Back!

Well, it's been a while. Loyal readers, please accept my apologies for the long silence. I'm giving this blog another go at it. I resolve in the new year to resume posting, at least once a week, and to make my posts a little more readable.

What developments have I missed? The ABA Journal has a nice rundown of recent animal law cases and laws including, as a timely tie-in, BP's agreement, following a lawsuit, to develop protocols for burning oil, in order to avoid harming sea turtles. Also mentioned are SCOTUS's invalidation of an anti-cruelty law in United States v. Stevens, a law in Massachusetts (text here) that makes devocalization of cats and dogs more difficult, and the Ninth Circuit's upholding of a California law banning meat from downed animals in National Meat Association vs. Brown. I'd also add the controversy over Cass Sunstein's scholarship on standing for animal advocates.

This article gets extra credit for generally avoiding the cardinal sins of animal law reportage: using puns that minimizing animal suffering or the efforts of animal advocates, overstating the level of change achieved, and accepting industry lines on abuse. The lack of callous puns is a welcome contrast to the National Meat Association decision, which refers to both "hogwash" and "horse sense." To quote Shaun Martin: "knee-slapper[s], to be sure." The decision, however, does have an interesting section on how states can regulate the slaughter of animals, while avoiding federal preemption. It holds "states are free to decide which animals may be turned into meat."

There are a couple of missteps--using "animal welfare" and "animal rights" interchangeably, and the implication that Animal Liberation Front used lawsuits as a tactic--but overall, a fine description of the state of animal law in the U.S.

Comments

[jj]

Glad you are back!

[houndedcowed]

Thanks for noticing my relaunch!