Animal Law: Recent Episodes
Mariann Sullivan, Law Professor, Pundit, Vegan
Join Animal Law professor and longtime activist Mariann Sullivan as she unpacks the latest updates, cases, and news from the burgeoning world of animal law. Mariann will be joined by the leaders in the field, and will offer her own insightful (and sometimes biting) commentary. 912842
In this thought-provoking episode of the Animal Law Podcast, we dive into a First Amendment case that cuts straight to the heart of animal advocacy: can the government prevent activists from showing the public what actually happens to animals in industrial agriculture? Mariann speaks with Sara Berinhout of FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) and John Greil of the University of Texas Law School’s Law and Religion Clinic about their representation of Daraius Dubash and Dr. Faraz Harsini. These dedicated animal advocates were arrested and threatened with arrest, respectively, for conducting a peaceful “Cube of Truth” demonstration in Houston’s Discovery Green park. Their crime? Simply showing silent documentary footage of standard farming practices. The case raises profound questions about whether the government can delegate its constitutional obligations to private entities, whether religious motivations for animal advocacy deserve special protection, and most importantly, whether the truth about animal agriculture is too disturbing to be seen in public spaces—even as those same spaces host barbecue festivals celebrating the end products of that system.
Key Points * First Amendment and Animal Advocacy: The case challenges whether showing footage of standard factory farming practices is protected speech in public parks. * Religious Freedom for Animal Activists: Daraius Dubash’s Hindu practice of ahimsa (non-violence) makes his animal advocacy a constitutionally protected religious expression. * Public Parks and Free Speech: The lawsuit questions whether local governments can evade First Amendment obligations by delegating management of public spaces to private entities. * Content-Based Censorship: Park officials explicitly prohibited the silent documentary footage (from the film Dominion) because of its content while allowing other forms of protest. * The Paradox of Legal Cruelty: The government’s own characterization of the footage as showing “torture” highlights the contradiction—they acknowledge the fact that the footage communicates to viewers the disturbing nature of common practices while preventing the public from seeing them.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS Sara Berinhout is a First Amendment attorney at FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), bringing expertise in constitutional law and free speech defense. A Harvard Law School magna cum laude graduate who clerked for Judge James C. Ho of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Berinhout previously practiced appellate litigation at Ropes & Gray LLP, where she specialized in complex civil litigation and white-collar defense, giving her unique insight into government restrictions on protected speech and religious expression in public forums.
John Greil is a Clinical Professor of Law who co-teaches the Law and Religion Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, specializing in First Amendment religious liberty cases and constitutional litigation. A Harvard Law School graduate and former clerk for Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Greil’s expertise in religious freedom law has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Religion News Service, and Texas Public Radio, making him a leading authority on the intersection of religious practice and animal advocacy under the Free Exercise Clause.
We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. ****
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on Apple Podcasts, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fifteenth glorious year!
This episode of the Animal Law Podcast features Christopher Berry, Executive Director of the Nonhuman Rights Project, discussing a groundbreaking court case that recognizes companion animals as family members in certain legal contexts. Mariann and Christopher explore how this New York decision challenges decades of precedent that treated beloved pets as mere property rather than family, potentially opening new doors for animal legal rights.
This episode explores:
- The absurd legal status of companion animals in tort law, including a Texas case where a taxidermied dog would receive more legal protection than a living one
- The facts of a landmark New York case involving a family dog killed in a crosswalk accident
- How courts are beginning to recognize companion animals as family members in negligent infliction of emotional distress claims
- The perverse incentives created by current laws that often make it “better” to kill than injure an animal
- The broader implications for animal rights and the Non-Human Rights Project’s work on procedural rights for animals
This compelling conversation highlights how the legal system’s treatment of companion animals reflects deeper inequities in our relationship with all animals, and how common law evolution can help change the world for animals through the legal system.
ABOUT OUR GUEST Christopher Berry is Executive Director of the Nonhuman Rights Project, where he leads the organization’s groundbreaking legal effort to secure fundamental legal rights for nonhuman animals. Before joining the NhRP in 2024, he spent over a decade at the Animal Legal Defense Fund focusing on civil enforcement of animal protection laws and elevating animal legal status through strategic litigation.
We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. ****
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on Apple Podcasts, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fifteenth glorious year!
In this compelling episode, Mariann Sullivan speaks with Elise Bennett, Senior Attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, about the lawsuit challenging the controversial immigration detention facility in Florida’s Everglades. Bennett details how this hastily constructed center in Big Cypress National Preserve threatens endangered species, water quality, and the integrity of a crucial ecosystem that has received billions in restoration funding over decades. The case hinges on federal agencies’ failure to conduct required environmental impact assessments under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), highlighting how environmental laws may protect wildlife habitats even in politically charged circumstances.
This episode explores:
- How the facility threatens endangered Florida panthers (only 120-230 remain in the wild) and the endemic Florida bonneted bat
- Environmental impacts including artificial lighting visible from 15 miles away and even from space
- Legal strategies using NEPA to challenge federal agencies’ failure to assess environmental impacts
- Complex jurisdictional questions as state and federal agencies attempt to evade accountability
- Potential water contamination risks in an ecosystem that’s critical to Florida’s environmental health
ABOUT OUR GUEST Elise Bennett is the Florida and Caribbean director and a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. She advocates for endangered species and wild places in Florida and the Caribbean. Born and raised in Florida, she holds a law degree and a certificate of concentration in environmental law from Stetson University College of Law, as well as a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and policy from the University of South Florida. Before joining the Center’s Florida and Caribbean program, Elise focused on protecting rare amphibians and reptiles in the eastern United States.
We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. ****
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on Apple Podcasts, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fifteenth glorious year!
In a groundbreaking episode of The Animal Law Podcast, we explored radical new concepts that could fundamentally transform how constitutional law treats animals. Host Mariann Sullivan welcomed Cambridge University’s Raffael Fasel and Queen Mary University’s John Adenitire to discuss their book “Animals and the Constitution: Towards Sentience-Based Constitutionalism” – a work that challenges centuries of legal tradition by proposing constitutional frameworks that recognize the inherent worth of all sentient beings.
While traditional constitutions rely on the “hypothetical consent of the governed,” this revolutionary approach acknowledges that billions of sentient beings are governed by constitutional systems but have no voice in shaping them. The authors argue for a dramatic shift from anthropocentric legal structures to ones that provide “due concern” for all creatures capable of experiencing pain, pleasure, and complex emotions.
Key Discussion Points:
- The historical evolution of constitutionalism from divine right monarchy to modern democratic systems
- Why sentience, rather than rationality or autonomy, should be the foundation for constitutional worth
- How existing animal welfare protections in constitutions worldwide fall short of true recognition
- The application of proportionality principles when animal and human interests conflict
- Practical challenges of implementing constitutional rights for domesticated and wild animals
- The role of micro-boards and participatory democracy in determining animal interests
- Real-world examples from Ecuador’s rights of nature to Switzerland’s animal dignity provisions
- Why this “realistic utopia” framework offers hope for incremental progress toward comprehensive animal rights
This episode challenges listeners to reconsider fundamental assumptions about law, democracy, and moral consideration – making complex constitutional theory accessible to animal advocates seeking systemic change.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS Dr John Olusegun Adenitire is a Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London, School of Law and a Co-Director of the Forum on Decentering the Human, an inter-disciplinary research centre. He completed his PhD in Law at Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge. He has held visiting research fellowships at Yale, Oxford, New York University, and Fordham University. He has published extensively on constitutional rights, discrimination law and theory, and animal rights. He teaches animal rights law, public law, legal philosophy and EU law at Queen Mary.
Dr Raffael Fasel is Assistant Professor in Public Law at Cambridge University and founding Co-Director of the Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law. Dr. Fasel is a leading voice in animal rights jurisprudence, holding degrees from Cambridge (PhD), Yale (LLM), UCL (MA Philosophy), and Fribourg (LLB, LLM). His award-winning research earned the prestigious Yorke Prize and SNSF Ambizione grant. Recent publications include More Equal Than Others: Humans and the Rights of Other Animals (Oxford 2024), Animal Rights Law (Hart 2023), and Animals and the Constitution (Oxford 2025). Expert in constitutional theory, human rights, and animal law with visiting positions at Harvard, Yale, Oxford, and NYU.
We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. ****
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on Apple Podcasts, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fifteenth glorious year!
In this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, Mariann Sullivan welcomes back Will Lowrey, legal counsel for Animal Partisan, alongside David Rosengard, managing attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund‘s Criminal Justice Program. They dive into an obscure but potentially game-changing legal tool: laws in certain states that allow private citizens to obtain search warrants when they have evidence of animal cruelty. While their recent attempt to use this procedure against Jenny O Turkey for its “ventilation shutdown plus” practices (which essentially slow-cooks birds to death during bird flu outbreaks) hit a roadblock in Minnesota, the team isn’t giving up.
- Factory farm cruelty meets legal loopholes: The guests explain how animal cruelty laws technically apply to farmed animals in all 50 states, despite industry claims to the contrary, and why they refuse to give up on using these laws despite frequent agricultural exemptions.
- What exactly is “ventilation shutdown plus”?: Prepare to be horrified as David Rosengard explains this USDA-approved depopulation method that seals barns, cuts off airflow, and pumps in heat, essentially cooking birds alive while they simultaneously suffocate.
- The government approval dodge: The court dismissed their case partly because federal agencies approved the practice, but as Will points out, “There’s no statute that Congress has passed that says you may overheat birds to 104 degrees for four hours and kill them.”
- California, here they come: Despite the setback, Animal Partisan is already preparing to test similar private warrant laws in California, where they’ve discovered another untapped legal tool that could help expose factory farm cruelty.
- The public doesn’t know: As David notes, when polled, people consistently say farm animals should be treated humanely and would pay more for better treatment – they just drastically underestimate what’s actually happening behind closed doors.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS Will Lowrey is the Legal Counsel for Animal Partisan, a legal advocacy organization focused on challenging unlawful conduct at farms, slaughterhouses, and laboratories. Will previously spent several years as Legal Counsel for Animal Outlook, a national nonprofit farmed animal protectionorganization, where he divided his time between civil litigation and undercover investigations. Will has engaged in numerous lawsuits, as well as criminal and administrative enforcement actions against the government, industrial agriculture, and research laboratories, including cases involving federal slaughter laws, public records, false advertising, public nuisance, animal cruelty, and others. Will has taught Animal Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, Vermont Law and Graduate School, and the University of St. Thomas School of Law.
As Managing Attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund‘s Criminal Justice Program, David Rosengard champions justice for animal cruelty victims through groundbreaking legal strategies, including pioneering work to establish animals as legal crime victims and expand Courtroom Animal Advocate Programs. A Lewis & Clark Law School honors graduate who teaches animal law at his alma mater, David has contributed to significant publications on animal law while advancing constitutional arguments that recognize animal sentience in the legal system.
We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. ****
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on Apple Podcasts, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fifteenth glorious year!
Alene Anello of Legal Impact for Chickens joins us once again, this time to talk, not about chickens, but about cows. Of course, the laws affecting farmed animals are often the same regardless of species and Legal Impact for Chickens thinks it would be great to see some of California’s rather good laws protecting farmed animals actually enforced. For that reason, Legal Impact for Chickens, which is a legally constituted Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in California, is seeking an injunction against Alexandre Family Farm, which sells its milk all over the country, to stop it from violating those laws. Alexandre says, no way, you are just a private entity and you cannot bring us into court for the way we treat our cows. The answer to which of these parties is correct hangs in the balance, and it just couldn’t be more important.
Key points from this episode:
- Legal Impact for Chickens is using its status as a legally constituted SPCA to enforce California animal cruelty laws through civil litigation
- Alexandre Family Farm, a dairy that markets itself as “regenerative,” faces allegations of serious animal welfare violations including pouring salt in cows’ eyes
- California Corporations Code sections 10404 and 14501 potentially allow SPCAs to bring civil cases enforcing animal protection laws
- Industry whistleblowers, not undercover investigators, provided much of the evidence about alleged cruelty at Alexandre
- The case could create a precedent for enforcing existing animal welfare laws when criminal prosecution is unavailable
- Civil injunctions focus on preventing future cruelty rather than punishment, offering a potentially more effective remedy for animals
ABOUT OUR GUEST Alene Anello founded Legal Impact for Chickens. Before that, Alene graduated from Harvard Law School, clerked for a federal judge, and then started litigating for animals. She has worked at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and The Good Food Institute. Alene is committed to helping chickens to honor the memories of two beloved birds, Conrad and Zeke.
- Legal Impact for Chickens
- LIC v. Alexandre Family Farm
- Dairy Deception: Corruption and Consumer Fraud at Alexandre Family Farm
- Proposed Class Action Complaint
We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. ****
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fifteenth glorious year!
FarmSTAND attorneys Kelsey Eberly and Skye Walker join us on this episode to discuss an absolutely infuriating case, Blumm v Northwest Natural Gas Company. They explain how an increasing number of dairy farms are more in the business of selling the methane being produced by their manure piles, or, as they call them, “lagoons,” than selling milk. Now, in Oregon, natural gas consumers are actually being hornswoggled into paying more for the privilege of getting methane that comes from cow poop, even though it is just as bad for the climate as any other methane, and we are actually deliberately imprisoning cows on factory farms in order to produce it. Fortunately, FarmSTAND is on the case and, on behalf of some angry, deceived consumers, is fighting back.
This episode explores:
• How factory farms are marketing biogas as “renewable natural gas”
• The truth about methane digesters and manure management systems
• Why dairy industry “climate solutions” actually harm the environment
• Legal strategies for challenging corporate greenwashing
• Consumer protection laws and environmental marketing claims
• The intersection of factory farming and fossil fuel industries
• How deceptive carbon offset programs work
ABOUT OUR GUESTS As a Senior Staff Attorney at FarmSTAND, Kelsey Eberly engages in strategic litigation and movement-centered advocacy to fight corporate control and expose the abuses in the industrial animal agriculture system. Before joining FarmSTAND, Kelsey was a lecturer and litigator with the Media Freedom & Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School, a policy fellow at the Brooks McCormick, Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School, and an attorney with the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Kelsey specializes in litigation to combat secrecy and increase transparency in the industrial food system—challenging efforts to silence investigations and whistleblowers and advocating for consumers misled by animal agribusinesses’ deceptive marketing. When not working to transform the food system, Kelsey can be found running over the hills and dales of Vermont, listening to investigative journalism podcasts.
Skye Walker is a legal fellow at FarmSTAND based in Portland, Oregon, working primarily on environmental and consumer protection matters. Skye holds a B.A. in environmental policy from Oregon State University and a J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School. Skye has diverse internship and clinical experience in the public interest field and recently concluded a fellowship at the Colorado Attorney General.
We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. ****
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fifteenth glorious year!
Edie Bowles, the Managing Director of UK law firm Advocates for Animals, joins us on this episode to help us understand what appears to be a groundbreaking decision in animal welfare law that involves one of the most widespread and egregious practices in industrial animal agriculture, the breeding of factory-farmed chickens raised for meat in ways that cause unbelievable suffering. At first glance, this case may not look like a win for animals, but on closer examination, it appears that the court has done something extraordinary that could have substantial ramifications for the lives of the most widely abused animals in the world: chickens.
Key Discussion Points:
- The interpretation of UK welfare regulations for industrial chicken farming
- How Paragraph 29 challenges fast-growing chicken breeds
- The role of the RSPCA’s research in legal proceedings
- Enforcement mechanisms for animal welfare laws
- The future of chicken breeding practices in agriculture
- Private prosecution options in UK animal law
ABOUT OUR GUEST Edie is a solicitor and the managing director of Advocates for Animals. She has advised almost all of the main animal protection organizations, smaller organizations, and individuals across all animal protection laws and campaigning. She often speaks on animal protection issues and has done so in the UK Parliament, the French Sénat, and the East African Legislative Assembly.
We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. ****
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fifteenth glorious year!
Chris Green and Rebecca Garverman join us this week to talk about a case that managed to catch the attention not only of the public at large but of a number of lawyers and, after a great deal of hard work, resulted in a historic victory. You may have heard about the plight of the Tule elk at Point Reyes National Seashore. These extraordinary animals, native to California, are lucky enough, or at least apparently so, to reside in a staggeringly beautiful national park. In spite of this, for years, they have been dying because their access to forage and, most importantly, water has been blocked by, of all unimaginable things, an 8-foot fence put there so that dairy farms could continue to use the land and the water instead. This is an amazing story involving so much hard work by so many people that, mirabile dictu, produced a phenomenal result: the removal of the fence and phase-out of most cattle and dairy operations from the park.
Key Discussion Points:
- Point Reyes National Seashore’s native Tule elk population faced mass deaths when trapped behind fence protecting dairy farms
- Harvard Animal Law & Policy Clinic challenged National Park Service’s failure to protect elk dying from lack of water access
- Legal battle combined with media attention led to historic December 2023 victory: removal of 8-foot fence at Point Reyes
- January 2024 settlement phases out most dairy operations, with Nature Conservancy’s $30 million buyout protecting 16,000 acres for wildlife
- Victory allows California’s Tule elk to roam freely at Point Reyes National Seashore for the first time since 1978
ABOUT OUR GUESTS Chris Green, Executive Director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and Fellow with the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, is a leading authority in animal law and policy. After founding ALDF’s Legislative Affairs Program, he served as inaugural Executive Director of Harvard Law School’s Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program. His achievements include defeating Ag-Gag legislation, implementing wildlife protection policies, and advancing non-lethal animal encounter training for law enforcement. A Harvard Law graduate and recipient of the American Bar Association’s Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Animal Law, Green regularly testifies on animal protection legislation and is frequently quoted in major media outlets.
Rebecca Garverman is a Massachusetts-licensed, Boston-based Staff Attorney. She works for the NhRP exploring new legal rights for nonhuman animals. Previously, Rebecca served as a Staff Attorney for Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Clinic and worked in private practice as a corporate attorney at Goodwin Procter. Rebecca is also a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Animal Law Practice Group. She holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Rebecca has presented oral arguments to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as well as the Western District of New York.
Interview transcript available on our website. ****
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fifteenth glorious year!
Paul Sherman, senior attorney with the public interest law firm The Institute for Justice, joins us this week to discuss the legal battle over cultivated meat in Florida. Paul is leading the landmark lawsuit brought by UPSIDE Foods, challenging Florida’s controversial statute that criminalizes (criminalizes!) the production and sale of USDA-approved cultivated meat products in the state.
This pivotal case examines constitutional challenges to state food regulation through both the dormant commerce clause and federal preemption arguments. Key questions include: Does cultivated chicken meet the federal definition of poultry? How does the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act affect producers’ rights? And can states ban products that federal regulators have deemed safe?
Key Discussion Points:
- Federal preemption of state food safety regulations
- Interstate commerce implications for cultivated meat
- USDA approval process for novel food products
- State restrictions on food technology innovation
- Legal framework for challenging state food bans
ABOUT OUR GUEST Paul Sherman is a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, where he champions individual rights and constitutional protections through groundbreaking litigation. Specializing in First Amendment cases and economic liberty, Sherman leads significant legal challenges including UPSIDE Foods’ fight against Florida’s cultivated meat ban and cases defending plant-based meat alternatives’ advertising rights. His work at the nonprofit public-interest law firm focuses on challenging restrictive occupational-licensing laws that burden free speech and defending individual liberties in both federal and state courts. Sherman holds a law degree from George Washington University Law School and degrees in political campaigning and political science from the University of Florida.
RESOURCES * Institute for Justice website * Florida Cultivated Meat Ban Case Information
Interview transcript available on our website. ****
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Between now and December 31, all donations will be TRIPLED up to $20,000! Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fourteenth glorious year!
Emily Miller of Food and Water Watch joins us to talk about Food and Water Watch v EPA, which involves the Clean Water Act and why, when it comes to one particular industry (guess which one!), it is so ineffective in guarding our water from being polluted with outright filth. Whether it comes to the failure to require factory farms to get permits or failure to ensure the factory farm permits that do exist are actually protective of water quality, the Clean Water Act and the Environmental Protection Agency, which is charged with enforcing it, are failing to live up to their names, and too often the courts are failing as well.
ABOUT OUR GUEST Emily Miller is a Staff Attorney at the national advocacy organization Food & Water Watch. Emily primarily focuses on legal strategies to address factory farm air and water pollution harming frontline communities, the environment, and the climate. She is based in Colorado.
RESOURCES * Food and Water Watch website * Food and Water Watch on Facebook * Food and Water Watch on Instagram * Food and Water Watch on TikTok
Interview transcript available on our website. ****
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Between now and December 31, all donations will be TRIPLED up to $20,000! Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fourteenth glorious year!
Wayne Hsiung and Justin Marceau are joining us on this episode to talk about the criminal prosecution of Tracy Murphy, founder and director of Asha’s Farm Sanctuary in Newfane, New York, for supposedly stealing two cows who wandered onto her property seeking, you guessed it, sanctuary. You have probably heard of this case, but maybe, like me, you don’t know much about the legal issues or even what really happened. Happily, after two years of hideous stress and significant harassment, Tracy was recently cleared when the charges against her were dismissed. While that is great news, it also means that the case did not go to trial, and we never really heard the full story of what happened or why the law was clearly on her side. Fortunately, Justin and Wayne are here to get into the details of the facts and the relevant law and to talk about the meaning of this case in the fight against animal abuse.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS Justin Marceau is a Professor of Law and the Faculty Director of the Animal Law Program at the University of Denver. Justin authored or co-authored three books with Cambridge University Press. Marceau also co-founded and helps direct a first-of-its-kind law school clinic, the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, which provides activists with representation in criminal and civil litigation. Justin serves on the board of a number of entities, including the non-human rights project and the Luvin Arms farm sanctuary, as well as the Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights. He is also an active member of several working groups for the Brooks Institute for animal rights law and policy.
Wayne Hsiung is an animal cruelty investigator, former faculty member at Northwestern School of Law, and co-founder and Executive Director of The Simple Heart Initiative. He has led teams that have investigated and rescued animals from factory farms and slaughterhouses across the nation – challenging unconstitutional “ag-gag” laws in the process – and has organized successful campaigns to ban fur in San Francisco and California. He served as lead counsel (and, sometimes, defendant) in four “right to rescue” trials in which activists were prosecuted after being charged for giving aid to sick and dying animals in factory farms, garnering media attention from The New York Times. He is also a co-founder and former lead organizer of the grassroots animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere. He is the proud parent of Oliver, who was rescued from the dog meat trade.
RESOURCES * The Simple Heart * Wayne Hsiung on Youtube * Wayne Hsiung on Instagram
Interview transcript available on our website. ****
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Between now and December 31, all donations will be TRIPLED up to $20,000! Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fourteenth glorious year!
On this episode, I will be speaking about a topic that is crucial to the fight against factory farms, i.e., zoning. My guest is Holly Bainbridge, an attorney with FarmSTAND, a legal advocacy organization dedicated solely to taking on industrial animal agriculture. She will be telling us about Daley Farm v. County of Winona, which involves an already huge Minnesota dairy that is trying, in spite of zoning laws that would ostensibly prohibit it from doing so, to turn itself into a super mega-dairy. It turns out that some of the people in the small community where it’s located are really not ok with this for a whole host of reasons, believe that their zoning laws exist for very good reasons, and are fighting back.
ABOUT OUR GUESTSHolly Bainbridge is a Staff Attorney with FarmSTAND, where she litigates cases to increase transparency in the food system and challenge industrial agricultural practices that harm people, animals, and the environment. Prior to joining FarmSTAND, Holly was a litigator at Animal Legal Defense Fund, where she focused on improving government oversight of industrial animal agriculture.
RESOURCES FarmSTAND website * Daley Farm vs County of Winona * Land Stewardship Project website * FarmSTAND on X (formerly Twitter) * FarmSTAND on Instagram * FarmSTAND on LinkedIn * FarmSTAND on Facebook INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTWe are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.***
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fourteenth glorious year!
Two lawyers who are at the forefront of some of the new directions in which animal law is developing join us once again on this episode. Will Lowrey of Animal Partisan and Chris Carraway of the University of Denver’s Animal Activist Legal Defense Project will join me to discuss another innovative and exciting chapter in the effort to use cruelty laws to actually protect farmed animals from cruelty. Imagine that! This time, we are in Colorado, and the subject is the botched slaughter of a lamb — how’s that for horrific? — and we will be discussing their efforts to hold the slaughterhouse accountable under a provision of Colorado law that allows citizens to do something when prosecutors fail to do their job.
ABOUT OUR GUESTSWill Lowrey is the Legal Counsel for Animal Partisan, a legal advocacy organization focused on challenging unlawful conduct at farms, slaughterhouses, and laboratories. Will previously spent several years as Legal Counsel for Animal Outlook, a national nonprofit farmed animal protection organization, where he divided his time between civil litigation and undercover investigations. Will has engaged in numerous lawsuits, as well as criminal and administrative enforcement actions against the government, industrial agriculture, and research laboratories, including cases involving federal slaughter laws, public records, false advertising, public nuisance, animal cruelty, and others. Will has taught Animal Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, Vermont Law and Graduate School, and the University of St. Thomas School of Law.
Chris Carraway is an attorney and an activist. Before joining the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, he was a lead attorney in the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender. There, Chris defended cases ranging from low-level misdemeanors to first-degree murder, participated in over 60 jury trials, and litigated cases in the Colorado Court of Appeals and Colorado Supreme Court. Chris graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was president of the student chapters for the National Lawyers Guild and the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund. Before that, Chris began his involvement in animal rights activism in his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina—doing outreach, defendant and prisoner support, and organizing local campaigns against the selling of foie gras and fur. Witnessing the criminalization of animal rights activism in the 00’s compelled him to go to law school.
RESOURCES Animal Activist Legal Defense Project website * Animal Partisan website * Animal Partisan on Instagram * Animal Partisan on Facebook * Animal Partisan on LinkedIn * Animal Partisan on X (formerly Twitter) INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTWe are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.***
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fourteenth glorious year!
Laura Fox of the Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School and Stijn van Osch of the Humane Society of the United States join us to talk about cows, chickens, pigs, securities law, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Amazon rainforest and some very, very high stakes for animals and for the planet. We’ll be chatting with them about a complaint that was recently filed with the SEC about the efforts of agribusiness mega-giant JBS to go public in the US and how it is attempting to comply with the very inconvenient requirements of the SEC that it has to tell the truth to investors. There is a lot to unpack here, and even for those of us with little expertise in securities law, this conversation is not only understandable but incredibly compelling.
ABOUT OUR GUESTSLaura Fox is a Visiting Professor and the inaugural director of the Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School. Before joining the law school, Prof. Fox was a Senior Staff Attorney at the Humane Society of the United States, focusing on farmed animal protection in HSUS’s Animal Protection Law department.
Stijn van Osch is a Michigan attorney who currently works at the Humane Society of the United States as part of its Animal Protection Law team. At HSUS, he focuses on farm animal welfare issues, such as sow housing, cage-free eggs, and organic farm welfare standards. Prior to joining HSUS in 2022, he was Counsel in Latham & Watkins’ DC office, where he specialized in environmental and chemical regulatory law.
RESOURCES + - World Moot on International Law and Animal Rights website - Humane Society of the United States website - Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic at Vermont Law & Graduate School INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTWe are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.***
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fourteenth glorious year!
Christopher Carraway and Steffen Seitz of the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project join us on this episode to talk about the case that didn’t happen. You may have heard about a criminal trial that was supposed to take place back in March in Wisconsin, where three activists affiliated with Direct Action Everywhere, Wayne Hsiung, Paul Picklesimer, and Eva Hamer, were charged with felonies resulting from the rescue of several beagles from Ridglan Farms, a notorious facility that breeds dogs for use in research. Suddenly, right before trial, the charges were dropped, and none of us ever heard the full story. So, now, Chris and Steffen are here to tell us not only about what really happened, but how they and their clients are working to turn the tables and, using a particularly interesting Wisconsin statute, bring criminal charges against Ridglan itself for animal abuse.
ABOUT OUR GUESTSChris Carraway is an attorney with the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project. Before joining the AALDP, he was a lead attorney in the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender. There, Chris defended cases ranging from low-level misdemeanors to first-degree murder, participated in over 60 jury trials, and litigated cases in the Colorado Court of Appeals and Colorado Supreme Court. Chris graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was president of the student chapters for the National Lawyers Guild and the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund. Before that, Chris began his involvement in animal rights activism in his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina—doing outreach, defendant and prisoner support, and organizing local campaigns against the selling of foie gras and fur. Witnessing the criminalization of animal rights activism in the 00’s compelled him to go to law school. Chris brings his experience as a defense attorney and his passion for animal rights to the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project.
Steffen Seitz is a litigation fellow for the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, where he represents animal advocates and whistleblowers in a variety of proceedings and conducts academic research. Steffen graduated from Yale Law School in May 2023. As a law student, Steffen was a member of the Yale Animal Law Society and a Law Ethics and Animal Program Student Fellow. He also worked as a legal extern on animal activist cases, particularly those involving the right to rescue. Steffen is interested in criminal law, animal law, social movements, and their intersections.
RESOURCES + Animal Activist Legal Defense Project website + Animal Activist Legal Defense Project on X (formerly Twitter) + Animal Activist Legal Defense Project on Instagram + Voluntary Prosecution and the Case of Animal Rescue INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTWe are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.***
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fourteenth glorious year!
Deborah Dubow Press, an attorney with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, joins us to talk about Williamson v USDA. This case involves both the Los Angeles school system and the USDA’s school lunch program, which influences what kids are eating in virtually every school in the country. We will be looking at some of its insane rules regarding dairy, why our nation’s kids, including lactose intolerant ones, are basically a dumping ground for dairy, and why one student in Los Angeles wasn’t allowed to talk about any of this without also promoting dairy at the same time. It’s totally nuts!!
ABOUT OUR GUESTDeborah Dubow Press, Esq., is associate general counsel for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nationwide organization of physicians and laypersons that promotes preventive medicine, especially good nutrition, and addresses controversies in modern medicine, including ethical issues in research. As associate general counsel, Ms. Press crafts policy, legislation, and litigation to advance the Physicians Committee’s mission. She also assesses legal, business, and reputational risks and manages compliance and corporate governance for the organization.
RESOURCES PCRM website * PCRM on Facebook * PCRM on X (formerly Twitter) * PCRM on Youtube * PCRM on Instagram * PCRM on Threads * Truth or Dairy website INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTWe are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.***
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fourteenth glorious year!
Jake Kamins joins us to talk about his groundbreaking work as an Animal Cruelty Resource Prosecutor in the Oregon Department of Justice. This position, which was created very recently, not only allows him to prosecute animal cruelty cases but, perhaps even more importantly, also allows him to act as a kind of roving resource, as his title indicates, to District Attorneys’ offices around the state when they have an animal cruelty case that presents some of the many unusual problems that can arise in prosecuting animal cruelty that don’t generally arise in most of the other cases handled by these offices. This interview presents a lot of insights into those problems as well as what animal cruelty laws cover, what they don’t cover, and how important it is to have people who not only care but who are specially trained to deal with these issues.
ABOUT OUR GUESTJake Kamins is a Senior Assistant Attorney General and Animal Cruelty Resource Prosecutor at the Oregon Department of Justice. Jake has prosecuted hundreds of cases of animal cruelty and has trained law enforcement, animal services, and animal rescue agencies throughout Oregon and the United States. Jake also teaches the “Crimes Against Animals” class at Lewis & Clark Law School. In 2012, Jake was named one of the nation’s Top Ten Animal Defenders by the Animal Legal Defense Fund. In 2022, Jake received the National Animal Control Association’s Bill Lehman Memorial Award.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTWe are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.****
The Animal Law Podcast is proud to partner with The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc., a US-based national independent think tank pursuing a paradigm shift in human responsibility towards, and value of, non-human animals by advancing animal law, animal policy, and related interdisciplinary studies.
The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc. is dedicated to producing and disseminating outstanding, independent, academic, and public policy research and programming; and pursuing projects and initiatives focused on advancing law and policy pertaining to animals.
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fourteenth glorious year!
Sarah Gold of Legal Impact for Chickens joins us to discuss litigation against giant poultry factory Case Farms. As you may know, I am a big fan of efforts to get anti-cruelty laws to do what they were meant to do, that is, protecting animals from cruelty. What a concept! Those efforts can be extraordinarily difficult to mount, and so I was particularly pleased to see that Legal Impact for Chickens is attempting to use North Carolina’s anti-cruelty law to try to help the poor birds who end up in the hands of Case Farms’ huge hatcheries. North Carolina has an unusual law, unusual in good ways and not-so-good ways, and we will be unpacking that law, what its potential might be for North Carolina chickens, what has happened so far in this case, and what comes next.
ABOUT OUR GUESTSarah is a litigator with Legal Impact for Chickens. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Prior to law school, Sarah worked as a shelter intern at Farm Sanctuary. During law school, she served as president of the Animal Law Society, and interned at Mercy for Animals. After graduating, Sarah worked as a litigation associate at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. She also serves as secretary on the board of Sunset Farms Sanctuary, a farmed animal sanctuary in Arkansas.
RESOURCES* Legal Impact for Chickens website * Legal Impact for Chickens on Instagram
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTWe are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.****
The Animal Law Podcast is proud to partner with The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc., a US-based national independent think tank pursuing a paradigm shift in human responsibility towards, and value of, non-human animals by advancing animal law, animal policy, and related interdisciplinary studies.
The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc. is dedicated to producing and disseminating outstanding, independent, academic, and public policy research and programming; and pursuing projects and initiatives focused on advancing law and policy pertaining to animals.
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fourteenth glorious year!
Vanessa Shakib joins me once again, and this time, we will be discussing litigation brought by her client, White Coat Waste Project, about a really extraordinary situation at the National Institutes of Health. As you probably know, the NIH funds massive, massive amounts of research on animals. What you may not know is that much of that research does not take place in the United States but in other countries around the world. And what I certainly did not know until this interview is that the requirements regarding animal care that are imposed on foreign research are actually LESS than those imposed on researchers in the US. Crazy, right?
ABOUT OUR GUESTVanessa Shakib co-founded and co-directs Advancing Law for Animals, a non-profit law firm, where she develops impact litigation to further the interests of animals exploited in research and industrial food production. Her work has been featured by CNN, Fox News, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, USA Today, the Guardian, Science Magazine, and more. Vanessa is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School, and was awarded 2022-2023 SBA Adjunct Professor of the Year. She also continues to consult on a variety of legal matters through her private practice, Shakib Law, PC.
RESOURCES* Advancing Law for Animals website * Advancing Law for Animals on X (formerly Twitter) * Advancing Law for Animals on Instagram * Advancing Law for Animals on Facebook
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTWe are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.****
The Animal Law Podcast is proud to partner with The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc., a US-based national independent think tank pursuing a paradigm shift in human responsibility towards, and value of, non-human animals by advancing animal law, animal policy, and related interdisciplinary studies.
The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc. is dedicated to producing and disseminating outstanding, independent, academic, and public policy research and programming; and pursuing projects and initiatives focused on advancing law and policy pertaining to animals.
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fourteenth glorious year!
Christine Ball-Blakely of the Animal Legal Defense Fund joins us to discuss the work of a coalition of organizations that has filed petitions for rulemaking regarding the unbelievable subsidization, with your tax money, of “biogas,” aka factory farm gas, which, as far as I am concerned, appears to be an out and out scam to prop up factory farming, hide its worst environmental harms and convince people that it is part of a sustainable future, when it is, in fact, one of the worst causes of climate change. It’s all outrageous but also flying way too far under the radar, as so many stories about the harms of factory farming tend to do, as they are science-y, deliberately hidden away and obfuscated, and, perhaps most important, definitely not what people want to hear. Fortunately, WE want to hear it, and Christine makes it all very comprehensible.
ABOUT OUR GUESTAs a senior staff attorney at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Christine works to end the exploitation and systemic abuse of farmed animals. She employs environmental laws to hold the factory farming industry—and the government agencies responsible for regulating it—accountable. She believes that, together, we can build a just legal system that prioritizes the protection of animals, the environment, and marginalized communities over private profit.
RESOURCES* Animal Legal Defense Fund Website * More information on factory farm gas from ALDF * Notice of Public Hearing to Consider Proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard Amendments – comments due 2/20/24 * Proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard Amendments
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTWe are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.****
This episode of the Animal Law Podcast is sponsored in part by the Vermont Law & Graduate School’s Animal Law and Policy Institute.
Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Animal Law and Policy Institute trains tomorrow’s animal advocacy leaders to advance animals’ legal status through education, scholarship, policy development, community engagement, and litigation. Engaging with advocacy organizations, communities, journalists, and policymakers, the Institute serves as a resource hub for animal law and policy issues.
The Animal Law Podcast is proud to partner with The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc., a US-based national independent think tank pursuing a paradigm shift in human responsibility towards, and value of, non-human animals by advancing animal law, animal policy, and related interdisciplinary studies.
The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc. is dedicated to producing and disseminating outstanding, independent, academic, and public policy research and programming; and pursuing projects and initiatives focused on advancing law and policy pertaining to animals.
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its fourteenth glorious year!
Matthew Strugar joins us, once again, to talk about the many surprising legal issues that arise vis-a-vis bus ads. Specifically, we’ll be discussing White Coat Waste Project v Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, a relatively recent case that involves a rather odd bus ad policy that prohibits “advertising intended to influence members of the public regarding an issue on which there are varying opinions.” In addition, however, we will be talking about several other cases and about how the law has developed regarding advertising in publicly owned spaces, how such advertising intersects with the First Amendment, what animal advocates can expect when they seek to get ads up on buses and in other publicly owned spaces and when they should fight back if they are prevented from getting their message out.
Matthew has been vegan since 1996 and a protest lawyer since 2004. He worked at the Center for Constitutional Rights and the PETA Foundation before starting his own firm in 2016.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTWe are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.****
The Animal Law Podcast is proud to partner with The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc., a US-based national independent think tank pursuing a paradigm shift in human responsibility towards, and value of, non-human animals by advancing animal law, animal policy, and related interdisciplinary studies.
The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc. is dedicated to producing and disseminating outstanding, independent, academic, and public policy research and programming; and pursuing projects and initiatives focused on advancing law and policy pertaining to animals.
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its thirteenth glorious year!
Ryan Shannon joins us to talk about Center for Biological Diversity v Haaland. The Center actually brings a lot of cases involving the Endangered Species Act, but this one is different. As you may know, if you pay attention to ESA litigation, a lot of it has to do with the Fish and Wildlife Service’s failure to get around to making decisions about whether to list certain species as threatened or endangered, which triggers the protections the act requires. In this case, rather than going species by species, the Center is trying to get the Service to fix this broken system whereby the Act is rendered ineffective through delay. In fact, if you delay long enough, species will just go extinct! I had no idea how bad this situation is and how important it is to rethink how to approach it, which is what this litigation attempts to do.
Ryan Shannon is a Senior Attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, where he works to defend the Endangered Species Act and protect imperiled species by securing and enforcing safeguards. Before joining the Center in 2017, Ryan was a legal fellow with Earthrise Law Center at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, where he earned his law degree.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTWe are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.****
This episode of the Animal Law Podcast is sponsored in part by the Vermont Law & Graduate School’s Animal Law and Policy Institute.
Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Animal Law and Policy Institute trains tomorrow’s animal advocacy leaders to advance animals’ legal status through education, scholarship, policy development, community engagement, and litigation. Engaging with advocacy organizations, communities, journalists, and policymakers, the Institute serves as a resource hub for animal law and policy issues.
The Animal Law Podcast is proud to partner with The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc., a US-based national independent think tank pursuing a paradigm shift in human responsibility towards, and value of, non-human animals by advancing animal law, animal policy, and related interdisciplinary studies.
The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc. is dedicated to producing and disseminating outstanding, independent, academic, and public policy research and programming; and pursuing projects and initiatives focused on advancing law and policy pertaining to animals.
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its thirteenth glorious year!
On this episode, I will be talking once again with Will Lowrey, who is heading up the relatively new legal advocacy organization, Animal Partisan. We will be talking about a Freedom of Information Act request, which has just recently become a lawsuit, regarding the FBI and its relationship to animal agribusiness as well as its attitudes toward animal rights activists. There is a lot to uncover here, and Will is doing his best to get to the bottom of things. In addition to this case, we will be discussing the other types of work Animal Partisan has been taking on, especially, but not limited to, the potential role of private individuals and lawyers in getting cruelty laws better enforced on behalf of animals enmeshed in agriculture. It’s a fascinating, and, I think, ultimately hopeful conversation about possibilities that exist for lawyers to change the world for animals.
Will Lowrey is the founder and Legal Counsel for Animal Partisan, a legal advocacy organization focused on challenging unlawful conduct in animal agriculture and research. Prior to his current role, Will spent three years as Legal Counsel for Animal Outlook, a national nonprofit farmed animal protection organization, where he divided his time between civil litigation and undercover investigations. Will has engaged in numerous lawsuits and enforcement actions against the government and industrial agriculture, including cases involving administrative law, false advertising, public nuisance, and animal cruelty. Previously, Will clerked in the Superior Court of New Jersey and also taught the first Animal Law course at the University of St. Thomas School. Before law school, Will worked for nearly two decades as a process engineer at a large financial corporation and in his free time, helped run several non-profits focused on a variety of animal issues. Will currently resides in central Virginia where he helps operate a micro sanctuary for formerly farmed animals, and writes animal-related fiction novels.
RESOURCES* Animal Partisan website * Animal Partisan on Instagram * Animal Partisan on Facebook * Animal Partisan on LinkedIn * Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic – Vermont Law * Sorenson Law Office – FOIA Specialists
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTWe are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.****
This episode of the Animal Law Podcast is sponsored in part by the Vermont Law & Graduate School’s Animal Law and Policy Institute.
Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Animal Law and Policy Institute trains tomorrow’s animal advocacy leaders to advance animals’ legal status through education, scholarship, policy development, community engagement, and litigation. Engaging with advocacy organizations, communities, journalists, and policymakers, the Institute serves as a resource hub for animal law and policy issues.
The Animal Law Podcast is proud to partner with The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc., a US-based national independent think tank pursuing a paradigm shift in human responsibility towards, and value of, non-human animals by advancing animal law, animal policy, and related interdisciplinary studies.
The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc. is dedicated to producing and disseminating outstanding, independent, academic, and public policy research and programming; and pursuing projects and initiatives focused on advancing law and policy pertaining to animals.
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its thirteenth glorious year!
Larissa Liebmann, a Senior Staff Attorney with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, joins me to discuss ALDF v Becerra, in which the plaintiffs are suing the Food and Drug Administration regarding its authorization of the use of a drug known as Experior that is being administered to cattle in spite of potential harms to the animals, the environment, and to people who either work at feedlots or eat the flesh of those cows. The purported purpose of this drug is to reduce the impact on the climate of the ammonia found in cow feces. We are likely to be seeing more and more of this type of greenwashing, and it is dangerous for many reasons.
Larissa Liebmann is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, where she challenges cruel and environmentally destructive industrial animal agricultural practices, with an emphasis on the federal government’s subsidization of industrial animal agriculture through loans, lax regulation, or approving new animal drugs that perpetuate extreme confinement. Prior to joining the Animal Legal Defense Fund, she worked for Waterkeeper Alliance, combating the powerful fossil fuel industry, focusing on the destructive impacts that fossil fuels have on water resources.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTWe are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.****
The Animal Law Podcast is proud to partner with The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc., a US-based national independent think tank pursuing a paradigm shift in human responsibility towards, and value of, non-human animals by advancing animal law, animal policy, and related interdisciplinary studies.
The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc. is dedicated to producing and disseminating outstanding, independent, academic, and public policy research and programming; and pursuing projects and initiatives focused on advancing law and policy pertaining to animals.
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its thirteenth glorious year!
Civil rights attorney Matthew Strugar joins me this week to talk about a case in Washington, DC, involving the rights of animal activists protesting the sale of foie gras at two prominent restaurants in that city. Our conversation will involve the controversial use of anti-stalking laws to limit protests, as well as the successful use of DC’s anti-SLAPP law to defend the right to protest. Both of these statutes, or ones similar to them, can be found in jurisdictions all over the country, and this is, therefore, an important topic for anyone interested in the right to protest, as well as, more specifically, anyone interested in the welfare of the ducks and geese who suffer in the production of this gruesome so-called delicacy.
Matthew Strugar has been vegan since 1996 and a protest lawyer since 2004. He worked at the Center for Constitutional Rights and the PETA Foundation before starting his own firm in Los Angeles in 2016, which specializes in civil rights, prisoners’ rights, police misconduct, and protester defense while maintaining animal law as an important aspect of the practice.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTWe are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview.****
The Animal Law Podcast is proud to partner with The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc., a US-based national independent think tank pursuing a paradigm shift in human responsibility towards, and value of, non-human animals by advancing animal law, animal policy, and related interdisciplinary studies.
The Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc. is dedicated to producing and disseminating outstanding, independent, academic, and public policy research and programming; and pursuing projects and initiatives focused on advancing law and policy pertaining to animals.
You can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation or becoming a member of our flock (especially if you’re a regular listener). Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content!
Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning, weekly signature OHH podcast — now in its thirteenth glorious year!
On this episode, we have something a bit different. I will be talking with Kristina Bergsten, the owner and founder of The Animal Law Firm, a Colorado law firm with a multi-state practice. For those of you who are graduating from Law School or just looking to change your career and wondering whether you can make a living doing animal law,…
On this episode of the podcast, I will be talking, once again, with Katherine Meyer, who is the Director of Harvard Law School’s Animal Law and Policy Clinic, about a recent decision in a case handled by the clinic entitled New England Anti Vivisection Society (now known as Rise for Animals v Elizabeth Goldentyre). This case involves the provision of the…
If you are pleased that California’s Prop 12 (which, in a small but important way, limits the amount of suffering that can be imposed on mother pigs) survived in the Supreme Court, but you are still unclear as to exactly why and exactly who voted for what, you have come to the right place. Today I will be talking, once again,…
On this episode, I will be talking, once again, to Vanessa Shakib of the California law firm, Advancing Law for Animals. Vanessa is representing E.L., who, though you don’t know her by name, you have definitely heard about. She is the young girl whose beloved goat, Cedar, who started out as a 4H project, was brutally killed against E.L.’s wishes in…
On this episode, I will be talking, once again, with Asher Smith, Director of Litigation at the PETA Foundation, about a recent victory in the 9th Circuit in Sullivan v The University of Washington. This case involves a crucially important aspect of the Animal Welfare Act – the IACUC, or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. The Act provides, rather unfortunately,…
On today’s episode, I will be talking to Margie Robinson, an attorney with the Humane Society of the United States. Margie will be telling us about Humane Society of the United States v National Institutes of Health, the latest lawsuit in the years-long effort to relocate to sanctuary ALL the chimpanzees formerly held for research by the National Institutes of Health…
On this episode, I will be talking to Taimie Bryant, a law professor at UCLA School of Law. She will explain some of the ins and outs of a law review article she recently published in the Marquette Law Review entitled “Novel Food Ingredients: Food Safety Law, Animal Testing, and Consumer Perspectives.” This article involves the question of what the FDA…
The post Animal Law Podcast #92: Must New Vegan Foods Be Tested on Animals? appeared first on Our Hen House.
Today I will be talking to Raffael Fasel and Sean Butler, who are the founders of the Cambridge Center for Animal Rights Law at Cambridge University in the UK. They are doing something quite special — a series of workshops in various parts of the world seeking to help law professors and lawyers, and perhaps some others, develop courses at their…
The post Animal Law Podcast #91: So You Want to Teach Animal Rights Law appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode, I will be talking to Alene Anello, whose law firm, Legal Impact for Chickens, is pursuing a shareholder derivative case against Costco regarding the treatment of the poor little birds whose bodies end up being their extremely popular, and very cheap, rotisserie chickens. Essentially, in Smith v Vachris, currently pending in Superior Court in King County, Washington, Legal…
The post Animal Law Podcast #90: The Case of Costco’s Chickens appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode I will be discussing a case that a lot of you have no doubt heard of, and that is National Pork Producers Council v Ross, which was recently argued in the Supreme Court. This case brings into question the constitutionality of Proposition 12, something else which many of you may be familiar with, by which California set certain…
The post Animal Law Podcast #89: The Supreme Court Considers the Lives of Pigs appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode, I will be discussing State of Utah v Hsiung, the case that has everyone in the movement talking. Wayne Hsiung and Jon Frohnmeyer will be here to discuss the prosecution of Wayne, along with his co-defendant Paul Picklesimer, for burglary and theft for entering a huge Smithfield factory farm in Utah and, while there, rescuing two sick piglets.…
The post Animal Law Podcast #88: Going to Prison for Rescuing Animals? appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode I will be discussing Krasno v Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin, a crazy case involving comments made on the Facebook and Instagram accounts of the University involving the dreadful research conducted on primates at the University and, in particular, at the infamous Harlow Center for Biological Psychology. Joining me will be both the plaintiff in…
The post Animal Law Podcast #87: The Case of the Vanishing Comments appeared first on Our Hen House.
It’s become pretty clear that the more that meat-eating consumers find out about how the animals they eat were treated, the more temptation there is for the industry to, shall we say, fudge the truth. Thus, today I will be talking to Dije Ndreu and Brooke Dekolf of Richman Law and Policy about two cases they are currently litigating regarding the…
The post Animal Law Podcast #86: A Case of (Un)”Sustainable” Salmon appeared first on Our Hen House.
It’s become pretty clear that the more that meat-eating consumers find out about how the animals they eat were treated, the more temptation there is for the industry to, shall we say, fudge the truth. Thus, today I will be talking to Dije Ndreu and Brooke Dekolf of Richman Law and Policy about two cases they are currently litigating regarding the…
The post Animal Law Podcast #86: A Case of (Un)”Sustainable” Salmon appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode I will be speaking with Jessica Rubin, who is the Associate Dean of Experiential Learning and the Director of the Animal Law Clinic at the University of Connecticut School of Law. She will be discussing a Connecticut law, called Desmond’s Law, which allows law students, and lawyers, to be appointed to assist the court in certain animal cruelty cases…
The post Animal Law Podcast #85: Desmond’s Law appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode I will be talking to Asher Smith, who is the Director of Litigation at the PETA Foundation, about Usler v Vital Farms, which is a class action against an egg facility which makes some very elaborate claims about how well they are treating their hens (“our girls!”) and charges their customers a hefty premium for doing so. So,…
The post Animal Law Podcast #84: The Case of the (Un)Ethical Eggs appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode I will be talking, once again, to Kelsey Eberly, who is now with Harvard Law School’s Animals, Law and Policy Program, as well as with Dena Jones of the Animal Welfare Institute about the deeply troubling topic of chicken slaughter. Specifically, we will be discussing Animal Welfare Institute v Vilsack, a case involving the rather confusing landscape of…
The post Animal Law Podcast #83: The Case of the Slaughtered Chickens appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this week’s podcast I will be talking to Will Lowrey of Animal Outlook about a case that really has everyone in the animal law community talking. Several years ago Animal Outlook conducted an undercover investigation of Martin Farms, in Pennsylvania, a dairy farm that proved to be the locus of much hideous cruelty to animals. Some of that cruelty was…
The post Animal Law Podcast #82: Maybe Cruelty Laws CAN Protect Farmed Animals! appeared first on Our Hen House.
Welcome to the Animal Law Podcast. This is Mariann Sullivan and this week’s guest is Charlotte Blattner, a Swiss lawyer and professor of law, who will be talking about primates in Switzerland and a recent ballot initiative held in Basel initiated by the Swiss organization Sentience regarding their rights. Charlotte and I will discuss this very recent effort, the pluses and…
The post Animal Law Podcast #81: Fundamental Rights for Swiss Primates, Yes or No? appeared first on Our Hen House.
Welcome to the Animal Law Podcast. This is Mariann Sullivan, and this week we will be doing something a little bit different. Sherry Colb is a professor at Cornell Law School where, among many other things, she teaches an animal centric course that, to my knowledge, is quite different from most of the courses relating to animals taught at law schools.…
The post Animal Law Podcast #80: Teaching Animal Rights appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Tyler Lobdell about Food and Water Watch v Environmental Protection Agency, in which the 9th Circuit recently held that the EPA, in setting forth permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act for the way Idaho factory farms dispose of the staggering amount of manure that they are producing, was not,…
The post Animal Law Podcast #79: The Case of the Filth in the Water appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak, once again, with Steven Wise, founder and president of the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP). He joins me to talk about a truly extraordinary, potentially groundbreaking, case now pending in the highest court in New York State. As in the other cases Steve has joined us to discuss in the past, the…
The post Animal Law Podcast #78: The Case of Happy, an Elephant appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with David Ebert, co-founder of The Animal Defense Partnerhip, about the work of this “pro bono counsel for animal protection charities.” As David points out, the purpose of ADP is not to litigate animal rights issues, but to provide animal protection nonprofits with the legal services that any type of organization…
The post Animal Law Podcast #77: The Animal Defense Partnership appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with David Michelson, Oregon-based animal rights activist and chief petitioner of the Yes On IP13 campaign, which is the effort to pass a ballot initiative that would dramatically change the legal landscape for animals in that state. Basically, what they are trying to do is to make Oregon’s anti-cruelty law do…
The post Animal Law Podcast #76: Creating a Sanctuary State appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Piper Hoffman of Animal Outlook and, once again, to Jay Shooster, of the Richman Law Group, about Animal Outlook v Cooke Aquaculture, a consumer protection case brought in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia based in allegations of deceptive advertising about the welfare of fish, specifically the salmon…
The post Animal Law Podcast #75: The Case of the Suffering Salmon ft. Piper Hoffman and Jay Shooster appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Cristina Stella, a managing attorney at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, about ALDF v Foster Poultry Farms, currently pending in Superior Court in Merced County, California. This fascinating case is rooted in a provision of the California state constitution governing water use. I have to say even I was shocked…
The post Animal Law Podcast #74: The Case of the Water-Guzzling Slaughterhouse appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Emily Jeffers of the Center for Biological Diversity about the 9th Circuit’s recent decision in Center for Biological Diversity v Haaland, in which the court decided that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s sudden about face, in 2017, on whether the Pacific Walrus is subject to the protections of the Endangered Species…
The post Animal Law Podcast #73: The Case of the Missing Ice appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Professor Karen Bradshaw about her new book, Wildlife as Property Owners: A New Conception of Animal Rights, which has been making quite a splash in the animal law world. It’s not often we get a chance to talk about property law and trusts and estates law on this podcast but…
The post Animal Law Podcast #72: Wildlife as Property Owners appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Laura Fox and Daniel Wiener about The Humane Society of the United States v. United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Veterinary Services, in which animal advocacy groups are taking on the USDA’s plans for what to do to the chickens who, trapped in factory farms, inevitably…
The post Animal Law Podcast #71: A Case of Bird Flu appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Vanessa Shakib of Advancing Law for Animals about Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation and Stop Animal Exploitation Now! (“SAEN”) v USDA, in which the plaintiffs sought to vacate two rules promulgated by USDA’s Animal Care division without notice to the public or an opportunity to comment, as required by the…
The post Animal Law Podcast #70: The Case of the “Teachable Moments” appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Christopher Berry, a managing attorney in the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Litigation Program, where he oversees strategic impact litigation to protect the lives of and advance the interests of animals. Christopher and I speak about Caru SPCA v Anthony, in which a California backyard breeder/puppy mill was shut down by the…
The post Animal Law Podcast #69: The Case of the SPCA and the Puppy Mill appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I am so pleased to welcome Brittany Peet, Deputy General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement for the PETA Foundation. We follow up on her appearance on Episode 42 when she told us all about PETA’s case against notorious roadside zoo and big cat abuser Tim Stark of Indiana’s “Wildlife in Need.” Little…
The post Animal Law Podcast #68: The Case of the Tiger King’s Tigers appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I welcome Laura Fox, Staff Attorney for Farm Animal Protection at The Humane Society of the United States, to talk about the 4th Circuit’s decision in McKiver v Murphy Brown, which has created quite a stir in the animal law world. It is a story which we have all heard before — neighbors…
The post Animal Law Podcast #67: The Case of the Intertwined Suffering of Pigs and People appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I welcome back Rebecca Cary of the Humane Society of the United States to speak with us about the recent decision from the Ninth Circuit in North American Meat Institute v Becerra, in which the court upheld Proposition 12 in the face of arguments by the plaintiff that it violates the Dormant Commerce Clause.…
The post Animal Law Podcast #66: The Case of the California Sales Bans appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Jay Shooster, of the Richman Law Group, about two complaints the firm has filed with the Federal Trade Commission, on behalf of various complainants, about representations Tyson Foods has made about the chicken flesh that it sells in grocery stores around the country. From whether the products made of that…
The post Animal Law Podcast #65: The Case of the Not-So-“Natural” Chicken appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I am once again lucky enough to be speaking with Eric Glitzenstein, this time about a recent resounding success for animals, specifically birds, in Natural Resources Defense Council v US Dept. of the Interior. This case involves a recent “opinion” issued by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which, since its issuance, has…
The post Animal Law Podcast #64: The Case of the Missing Migratory Birds appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I am delighted to welcome Cheryl Leahy, Executive Vice President of Animal Outlook, about US ex rel. COK v Superior Farms, which arose out of Animal Outlook’s investigation into the largest lamb slaughterhouse in the US. This investigation uncovered numerous violations of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA) as well as the…
The post Animal Law Podcast #63: The Case of the Slaughtered Lambs appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak once again to Amanda Howell of the Animal Legal Defense Fund about Miyoko’s Kitchen v Ross, in which one of our very favorite companies is suing the State of California, specifically its Department of Food and Agriculture, for violating its rights under the First Amendment. The lawsuit arose out of certain…
The post Animal Law Podcast #62: The Case of Vegan Butter appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Bruce Wagman about American Anti-Vivisection Society v USDA, in which the 9th Circuit recently held that, at long (really, really long) last, the USDA will be required to write regulations to protect those birds who are covered by the Animal Welfare Act, such as those in the wholesale pet trade,…
The post Animal Law Podcast #61: The Case of the Forgotten Birds appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Alexis Andiman and Sylvia Lam about Cape Fear River Watch v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, a case currently pending in the Fourth Circuit, in which their clients challenge the EPA’s guidelines for the amount of pollution that slaughterhouses are permitted to emit into waterways. With slaughterhouses in the news…
The post Animal Law Podcast #60: The Case of the Slaughterhouse Water appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with regular Animal Law Podcast guest Delcianna Winders along with two of her students in the Lewis and Clark Law School Animal Law Litigation Clinic, Hira Jaleel and Irene Au-Young, on a case they filed on behalf of several animal welfare organizations including Farm Sanctuary, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Animal Outlook,…
The post Animal Law Podcast #59: The Case of the Downed and Desperate Pigs appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I’m bringing you something a little bit different. I speak with Wayne Hsiung of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), who is a lawyer but is also one of the defendants in the cases we’ll be speaking about today. The felony charges being brought against him and other DxE activists, in multiple states, are a…
The post Animal Law Podcast #58: The Case of the “Right to Rescue” appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Rebecca Cary of the Humane Society of the United States about Just Puppies v Frosh, a case brought against the Attorney General of of Maryland arguing that that state’s ban on the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores was unconstitutional. Rebecca is the attorney who wrote and filed…
The post Animal Law Podcast #57: The Case of the Empty Pet Store appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Cristina Kladis and Professor Delcianna Winders of the Lewis and Clark Law School Animal Law Litigation Clinic about the very first case filed by the clinic, Farm Sanctuary v USDA. This very important lawsuit seeks to invalidate the agency’s new rules eliminating line speed limits for pig slaughter, thereby putting…
The post Animal Law Podcast #56: The Case Of the Speedy Slaughterhouse appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Jessica Blome and Amanda Howell about the second chapter in the legal effort to close down Cricket Hollow Zoo, a sad roadside “attraction” where animals have been languishing in terrible conditions for years. I last spoke to Jessica on Episode 10 about some Endangered Species Act litigation that managed to…
The post Animal Law Podcast #55: A Case of Roadside Misery appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Professor Katherine Meyer, Director of the Animal Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School, along with two of her students, Boanne Wassink and Brett Richey. The three of them speak with me about the very first case filed by the Animal Law and Policy Clinic, New England Anti-Vivisection Society…
The post Animal Law Podcast #54: The Case of the Psychologically Unprotected Primates appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Professor Sherry Colb of Cornell Law School along with one of her students, Jareb Gleckel. We’ll be speaking about a recent article they have co-written, “Labeling Alternative Meat: Constitutional Choices That Can Dictate the Future of Food,” __ Animal L. R. __ (forthcoming, 2020), that is about the constitutionality of…
The post Animal Law Podcast #53: A Meaty Constitutional Discussion appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Margaret Kwoka a professor at the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver, about the Animal Welfare Act and the Freedom of Information Act, and how these pertain to the ongoing case of Animal Legal Defense Fund vs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture. This case involves the USDA’s…
The post Animal Law Podcast #52: The (Ongoing) Case of the USDA Records Blackout appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Marc Fink, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity and an expert in Public Lands Law and the Endangered Species Act. We discuss the recent decision in Save the Scenic Santa Ritas v US Army Corps of Engineers. This important case involves the potential construction of a huge copper…
The post Animal Law Podcast #51: The Case of the Catastrophic Copper Mine appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak once again with Justin Marceau, author of the controversial new book Beyond Cages: Animal Law and Criminal Punishment. We discuss why he believes there has been an overemphasis on criminal prosecution of animal abuse as a strategy for systemic change and what types of cruelty he believes are, and are not,…
The post Animal Law Podcast #50: Justin Marceau on Animal Law and Criminal Punishment appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Laura Fox of the Humane Society of the United States about administrative efforts to address false and deceptive advertising from Pilgrim’s Pride regarding their treatment of chickens. These efforts include a complaint made to the Federal Trade Commission asking it to investigate the advertising and enjoin Pilgrim’s Pride from continuing…
The post Animal Law Podcast #49: The Case of Pilgrim’s Pride’s Shame appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak to Abby Volin about how the issue of finding housing with pets is directly related to the complex legal issues surrounding both service and assistance animals (spoiler alert: they are not the same thing!). She tells me about how most housing providers haven’t kept up with the needs of renters who live…
The post Animal Law Podcast #48: Service, Assistance, and Companion Animals are in the House appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak to Kelsey Eberly and David Muraskin about what the average consumer thinks when they see the words, “Natural Choice,” on a meat or poultry product and what the truth is about the products that carry that label. That’s the fundamental issue in the case that they have been litigating in the…
The post Animal Law Podcast #47: The Case of the Not-So-Natural Choice appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast I welcome back to the Animal Law Podcast regular guest Delci Winders, who will give us updates on some interesting Animal Welfare Act cases. The first case deals with the blackout on the USDA’s website regarding information dealing with enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act. In 2017 the USDA deleted many Animal Welfare…
The post Animal Law Podcast #46: The Case Against the USDA, Revisited appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast I speak to Christopher Berry of the Animal Legal Defense Fund about ALDF vs. The Food and Drug Administration, an unusual and years-long Freedom of Information Act case involving attempts to obtain information about egg-laying hens in Texas. This case went to a full-blown trial, took up hundreds of attorney hours, and changed…
The post Animal Law Podcast #45: The Case For Counting Our Chickens appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast I speak to Jonathan Lovvorn, Chief Counsel and Senior VP for Animal Protection at the Humane Society of the United States. He tells us about some recent cases that attempted to invalidate statutory bans on the sale of particularly cruel products, including caged eggs, foie gras, and other products produced in extreme confinement,…
The post Animal Law Podcast #44: The Cases That Saved the Sales Bans appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast I speak to Amanda Howell, a Staff Attorney at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, about a lawsuit that was recently brought in federal court in Missouri seeking to invalidate, as unconstitutional, a law that prohibits the producers of plant-based and cell-based products from misrepresenting those products as “meat.” The plaintiffs in this case, Tofurky…
The post Animal Law Podcast #43: The Case of the Meaning of “Meat” appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I talk to Brittany Peet, the director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement at the PETA Foundation, about her efforts to use the Endangered Species Act to help some tiger cubs and other animals who have been subjected to horrific maltreatment at the rather disturbingly named organization Wildlife In Need, a roadside exhibitor in…
The post Animal Law Podcast #42: The Case of the Tormented Tigers appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I talk to Tony Eliseuson of the Animal Legal Defense Fund about the potential impact of the proposed and proceeding border wall between the United States and Mexico on many species of animals, including endangered ones. We also discuss the several ongoing legal cases surrounding these issues which are based on a wholesale…
The post Animal Law Podcast #41: The Case of the Wall Against the Law appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I’m so pleased to welcome back Matthew Liebman of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, who will be speaking with us about the case of JUSTICE, an American Quarter Horse, by and through his Guardian, Kim Mosiman, Plaintiff, v. GWENDOLYN VERCHER, Defendant. It is certainly a unique case. Justice is bringing a negligence per se…
The post Animal Law Podcast #40: The Case of Justice For Justice appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I’m so pleased to welcome back environmental lawyer Bill Eubanks of Meyer, Glitzenstein & Eubanks, who will be speaking with us about wild horses. Specifically, he will be discussing plans currently underway at the Bureau of Land Management to clear all the wild horses out of the Caliente Complex, a 700,000 acre area…
The post Animal Law Podcast #39: The Case of the Harassed Horses appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I’m so pleased to welcome back Gabriel Walters, Counsel and Manager of Legislative Affairs for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Foundation, where he contributes to PETA’s efforts to pass legislation and win court cases that help animals. Joining us will be PETA Research Associate Jeremy Beckham, who will be providing…
The post Animal Law Podcast #38: The Case of the Missing Facebook Comments appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I’m bringing you something a little different. I speak with Justin Marceau not about a litigated case, but about the Animal Welfare Act and his recent Hastings Law Journal article, “How The Animal Welfare Act Harms Animals”. We talk about the failings of this statute and the suffering that the Act contributes to,…
The post Animal Law Podcast #37: Justin Marceau on the Animal Welfare Act appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Kim Richman of the Richman Law Group about several different cases he is working on that are all tied together by the theme of “truth in advertising.” We discuss what it means when animal agriculture companies advertise their products as “all-natural,” how that relates to evidence that such food contains…
The post Animal Law Podcast #36: The Case of the Antibiotics for Dinner appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, Mariann speaks with Sarah Hanneken, a litigation fellow at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, about the case of Brown v. Kemp, which was recently brought in federal District Court in Wisconsin. The case, brought by a journalist, a documentarian and an activist, seeks to invalidate some of the newly-enacted amendments to Wisconsin’s hunter…
The post Animal Law Podcast #35: The Case of the “Harassed” Hunters appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, Mariann will be speaking with environmental lawyer Bill Eubanks of Meyer, Glizenstein & Eubanks about a case involving whether or not the National Environmental Policy Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act will be able to protect a pair of bald eagles in Colorado from developers. Bill gives us an in-depth…
The post Animal Law Podcast #34: The Case of the Legal Eagles appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, Mariann will be speaking with three educators from Harvard’s Animal Law & Policy Program. Faculty Director Kristen Stilt, Executive Director Chris Green, and Policy Director Jonathan Lovvorn. They take Mariann on a deep dive into all the aspects of this fascinating program. You’ll hear about the various classes offered in animal law, how…
The post Animal Law Podcast #33: Harvard’s Animal Law & Policy Program appeared first on Our Hen House.
On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, Mariann will be speaking once again with Steven Wise, who heads up the Nonhuman Rights Project, and who was last on the podcast on Episodes 1 and 2 to tell us about the litigation brought in New York State trying to free several chimpanzees living in New York. Today, Steve will be updating…
The post Animal Law Podcast #32: The Case of the Enslaved Elephants appeared first on Our Hen House.
Welcome to the 31st episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Mariann is joined once again by Delcianna Winders, PETA’s Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement, to discuss PETA v Miami Seaquarium, which she just argued in the 11th Circuit. The case involves an animal with whom you are probably also familiar. Lolita is an orca who, in spite…
The post Animal Law Podcast #31: The Case of the Languishing, Lonely Lolita appeared first on Our Hen House.
Welcome to the 30th episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Mariann is joined by Matthew Strugar of the Law Office of Matthew Strugar, who returns to the Animal Law Podcast to discuss a suit recently filed on behalf of the White Coat Waste Project against the Greater Richmond Transit Company for refusing to run White Coat Waste’s advertisement criticizing deadly and invasive dog…
The post Animal Law Podcast #30: The Case of the Missing Bus Ad appeared first on Our Hen House.
Welcome to the 29th episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Mariann is joined by Kelsey Eberly of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, who returns to the Animal Law Podcast to discuss the 9th Circuit’s recent decision in Association des Éleveurs de Canards et D’oies du Quebec v Becerra. The battle to ban the force-feeding of ducks and geese and the sale of its…
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Welcome to the 28th episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Mariann is joined by Laura Friend to discuss a recently decided case in which The Humane Society of the United States, along with the Conservation Council of Hawaii, the Center for Biological Diversity, and multiple individual plaintiffs, sued the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources for failing to comply with the Hawaii…
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Welcome to the 27th episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Mariann is joined by Matthew Strugar, who tells us about a Federal judge’s decision to declare Utah’s ag-gag law unconstitutional. The Ag Gag Law was part of a movement among agricultural states to stop undercover investigations by animal rights groups. Like other state’s ag gag laws, Utah’s made it a crime to obtain employment at…
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Welcome to the 26th episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Mariann is joined by Jonathan Lovvorn, Senior Vice President and Chief Counsel for Animal Protection Litigation at The Humane Society of the United States, where he has litigated extensively on behalf of animals and the environment. Jon also holds academic appointments at Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, and…
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Welcome to the 25th episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Mariann is joined by Collette Adkins, Senior Attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity in the Endangered Species Program, who focuses on combating exploitation and cruel treatment of rare wildlife. On this episode, Collette talks about the lawsuit against the Trump administration for repealing protections for wolves, bears, and other wildlife on Alaska’s national…
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Welcome to the 24th episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Mariann is joined by Jenni James, counsel for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Foundation. Through lawsuits, support for new legislation, and other legal efforts, Jenni pushes authorities to create and enforce local, state, and federal laws designed to help animals who are used and abused. On this episode we…
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Welcome to the 23rd episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Mariann is joined by Gabriel Walters, Counsel and Manager of Legislative Affairs for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Foundation, where he contributes to PETA’s efforts to pass legislation and win court cases that help animals. He’ll be talking about PETA v Department of Agricultural Resources, which is currently pending in the…
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Welcome to the 22nd episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Today, Mariann is joined by Matthew Liebman, Director of Litigation at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and Adam Milasincic, trial lawyer with the Houston firm Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C. Matthew and Adam update us on the case against Landry’s, or to be precise, on Landry’s case against animal activists. For over a decade,…
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Welcome to the 21st episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Today, Mariann is joined by Delcianna J. Winders, currently an Academic Fellow of the Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program and a co-plaintiff in a lawsuit against the USDA. This Freedom of Information Law suit seeks to compel the USDA to replace the records, recently purged from their website, that detail violations of the Animal…
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Welcome to the 20th episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Today, Mariann is joined by Jamie Whitlock and Doug Ruley, who focus on environmental law at Davis & Whitlock, P.C., in Asheville, North Carolina. Jamie has litigated numerous environmental and land use cases in federal district courts nationwide, the state courts of North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and Arkansas, and in local and administrative…
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Welcome to the 19th episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Today, Mariann is joined by attorney Bryan Pease. Bryan’s law practice focuses on government transparency and freedom of speech and assembly, as well as the protection of animals, the environment, and consumers. He’s been involved in numerous cases on behalf of activists with the Animal Protection and Rescue League, which he co-founded in…
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Welcome to the 18th episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Today, we are joined by Ryan Shapiro and Jeffrey Light. Ryan is a Ph.D. candidate at MIT, as well as a Research Affiliate at Harvard University, and a leading expert on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Jeffrey, who is Ryan’s lawyer, is a D.C.-based FOIA specialist attorney, who also specializes in activist defense…
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Welcome to the 17th episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Today, I am joined by Matthew Liebman, Chief Legal Counsel in the litigation program at the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Matthew has litigated cases including ALDF v. Otter, the first lawsuit to successfully invalidate an Ag-Gag law; and Bennett v. McDaniel, which rescued a captive bear from a small concrete cage where she…
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Welcome to the 16th episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Today, I am joined by Michael Jasny, Director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). Michael is a leading expert in the law and policy of ocean noise pollution. For more than a decade, he has directed high-profile litigation, lobbying efforts, science-based policy development, and public…
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Welcome to the 15th episode of the Animal Law Podcast! Today I am joined by Delcianna J. Winders, who is currently an Academic Fellow of the Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program and who formerly headed up the PETA Foundation‘s Captive Animal Law Enforcement Division. I could not be more excited about this episode, not only because I have known Delci…
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We’re headed to Canada for Episode 14 of the Animal Law Podcast for a discussion of, yes, bestiality, and a rather surprising decision by the Canadian Supreme Court. I am joined by two superb Canadian animal law attorneys, Camille Labchuk, the executive director of Animal Justice, and Peter Sankoff, a law professor with the University of Alberta Faculty of Law. They will discuss the…
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When I first heard that these chimps, who had been trapped in research facilities in the US for their whole lives, were not going to sanctuary, I was very disappointed. The sanctuary movement for chimpanzees has grown by leaps and bounds to accommodate all of these extraordinary individuals who are, at long last, emerging from hell. Then, when I heard that…
The post Animal Law Podcast #13 — Should U.S. Chimps Go to Sanctuary, or an English Zoo? appeared first on Our Hen House.
I am so excited about Episode #12 of the Animal Law Podcast! This episode features the the Humane Society of the United States’ Nick Arrivo, and he will be talking about his efforts to protect some iconic American predators, including Grizzly Bears, cougars, and bobcats, from the ravages of hunting and trapping. It’s a pretty complicated business, involving state and federal administrative…
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Episode #11 of the Animal Law Podcast has hit the airwaves! This episode features the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Lindsay Larris, who will tell us about the lawsuit, brought by a bunch of people who say they got bamboozled by Barkworks, a California pet store chain that is telling people they don’t get their puppies from puppy mills. ALDF asserts that’s not entirely…
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Episode #10 of the Animal Law Podcast is up, and it’s an important one! This episode features the Animal Legal Defense Fund‘s Jessica Blome, Senior Staff Attorney, and Jeff Pierce, Litigation Fellow, and they will be telling us about their recent victory in their fight to get animals out of the Cricket Hollow Zoo, a roadside outfit in Iowa. Aside from the enormity of this…
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Great news! For Episode 9 of the Animal Law Podcast, I will be joined by the brilliant Eric Glitzenstein of Meyer, Glitzenstein and Eubanks in Washington, DC. Eric is a highly experienced environmental and animal attorney and what he has to say about the wind industry (yup) and animals may surprise you. He’ll be discussing some recent successful litigation brought to…
The post ANIMAL LAW PODCAST #9 — Is Big Wind Bad for Birds? With Eric Glitzenstein appeared first on Our Hen House.
I am delighted to be joined for Episode 8 of the Animal Law Podcast by long time animal rights lawyer and partner at Schiff Hardin, Bruce Wagman. Bruce will explain the completely crazy situation that has been created by the USDA’s refusal to write regulations covering birds under the Animal Welfare Act, even though they have admitted FOR YEARS that such regulations…
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Jasmin and I were just in France, and, though we had a wonderful time and piles of delicious vegan food, sadly, the foie gras was everywhere. It is, after all, Christmas, and apparently that’s considered the perfect season to eat the swollen, diseased liver of a duck or goose who has repeatedly had food forced down his throat. Foie gras is…
The post Animal Law Podcast #7 — The Battle Against Foie Gras With Kelsey Eberly appeared first on Our Hen House.
I’m so excited about Episode #6 of the Animal Law Podcast! This episode features Anna Frostic, the Senior Attorney for Wildlife and Animal Research for the Humane Society of the United States’ Animal Protection Litigation department, and she has an important story to tell about the long-term battle to get chimpanzees out of research facilities in the United States. This effort has had…
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Here it is – Episode #5 of the Animal Law Podcast! This brand new episode features Jared Goodman, Director of Litigation for the PETA Foundation, whom I love chatting with, and not only because he is my former student (!). An even better reason is that he has been keeping himself busy causing well-deserved legal trouble for all sorts of animal…
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It’s time for Episode 4 of the Animal Law Podcast, hosted by me — Mariann Sullivan! This brand new episode features Matt Penzer, who has been heading up the “check-off” litigation for HSUS. Matt will rip the lid off the machinations of the pork industry to funnel millions of dollars collected by the USDA into financing its lobbying efforts. And what…
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We’re so excited about Episode 3 of the Animal Law Podcast! This brand new episode features Professor Justin Marceau, one of the lead counsel on the recent Ag Gag victory in Idaho. He’ll be filling us in on the details of that decision, in which Idaho’s hideous law was held unconstitutional in Federal district court on 1st Amendment and Equal Protection grounds.…
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As you are probably aware, a decision just came down in one of the Nonhuman Rights Project‘s groundbreaking lawsuits regarding chimpanzees being held captive in New York State. Since the Animal Law Podcast had interviewed Steven Wise for Episode 1 regarding these cases, we wanted to make sure you got this latest update. Fortunately, he graciously agreed to come back on and…
The post Animal Law Podcast Episode 2 — Follow-Up with Steve Wise (ALREADY?!) appeared first on Our Hen House.
UPDATE — 7/31/15: As you are probably aware, a decision just came down in one of the Nonhuman Rights Project’s groundbreaking lawsuits regarding chimpanzees being held captive in New York State. Since the Animal Law Podcast had interviewed Steven Wise for Episode 1 (BELOW), regarding these cases, we wanted to make sure you got this latest update. Fortunately, he graciously agreed to…
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