A proposed law in the South Carolina legislature protecting big cats, great apes, and bears needs your support. The bill takes the first steps toward making it illegal for people to own these animals as pets. South Carolina is one of only five states with no restrictions on ownership of exotic animals. These beautiful animals belong in the wild, not…
Category: Legal
ATTENTION MARYLAND: Protect Cownose Rays
Call your Maryland Legislator Today to End Cruel Killing Contests! A new bill in the Maryland legislature protecting cownose rays needs your support. The bill outlaws the brutal practice of “killing contests” where cownose rays are slaughtered for people’s entertainment. In these contests, cownose rays are shot with arrows, bludgeoned with a bat, and then stuffed into containers where they…
Maryland: It’s Time to End Cownose Ray Killing Contests
Cownose rays are aquatic animals that look sort of like underwater kites. A cownose ray’s snout is remarkably similar looking to a cow’s nose (hence the name), and they have long, skinny tails.
USDA: Sideline this Guideline
This latest trick has the same goal as ag-gag laws (laws intended to hide the cruelty of standard agricultural practices for farmed animals), it’s just a different tool.
Who will be the animals’ voice in 2017?
Whatever your political beliefs, we know one thing. The people that President Trump has indicated he will appoint to key federal positions are no friends to animals. The U.S. president oversees the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. These agencies have sweeping powers over not just animals in the United…
Lindsey Decision Falls Short—But Starts a Larger Conversation
The case of Kristin Lindsey, the Texas veterinarian who shot and killed a cat with a bow and arrow, came to a disappointing end this week. Across the board, animal protection organizations had called for a permanent termination of her license. Though Lindsey killed the cat and bragged about it on social media, proudly posting a photo of herself with…
The Only Dangerous Blockheads in Montreal Aren’t Canine
Something I often tell animal advocates working with legislators is to root their arguments in facts and not appeal to emotion because factual arguments are usually more compelling to policy makers. But the issue of breed-discriminatory legislation (BDL) flips the usual script. When it comes to BDL, instead of animal advocates telling sob stories, it’s the people who want to…
Fighting Puppy Mills Together
There was a big win for dogs last week when a Pennsylvania court struck down regulations that weakened the state’s Dog Law. The lawsuit was the culmination of years of hard work by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, a national group dedicated to protecting animals using the legal system. The 2008 Pennsylvania Dog Law increased care requirements in commercial kennels…
Beware: Ag-gag is a Big Drag – For Everyone
What do photographers and lawyers have in common? At first blush, not much. Photographers are artists, a profession we associate with bohemians and dreamers. Lawyers, on the other hand, tend not to be a group of people that we would classify as “free spirits.” Humorless vulture is a more apt description. But animal protection attorneys, photographers, and videographers have seen…
Primate Pic Creates More Than Copyright Confusion
By Elizabeth Holtz Sulawesi, an island in Indonesia, was famous for incredible diving and sensational coral reefs. Today, it might be more famous for producing the most celebrated simian photographer of our time. A crested macaque living in Tangkoko Reserve on Sulawesi rocketed to fame in 2011 after taking a pretty fantastic “selfie.” But he had some help. David John…