The Animal Law Podcast

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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&#823...

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…

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…

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,…

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 continui...

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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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, Tofu...

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…