Results
| Title |
Author |
Citation | Summary | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brief Summary of Feral Cat and Wild Bird Controversy | Ariahna Sanchez | Animal Legal & Historical Center | This summary briefly covers the factors contributing to the feral cat crisis. It also outlines the factors that may result in population increases of free-roaming cats. The summary then concludes by exploring the shift in focus, which now views them as "community cats," and how this enhanced caretaking has led to unintended predation on bird populations and competition with other native mammals. | Article |
| THE ANIMAL RIGHTS DEBATE AND THE EXPANSION OF PUBLIC DISCOURSE: IS IT POSSIBLE FOR THE LAW PROTECTING ANIMALS TO SIMULTANEOUSLY FAIL AND SUCCEED? | Peter Sankoff | 18 Animal L. 281 (2012) |
This Article uses the theory of deliberative democracy, as developed by Jürgen Habermas and others, to suggest that public discourse is essential to encouraging democratic change in animal welfare law. The author examines the legal regimes of Canada and New Zealand to determine which country better facilitates a public dialogue about the treatment of animals. The Article concludes that, while Canada has a number of laws that ostensibly protect animals, New Zealand’s regime is much better at creating the public discourse required to meaningfully advance animal protection. The author does not suggest that New Zealand’s regime is perfect; rather, New Zealand’s model is preferable to Canada’s because it allows the public to meaningfully engage in laws affecting animals at regular intervals. In Canada, generating discussion in government about animal welfare is too often left to the whim of legislators. Due to New Zealand’s model of encouraging and requiring public discourse, its protection laws have begun to surpass those of Canada, and there is reason to believe this will continue. Encouraging public discourse about our assumptions about animals fosters hope for meaningful progress in their lives. |
Article |
| Five Years of the New Animal Welfare Regime: Lessons Learned from New Zealand's Decision to Modernize Its Animal Welfare Legislation | Peter Sankoff | 11 Animal L. 7 (2005) |
In 1999, New Zealand took an ambitious step to update its animal welfare legislation. The new law included a limited provision to protect Great Apes from scientific experimentation that was heralded internationally as a huge step forward for animals. The Author suggests, however, that New Zealand’s other animals have not fared nearly as well under the new law, and that the notion of New Zealand as the “animal friendly” nation implied by its treatment of primates is more about perception than reality. This article explores the New Zealand experience, and suggests lessons that can be drawn from the modernization of its animal welfare legislation. |
Article |
| Charting the Growth of Animal Law in Education | Peter Sankoff | 4 Journal of Animal Law 105 (2008) |
Although the extent to which the animal law movement has succeeded in generating meaningful change for animals remains a subject of debate, one thing about the movement cannot be disputed: it is growing at a remarkable pace, both in the United States and abroad. For one thing, there are more people working as animal lawyers and studying to earn this informal classification than ever before. Where twenty years ago individuals practicing or trying to acquire knowledge in this area operated in isolation, today's enthusiast can attend animal law conferences, participate in moot court simulations and chat with like-minded individuals on animal law related websites. Most importantly, for the student undertaking the study of law in 2008, there now exists a very strong possibility that the institution they attend offers a course in animal law or will do so in the near future. |
Article |
| Evading Extinction: A 21st Century Survey of the Legal Challenges to Wild Siberian Tiger Conservation | Julie Santagelo | 1 Journal of Animal Law 109 (2005) |
The Amur tiger, like all tigers, is threatened by its high black market value as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine. In fact, the illegal wildlife generates up to ten billion United States dollars per year, trailing only the illegal narcotics and arms trade in annual revenue. The 1989 opening of the Russian-Chinese border exacerbated this illegal trade within the Russian Federation. The Amur tiger also suffers from a reduction of its prey base due to subsistence poaching of ungulate species and rampant logging. This reduction in wild prey has resulted in increased tiger-human conflicts such as livestock depredation, further reducing the locals’ incentive to protect tigers. |
Article |
| Animals as Vulnerable Subjects: Beyond Interest-Convergence, Hierarchy, and Property | Ani B. Satz | 16 Animal L. 65 (2009) |
This Article presents a new paradigm, premised on the equal protection principle, for the legal regulation of human interactions with domestic animals: Equal Protection of Animals (EPA). EPA combines the insights of vulnerability theorists with the equal protection principle and capability theory to create a mechanism for recognizing the equal claims of human and nonhuman animals to protections against suffering. Under such an approach, domestic animals—like humans—have claims to food, hydration, shelter, bodily integrity (including avoiding pain), companionship, and the ability to exercise and to engage in natural behaviors of movement. Existing animal welfare and anti-cruelty laws, despite their stated purposes, fail to protect animals adequately. This Article identifies the ontology of the problem as interest-convergence, famously described by Derrick Bell in the desegregation context. |
Article |
| ENACTING AND ENFORCING FELONY ANIMAL CRUELTY LAWS TO PREVENT VIOLENCE AGAINST HUMANS | Joseph G. Sauder | 6 Animal L. 1 (2000) | Felony animal anti-cruelty laws should be enacted and strictly enforced to protect animals and humans. Studies show that violence in the home, of any type, is self-perpetuating, creating generations of abusers and victims. Children who witness abuse are more likely to abuse animals and eventually humans; even minor acts of animal abuse are signs of a disturbed individual and should be taken seriously. Current animal anti-cruelty laws fail to prevent this violence. This article proposes that stronger anti-cruelty laws must be enacted and properly enforced to prevent this cycle of violence. | Article |
| The Future of the African Rhinoceros: Its Anything But Black & White | Robert Saxton | Animal Legal & Historical Center |
This paper will briefly review the biology and ecology of the various African rhino species and subspecies before presenting a description of the major current threats to African rhinos. The international legal response to rhino population declines will be outlined, followed by a discussion of concurrent rhino population trends. Suggestions for the future legal protection of rhinos will follow. |
Article |
| Community Cats: Changing the Legal Paradigm for the Management of So-Called “Pests” | Joan E. Schaffner | 67 Syracuse L. Rev. 71 (2017) | Recognizing that the science, policy, and law involving the different animal “pests” are unique, the approach to changing the traditional paradigm is largely the same. Although the debate continues surrounding free-roaming cats, the approach of cat advocates to turn the tide away from deeply entrenched lethal methods of animal control provides an interesting and useful case study on how to alter the political, scientific, and legal paradigm in favor of respecting animal life for all animals deemed “pests.” | Article |
| Linking Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, and Animal Cruelty | Joan E. Schaffner | Linking Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, and Animal Cruelty, ABA TIPS Animal Law Committee Newsletter (Winter 2006). |
Ms. Schaffner gives an overview of the connection between Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, and Animal Cruelty. She explains that there is a cycle of abuse, and gives suggestions on efforts to break this cycle. |
Article |