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival (the biggest VegFest in the country) entitled “Shifting to a Plant-Based Diet: Techniques and Tips for Your Walk on the Green Side”; on November 2 we’ll be celebrating Jasmin’s birthday with a Hen Party that will surely result in lots of fun (and hopefully lots of funds, too!); and on November 4 we’ll be presenting “Food as Activism” for the Montclair, NJ Vegan Meet-Up. Also, if you’re in or around NYC, please save the dates of December 1 and December 2, where one or both of us will be presenting two new exciting workshops. You can stay up to speed on those events (and other ones) in the “Upcoming Squawking Engagements” sidebar of our website (look to the right of this).

Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to go take a Valium.

That’s why we are so excited about the new class-action lawsuit against the dairy industry filed by dairy consumers (yes, sadly, they’re the only ones who can bring such a lawsuit) alleging that various dairy companies and trade groups, including the National Milk Producers Federation, Dairy Farmers of America, Land O’Lakes, Inc, and Agri-Mark, Inc., combined to fix the price of milk through their trade group, Cooperatives Working Together.

The lawsuit, which was filed yesterday in federal court in California, alleges that between 2003 and 2010, more than 500,000 cows were slaughtered by the defendants in a concerted effort to reduce the supply of milk, and thereby inflate its price. This added up to over $9 billion in extra profits for the defendants.

Cheryl Leahy

One of the best things about this lawsuit is the way it began. It was the legal department at Compassion Over Killing, headed up by the fabulous Cheryl Leahy, that initially theorized, researched and developed the case. However, given the nature of the case, it ultimately had to be handled by a private firm specializing in antitrust. As a result, the plaintiffs are now represented by the class action law firm of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, LLP, which, if it is successful, stands to earn some very big bucks.

This kind of synergy — animal protection groups thinking up ways to go after agribusiness to reduce the money that it’s making off of animal-based foods and private law firms happy to take on potentially enormously profitable lawsuits — is beyond exciting.

If you want further detail about the case, you can find it on COK’s website. And if, by any chance, you happened to purchase milk or milk products from 2004 to the present, and you’re willing to admit that, you want to get in on this. (Yes, pretty much everyone in the country other than long-term vegans are potential plaintiffs in this lawsuit.) You can call the firm at (206) 623-7292 or email them at CWT[at]hbsslaw.com.

Photo at top of blog courtesy of VINE Sanctuary. 

Of course, this will be an opportunity to hear the point of view of many members of the dark side, including long time industry rep Steve Kopperud, who will be speaking on “The Pros and Cons of the Egg Industry/Humane Society of the U.S. Agreement,” as well as Joe Miller, General Counsel of Rose Acre Farms, one of Indiana’s largest and most notorious egg producers, who will offer his point of view on the “Impact of State Legislative Initiatives on Animal Welfare, What State Model is Preferred?”

United States Department of Agriculture

There will also be some government folks, and, most notably, at least one representative of the animal protection movement will be there, as Paul Shapiro, of the Humane Society of the United States, will be speaking about “Cooperation, Ballot Initiatives and the Humane Agenda.” I remember a few years ago, when I attended one of these symposia at the USDA, Paul was in the audience. It’s a sign of the changing times that he is now on the agenda. (I also remember the handful of animal advocates who were present searching desperately, and largely in vain, for something decent to eat at the USDA cafeteria. Maybe, given the agency’s new My Plate program, they will have a few more plants available to eat.)

This is a rare opportunity to suss out the positions of the industry and government agencies on some of the issues that concern us deeply. I hope a lot of people who actually truly do care about what’s good and bad for animals will take the opportunity to be there. The event, which will run from 9 AM to 4 PM, is free, but they ask that you pre-register by sending your name, affiliation, postal address, and preferred email address to: David Brubaker, 145 South Spruce Street, Lititz, PA 17543; or email to PennsylvaniaB[at]aol.com. On-site registration is available but discouraged. The event will be held at the Jefferson Auditorium in the South Agriculture Building, which can be accessed through the Wing 7 entrance of USDA headquarters, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W. in Washington, DC.

National District Attorneys' Association

One sign that more serious attention is being paid to animal abuse is the creation of The National Center for Prosecution of Animal Abuse within the National District Attorneys’ Association. This new organization, which will partner with the ASPCA and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, will “educate and train prosecutors and allied professionals on the effective handling of animal cruelty and neglect cases, including cases involving the co-occurrence of animal abuse and violence to people.”

The organization’s first webinar will be held on September 8. Hosted by the Center’s Executive Director, Allie Phillips, this free webinar will serve as an introduction to handling animal cases and a guide to some of the services and resources that the Center will provide for prosecutors and others in law enforcement, as well as animal control and humane investigators, veterinarians, shelter staff, and rescue organization volunteers.

The Center sounds like it could be an invaluable resource for prosecutors and others in law enforcement who need additional resources and guidance in handling animal law cases and who, perhaps, wish to expand the narrow scope of enforcement of these laws, which generally purport to prohibit “unnecessary suffering,” but clearly fall far short of that mark. If you are in such a position, be sure to tune in.  If not, perhaps you want to pass this information along to your favorite law and order folks.

The fabulous folks at VegNews told us that just by voting, these are the fabulous prizes you will be entered to win;

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The theme of this year’s conference is one that I’m particularly excited about, as it’s so darn apt, and getting apter every day: Standing Up for Animals: Can a Bad Economy Inspire Greater Goodness?

Well, can it? CAN IT? I guess we’ll find out in October…

The talk that Mariann and I will be giving is called “Enough Already: DO Something for Animals!” You can read more about that workshop and the rest of the truly inspiring, invigorating workshops and panels on their impressive program page.

For those of you who are law students, ALDF is offering travel grants to active Student ALDF chapters to help members attend (email Nicole Pallotta at npallotta[at]aldf [dot]org for more info on the grants). Since you law students are probably still wondering how on earth you’re going to pay off your student loans, that seems like an A-okay opportunity to me. For those of you who are not SALDF members but are still interested in attending this truly one-of-a-kind conference, early-bird rates are available through September 9, and remember to act fast, because it sells out every year.

That’s why I was so thrilled with a project of one animal activist, A. Shamalatha, in Bangalore, India. A vibrant vegan and animal activist, who has been instrumental in a program to get all the street dogs in her locality spayed and neutered, Shamalatha remained frustrated by the blatant abuse she witnessed, which went on in spite of the laws prohibiting it. As she notes, “According to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960, you can’t beat up animals. But most people are unaware of these rules. Even if you go to a police station with a complaint, they seem unaware of these rules.” Sounds all too familiar, doesn’t it?

Chutki

In response to this quandary, Shamalatha had the brilliant idea of writing a picture book setting forth a play, which not only tells the story of a puppy who runs away from a dog catcher, but also conveys the rules and regulations covering people’s legal obligations to animals, including not only street dogs, but “monkey charmers and load bearing animals.” The book, Chutki’s Experiences, now has its own website, and Shamalatha is selling copies of the book there, and is also donating copies of the book to schools and animal welfare organizations.

Here’s an excerpt of the dialog between a young girl who has befriended Chutki and her mother:

Daughter: Mom, this puppy is so cute! Shall we take her home?

Mother: Oh, no! We’ll buy some foreign breed, like a Dobermann or a Great Dane.

Daughter: What’s wrong with this puppy, Mom? This puppy is cuter than all those Bull Dogs, Dobermanns and Great Danes. This is so affectionate. Look at the way it is wagging its tail! The other day I heard an announcement on the TV asking people to adopt an Indian street dog.

Mother: Don’t want a street dog, Baby!

Daughter: Mom, so what if it is a street dog? My teacher keeps saying that all living things can feel pain and pleasure, just as we human beings do. This street puppy will also feel happy if we take her home, won’t she?

Pretty good stuff, right? Perhaps the best news of all — Shamalatha is now working on a book about poultry farms in India — “to spread awareness on the importance of vegetarianism and veganism.”

There is certainly no question that factory farms are a nuisance, regardless of whether one is using that word in its everyday meaning or in its meaning as a legal term, i.e., the interference with an individual’s peaceful enjoyment of his or her property.

Tens of thousands of chickens await their fate inside these buildings.

However, ever since the passage of Right to Farm Laws in every state starting in the 60s, some lawyers have frequently simply written off nuisance suits against factory farms.  Those laws were ostensibly passed to protect innocent farmers from grouchy suburbanites who move into their rural enclaves and are disturbed by the normal noises and smells of farming. However, for too long they have protected factory farms, which should not even be considered farms at all, and which emit constant filth and noxious fumes. The term “nuisance” is an understatement.

Fortunately, lawyers have started to wake up to the fact that right to farm laws are not necessarily so draconian that they prevent any and all nuisance suits against factory farms. The California case comes on the heels of a Missouri appellate decision upholding the multi-million dollar verdict against Premium Standard Farms that we blogged about a while back. In addition, in May, a Missouri jury awarded plaintiffs $1.95 million against another hog farm.

Unfortunately, the industry is not asleep at the wheel. A law was just enacted in Missouri last month that will make that state’s Right to Farm Act more protective of factory farms by eliminating the right to sue the same facility for the same violation (which seems like an invitation for them to continue their filthy ways) and limiting damages. Missouri’s legislature is the one that recently overturned the ballot initiative that imposed strong restrictions on puppy mills, so it is not surprising that it would do what it could to protect factory farms.

Nevertheless, with the recent victory in California, more lawyers should be sitting up and taking notice that there is money to be made in these cases. While winning a nuisance suit doesn’t directly help animals, anything that can be done to make it harder or more expensive for these living hells to stay in business is a good thing for the animals and for the planet.

Me and my sweet pit bull, Rose.

Here in Our Hen House, we have approached pit bull issues and advocacy many times, including interviewing, for our podcast, the manager of animal fighting issues at HSUS, John Goodwin, all about the horrors inherent in dog-fighting and how to end it for good; documenting through video a pit bull vaccination clinic in Oakland California that BAD RAP was organizing; speaking with Best Friends’ lawyer Ledy Van Kavage all about breed discriminatory laws and how people can work to put an end to them; reviewing The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption; and publishing a variety of blog entries aimed at providing opportunities for animal lovers to get further involved with pit bull advocacy. Some of my favorite blogs we’ve published on that subject include Art for Pitties (featuring a NYC-based fundraising initiative that partnered with pit bull lovers and artists to create an animal-friendly art show to raise awareness); How to PACK a Punch (featuring a club comprised of kind-hearted volunteers who regularly run adoptable shelter dogs from Washington Humane Society’s adoption centers); and, of course, Rescue Chocolate (a totally vegan chocolate company that raises money for animal charities, with a strong bent toward pit bulls, as is evident from the gorgeous pit bull who graces the package of every Rescue Chocolate chocolate bar).

Now, a film that is due to come out this winter is next in line for shaking things up  in the pit bull activism world, doing its part to advocate for these precious creatures. “Guilty ‘Til Proven Innocent” is a new documentary created by River Fire Films that nobly touts the tag line, “Putting an END to Breed Discrimination.” The question raised on the film’s website is one that I hope anyone not yet enlightened to pit bull issues, and the gloriousness of these dogs, will consider: “Do we have a dangerous dog breed problem, or do we have dangerous laws targeting dog breeds?”

Check out the trailer below, and then stay tuned for this film’s distribution coming this winter. It will clearly be yet another tool for us to use to end violence, cruelty, and ignorance regarding pit bulls. Of course, the fact that this particular tool comes in video form makes me beam, since film is perhaps the strongest communicator for anyone working toward social change. As this film will hopefully demonstrate, the only thing dangerous about pit bulls are the misconceptions that surround them.

Center for Animal Law Studies

Here’s the lineup: Rebecca Huss, a leading expert in companion animal law, will be teaching Transactional Approach to Animal Law; Steven Wise, of the Nonhuman Rights Project (who can be heard on a recent episode of our podcast), will be teaching Animal Rights Law and Jurisprudence; environmental law and animal law expert David Cassuto (who can also be heard on our podcast), will be teaching International Wildlife Law; Ramona Ilea will be teaching Animal Legal Philosophy and Development; Animal Legal Defense Fund founder Joyce Tischler will be teaching Farmed Animals: Law and Policy; and Mark Cushing will be teaching Emerging Law, Policy and Politics of Companion Animals.

This program truly shows the kind of progress animal law is making academically. The Center for Animal Law Studies — which we talked about in our recent podcast with Assistant Dean Pamela Frasch – has the largest animal law program in the country, and is an important part of that progress. This summer program is a wonderful opportunity for those who don’t go to school there to take part in it anyway.

We love what Bonnie Dawson and Liz White are doing up in Canada. Instead of just complaining about what elected officials are doing, and failing to do, about animal issues, they decided to run for office. Representing the Animal Alliance Environmental Voters Party, Dawson, up in the Northwest Territories, and White, in Thornhill, Ontario, are bringing animal issues front and center.

See through the fence...

Among the issues that Dawson is running on are the need for fully equipped animal shelters and spay and neuter clinics. In her campaigning, she is quick to point to the well-established link between violence against animals and violence against people, always a good talking point.

Dawson doesn’t necessarily expect to win her election. ”If I get a few votes, hey, wonderful. But getting the party name on the actual ballot… provides two things: it provides awareness and it may very well peak interest and curiosity.” Personally, I think she’s got a shot — how many people running for office these days make as much sense as she does?

As Dawson points out, politics are a great way to get your issues out there even when you don’t ultimately win, since, just by bringing them up, you can force the other candidates to take a position. If you do win, of course, all the better. People who care about animals are likely to be compassionate, sensible leaders. You may have heard of the Party for the Animals in the Netherlands, which actually elected it’s candidate, Marianne Thieme, to Parliament. Well, the movement is definitely growing, and political parties for animals are popping up all over. Maybe it’s time for us to stop complaining about the dopes on the City Council, School Board, Community Board, United States Senate, whatever, and get out there and change the world!

The work of the Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals, a Canada-based non-profit that has been working to end the commercial fur trade since 1944, is inspiring. Lesley Fox, the Association’s Executive Director, agreed to shed light on two particular subsets of this horrendous industry – specifically, trapping, and the dog and cat fur trade – and provide us with further resources, including some for teachers and students, for how we can each do our part to advocate for fur-bearing animals.

***
Our Hen House: I know that the Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals works on many campaigns aiming to ban the cruel fur industry. First, let’s focus on trapping, since it’s a subset of the fur industry that not too many people know about.

Lesley Fox: About 80% of all global fur production comes from fur farms, where animals are raised and killed for their fur. The other 20% of global fur products comes from animals that were trapped in the wild. These animals include beavers, muskrats, otters, minks, coyotes, wolves, lynx, and bobcats. Each year in North America, approximately 7-8 million animals are trapped for their fur. These traps include the Conibear, Leg-hold and snare traps.

OHH: How does trapping affect beavers in particular?

LF: Poor beavers. While the majority of states and provinces have a “trapping season,” usually from mid-October through the end of March, beavers are often killed year-round. Everywhere and anywhere. Many municipalities contract trappers to kill so-called “nuisance beavers” because their dams may be contributing to the flooding of roads, farms or other developments.

What is so frustrating is that there are many non-lethal alternatives available to prevent potential flooding. But many cities just take the easy way out, and the public is in the dark.

OHH: What are the goals of your anti-trapping campaign?

LF: The main goals of our anti-trapping campaign are to expose trapping cruelty and to push for legislative change.

What enables us to do this effectively [check out some of their recent victories] is that our Association has hours of film footage that was taken by a licensed trapper, during trapping season on a trap line in the province of Alberta. Years ago, shortly before he retired, this man gave us all of these videos to distribute all over the world. Perhaps the guilt got to him? I don’t know.

The immense suffering in these videos compels me to share it with the world. To use it as a teaching tool, and shout from the rooftops that this is cruelty we can stop!

OHH: Many people have heard about the myths of “humane trapping.” Can you debunk some of those myths for us?

LF: Humane trapping? What a farce.

The main thing your readers need to know is that any “humane trapping standards” are written by the fur industry, for the fur industry. There is also a big difference between what reasonable people think “humane” means, and what the fur industry wants it to mean. For example, under the fur industry’s definition of “humane trapping,” gashed eyes, broken teeth, broken bones, and amputations are “allowable” injuries.

Despite some small cosmetic changes, leg-hold traps, snares, and Conibear traps remain legal across Canada. In the U.S., laws differ slightly from state to state, but of course you can count on some kind of loophole where it is acceptable to use these horrific traps.

Bottom line: The term “humane” is meaningless, and fur-bearing animals continue to suffer and die in traps for a needless luxury product — fur.

OHH: Your organization is based in Canada, where it is legal to import and sell dog and cat fur. Thankfully, groups like The Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals are campaigning to end this. Tell us about the dog and cat fur trade, and your efforts to end that horror.

As if fur farms or trapping weren’t bad enough, Canada allows the trade of dog and cat fur. Each year, an estimated 2 million dogs and cats are brutally slaughtered for their fur in Asia. Their skins are used to make coats, toys, hats and figurines. Countries including the USA and European Union have all banned dog and cat fur, but sadly, Canada remains behind the times.

While you’d think a campaign to ban dog and cat fur would surely end in an instant victory, that hasn’t been the case. Canada’s government has been very clear; they have no intention of banning the import of dog and cat fur from China, because Canada relies on China to buy our seal pelts. In a nutshell, we trade one cruelty for another, and it’s all about keeping that trade going. Our Association is very active with this campaign, and we’ve been pushing hard for legislative change. While we do have some sympathetic ears, there is still a ways to go.

OHH: What kinds of ways can people get involved with the anti-trapping campaign?

LF: As activists, I think many of us think that the fur issue is a no-brainer, but there is a whole new generation that hasn’t yet been exposed to the anti-fur message. Much work still needs to be done.

Our Association makes it easy for people to help spread the word.  Joining us on Facebook and Twitter can help us make the anti-fur message viral. We also have stickers, brochures, postcards, buttons, and other free stuff that we can send out to activists for protests, presentations or displays. Just send me an email at lesley[at]furbearerdefenders.com and we’ll be happy to support your anti-fur efforts!

OHH: I am impressed with your website, particularly the resources section, which not only includes fact sheets that can be of use to anyone, but also includes ways that people can get involved. I love that you offer school presentations for both students and teachers to use, aimed at thinking critically and challenging the current animal welfare standards of the fur industry, and shedding light on its environmental impact. I appreciate the encouragement that you offer to activists to use our voices to speak the truth about what’s happening behind closed doors. As you point out, it is up to us — no one else — to speak for those who can’t. It’s the only way we’ll change the world for animals. Thank you for your relentless campaigning, and for your commitment to ending animal cruelty.

***

Learn more about ways you can help put an end to fur cruelty by visiting The Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals.

Photos: The Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals

www.aldf.org

The ALDF Animal Law Institute Litigation Fellowship, based in Northern California beginning this June, is offering a chance for some lucky lawyer “to develop state and federal strategic impact litigation and legislation to better the lives and legal status of animals.” To be a contender, you must have received your JD within the past 3 years.

Recently, there has been a huge influx of interest in the field of animal law — without a doubt, one of the reasons for that is the work of the folks at ALDF, as well those at the Center for Animal Law Studies (we also recently interviewed Pam Frasch of the Center, who shed light on this phenomenon) — not to mention Bob Barker, who has donated millions of dollars to fund animal law programs throughout the United States. This amazing job opportunity presents the chance of a lifetime to be on the inside of this amazing growth, and to do cutting edge work advancing the interests of animals.

Photo at top of blog courtesy of VINE Sanctuary

An Introduction to Animals and the Law by Joan E. Schaffner

The entire notion of animal law is somewhat odd, considering the nature of most arguments against granting animals moral consideration in the first place. The usual argument against improving the legal status of animals says that, since non-human animals cannot respect human moral laws and boundaries, they are not able to be subjects of moral consideration within such laws. Strange, then, that humans have actually been perfectly willing to enfold animals within our legal framework, even though they have frequently done so ineptly and ineffectively.

The reason for this odd contradiction is laid out in Schaffner’s first chapter, “Animals and the Law: The Basics,” which should be required reading for any activist who needs a primer on the legal status of animals and the root bases and biases of animal law. As Schaffner explains, there are two possible strands of animal law in play today – laws that attempt to safeguard the rights and interests of animals (animal protection laws) and laws that safeguard human interests in, and uses for, animals (practically all other laws regarding animals). Animals thus lack a consistent status under the law, sometimes appearing as things unworthy of any consideration, sometimes as very valuable things, and only rarely as entities with their own interests, depending on the human use of the animal species or even individual animal in question. Schaffner writes, “Currently, the law criminalizes deliberate individual acts of gratuitous cruelty towards most animals, yet allows and even supports institutionalized cruelty of animals. Because the law is drafted by humans and for humans it virtually always favors human interests over the interests of all other species” (3).

The (grain) meat of Schaffner’s book is in its middle chapters, which give a fact-filled and tremendously useful overview of basic animal law in four areas: anti-cruelty law, animal welfare law, animal control and management, and animals and the constitution. This information is very useful for any activist wishing to engage in the legislative side of animal advocacy, especially activists in the United States (Schaffner does devote some time to discussing animal law in other countries, but this is largely to compare it to American animal law). These sections of the book also give support to Schaffner’s central thesis, that animal law in its current state is arbitrary and contradictory, and more concerned with safeguarding the human use of animals than the interests and well-being of the animals themselves. Take the notion of “accepted agricultural practices,” for example – if a practice of animal agriculture is traditional or “accepted” by a majority in the industry, it is legal, regardless of its cruelty. The fact that many animal industries are given the power to self-regulate as “experts” on the treatment of animals (and even when this is not the case, the fact that most government agencies responsible for determining animal law are actually focused on improving the profits of animal industries rather than protecting the animals), should dispel any illusions on the part of American citizens that the government has animals’ interests in mind. Schaffner’s case studies are also engrossing, allowing readers to see how animal law plays out in concrete cases, and often in comparison to similar cases overseas (the United States usually comes out badly in these comparisons: American animal law is almost uniformly worse for the animals than its counterparts in the UK and Western Europe).

Although the central four chapters are the heart of the book, and worth a read for any advocate – even if all you get out of it is the Alice in Wonderland-esque vertigo that comes from reading legal documents that are almost nonsensical in their definitions of what is and isn’t an animal worthy of moral concern – the first and final chapters are the most significant for animal activism at large. As I mentioned above, the first chapter gives an overview of the central problems in current animal law. The final chapter, meanwhile, describes what the parameters would be of “a legal regime that is non-speciesist, treats animals as subjects, and approaches and protects their independent, individual, and inherent interests” (172).

For activists, this chapter is highly important for providing a vision of a legislative regime worth fighting for, and the arguments we need to make to obtain it. Schaffner describes a handful of approaches to altering the legal regime in a way that is beneficial to animals, based on varying moral and philosophical views. Though there is disagreement amongst animal advocates on what proper animal law would look like, and the methods we should take to get there, it is important for activists to keep in mind that the goal, at least in general terms, of all proponents of animal protection is a legal regime that actually considers animal interests to be valuable. The central change that would need to occur for this to happen is a shift in thinking of animals as subjects rather than objects, as sentient beings rather than mere resources for human use. While some animal rights activists often criticize them, even the welfarist approaches Schaffner describes here attempt to contribute to this shift.

By detailing the inconsistencies and absurdities of animal law as it is currently practiced, Schaffner has provided activists with a valuable tool for engaging in legislative advocacy. As a source of information, a critique of current law, and – most importantly – a manifesto for a future world in which animal law protects the interests of animals rather than the interests of humans in using animals, An Introduction to Animals and the Law is a vital resource for anyone who wants to change the world for animals and lives within a nation of laws – in other words, everyone reading this review.

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Order An Introduction to Animals and the Law

aldf.org

These scholarships are exclusively for active members of Student Animal Legal Defense Fund chapters who intend (hope?) to practice animal law when they graduate. The deadline is March 4.

This year’s conference, entitled Conversations for Change: Improving Civic Society for Animals, will be held on April 8 in Baltimore and will be co-sponsored by, among others, American University’s Washington College of Law.  If you are interested in submitting a proposal to speak, there is still time before the February 1 deadline — just contact Gary C. Norman via telephone at (410) 241-6745 or via e-mail at GLNorman15 [at] hotmail.com.  In any case, save the date.  This conference is very reasonably priced, and, if last year’s line-up is any indication, promises to be eye-opening and instructive.

I can’t wait to sit down and read this. It is going to be an amazing resource.

Citizen Lobbying

by Patrick Kwan

To many people, Congress and our state legislatures seem like unwelcoming and intimidating places where decisions are made by a handful of high-powered lobbyists and legislators, and everyday citizens like us cannot make a difference. The truth is, legislators are elected public officials whose job is to represent the views and interests of their constituents, and animal advocates can make a difference and get our voices heard, if we speak up and speak up effectively.

If we don’t speak up, our legislators have no choice but listen to the moneyed interests like the puppy millers, furriers, and factory farmers and their corporate lobbyists.

Lobbying is as easy as the ABCs. To be an effective citizen lobbyist, simply remember to be:

• Accurate – Stick to the facts. Get back to them whenever you can.
• Brief – Don’t overwhelm legislators with info. Focus & leave factsheets.
• Courteous – Remain professional at all times. Say thank you!
• Do Follow-Up – Send any requested info. Check on commitments.

Check out http://www.humanesociety.org/action/toolkit/ for more tips on how you can make a difference for animals and make sure our laws reflect a truly humane society!

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Patrick Kwan

Patrick Kwan is New York state director for The Humane Society of the United States and spearheads the organization’s animal protection policy & campaigns in the Empire State. Backed by 11 million Americans, or one of every 28, including over 800,000 New Yorkers, The HSUS is the nation’s largest animal protection organization. With The HSUS, Patrick has exposed the illegal sale of endangered elephant ivory and the grisly underground trade of NYC pigeons for cruel shooting contests in Pennsylvania. Prior to joining The HSUS, he was a field organizer for Amnesty International USA and an advisory board member of the Center for Environmental Citizenship, now the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund. Patrick also managed media relations and communications efforts for corporate, nonprofit, and government organizations, including the Mayor’s Alliance’s for NYC’s Animals, The September 11th Fund, and NYC & Company.