Virginia creates Web-based dangerous dog registry. In July, the Virginia Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services (VDACS) launched an interactive dangerous dog registry that enables people to check if dangerous dogs reside in their area. Legislation enacted in 2006 mandated the creation of this online registry in addition to other restrictions on owners. Click here to see it in action. 

The Price of Fame: CITES Regulation and Efforts Towards International Protection of the Great White Shark, Julie B. Martin, 39 Geo. Wash. Int'l L. Rev. 199 (2007).

The Salience of Species Difference for Feminist Theory, by Maneesha Deckha, 17 Hastings Women's L.J. 1 (Winter, 2006).

The Future of the African Rhinoceros: It's Anything But Black and White, by Robert Saxton, Animal Legal & Historical Center (2007).

Recently Added Cases - Rachel Kristol, Case Editor:       

Humane Soc. of U.S. v. Dirk Kempthorne, --- F.3d ----, 2008 WL 2245321 (C.A.D.C.). The Humane Society of the United States sought an injunction to prevent the lethal depredation of gray wolves. The district court granted the injunction but, while the case was on appeal, the United States Department of the Interior removed the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List.  After the gray wolf was removed, all parties agreed that the delisting of the gray wolf rendered the appeal moot. 

Lacy v. U.S., 2008 WL 2178099 (C.A. 6). The owner of a horse tried to enter his horse into the 64th Annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. Experts determined the horse was "sore," meaning the horse had an injury to or sensitization of its legs that induced a high stepping gait for which Tennessee Walkers are known. While the horse's owner contended that the soreness occurred as a result of  the West Nile Virus, he was eventually convicted with a violation of the Horse Protection Act, (15 U.S.C. §§ 1821-1831). This Court affirmed Lacy's conviction, finding that that substantial evidence supported the JO's conclusion that Lacy failed to rebut the statutory presumption of soreness.

Ocean Mammal Inst. v. Gates, Slip Copy, 2008 WL 2185180 (D.Hawai'i). Plaintiffs sued the Navy over the use of sonar; the Plaintiffs feared that the sonar would kill whales and other marine life.  This case dealt with the required production of documents the Defendant claimed were privileged and or work product material.  The Court found that the Defendant must hand over the material to the Plaintiffs because the documents were not in fact privileged.

U.S. v. Friday, --- F.3d ----, 2008 WL 1971504 (C.A.10 (Wyo.)). The Defendant, a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming, was charged with violating the Eagle Act after he illegally shot a bald eagle for an important religious ritual. The Defendant claimed that prosecution was prevented by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Friday claimed that the government failed to protect eagles killed when they strike power lines. The Court of Appeals held that the permitting process did not facially violate the RFRA and any difference in government's treatment of Native Americans taking eagles for religious purposes and power companies did not indicate that government failed to protect eagles in least restrictive manner. 

In re Knippling, 183 P.3d 365 (Wash.App. Div. 3,2008). The Defendant was convicted in the Superior Court in Spokane County, Washington of second degree assault and first degree animal cruelty.  The Defendant requested that he receive credit against his term of community custody for the extra 24 months' confinement time he served before he was re-sentenced.  The Court of Appeals held that the Defendant was entitled to 24 months credit against his term of community custody.