Full Title Name:  Fuzzy Toys and Fuzzy Feelings: How the “Disney” Culture Provides the Necessary Psychological Link to Improving Animal Welfare

Summary: The connection between pop culture's psychological influences on society and on people's ability to empathize helps explain the legal shift to address practices of animal testing, animal fighting, and other abuse or torturous practices. The media helps cultivate increased sentiment for animal welfare, which is the first hurdle to overcome when advocating for a change regarding animals in the law. This Note discusses specifically how Disney movies featuring animal characters have furthered an interest in animal welfare. This Note further proposes that courts' realization that scientific evidence of suffering is inadequate to measure or identify cruelty is essential to sufficiently provide legal protections to animals.