Results
Title |
Author![]() |
Citation | Summary |
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Overview of of Non-Therapeutic Procedures for Companion Animals | Asia Siev | Animal Legal & Historical Center | This overview details "cosmetic" and "convenience" surgeries in cats and dogs. The four unnecessary medical surgeries discussed include tail docking, ear cropping, devocalization, and declawing. It briefly explores arguments against the procedures and how breed registries might still require certain cosmetic procedures. Finally, it touches upon recent efforts to regulate or ban these types of surgeries both at the city and state level. |
Brief Summary of Non-Therapeutic Procedures for Companion Animals | Asia Siev | Animal Legal & Historical Center | This brief summary discusses the legal status of non-therapeutic surgeries on companion animals such as tail docking, ear cropping, de-barking of dogs, and de-clawing of cats. |
Non-Violence and the Animal Rights Movement | Jerry Simonelli | Animal Legal & Historical Center |
The article explores the history of the non-violent protest movement starting with Gandhi and Dr. King and brings the issue into the present animal rights movement. |
Does Every Dog Really Have Its Day?: A Closer Look at the Inequity of Iowa's Breed-Specific Legislation | Olivia Slater | 66 Drake L. Rev. 975 (2018) | Breed-specific laws are well intentioned, but the fear and urgency driving their enactment has led to questionable craftsmanship by lawmaking bodies. These quick-fix statutes and ordinances have resulted in a variety of unintended negative side effects that far outweigh the laws’ utilities, yet these discriminatory and ineffective laws remain in place in the municipal codes of numerous Iowa communities. This Note proposes a reform to Iowa’s existing breed-specific legislation which would eliminate the inequalities of the current laws and preserve the power of municipalities to remedy public safety concerns. |
Detailed Discussion of Horse Related Legal Issues | Craig M Smith | Animal Legal & Historical Center |
This detailed discussion provides an overview of horse related legal issues, focusing primarily on horse slaughter, wild horses, and horse cruelty. |
All Hands On Deck: Biopiracy & the Available Protections for Traditional Knowledge | Shannon F. Smith | 10 J. Animal & Nat. Resource L. 273 | As the United States and other developed countries seek better protections for their intellectual property, Southern developing countries rich in biological resources seek better protections for these resources and the knowledge of their indigenous peoples. The story goes that Northern scientists are bioprospecting within Southern countries and obtaining knowledge about traditional plants and their uses from the countries’ native people. The Northern scientists then take this traditional knowledge and develop new uses or products, which they patent in their own countries. They do this, however, without compensating the indigenous groups who initially supplied the base knowledge. The indigenous people also claim that the cost of medicine and other goods rises, as their traditional knowledge may now come with a licensing fee. This Note discusses “traditional knowledge,” as this indigenous knowledge has been termed. It looks at what this knowledge is and the difficulties in defining it. It further looks at the problems traditional knowledge presents in terms of finding a solution both parties are satisfied with. As traditional knowledge generally does not fit in the Western concept of protectable intellectual property, this Note looks to the problems this conflict between differing property systems creates. Finally, this Note considers the current protections that are available for individual tribes or nations to choose between to fit their own individual needs, despite numerous failed attempts to integrate such protections into international treaties. |
At a Complex Crossroads: Animal Law in Indian Country | Rob Roy Smith | 14 Animal Law 109 (2007) |
This article begins with a discussion of criminal and civil jurisdiction within Indian Country. The article provides a brief survey of the legal issues found at the intersection between Indian law and animal law, including both domestic animal issues and fish and wildlife issues. The article presents a working understanding of animal advocacy in Indian Country today and concludes that Indian Country may provide a valuable opportunity to craft model animal protection schemes. |
Brief Summary of Horse Laws | Craig M Smith | Animal Legal & Historical Center |
This article provides a basic introduction to the various laws that deal with horses. |
BULLHOOKS AND THE LAW: IS PAIN AND SUFFERING THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM? | Trevor J. Smith | 19 Animal L. 423 (2013) | In the United States, violent use of “bullhooks”—sharpened, steel-tipped rods—on captive elephants at carnivals, circuses, and zoos is all too routine. Yet animal-welfare advocates struggle to protect elephants from the (mis)use of bullhooks under the current regulatory regime. At the federal level, advocates cannot consistently rely on either the Animal Welfare Act or the Endangered Species Act, due to these statutes’ narrow provisions, standing limitations, and inconsistent enforcement. State animal-protection laws are equally deficient, as only two states have defined suffering and abuse clearly enough in their statutes to enable effective prosecution of elephant mistreatment, and plaintiffs in even these states frequently fail for lack of standing. Ultimately, the most effective solution to the problem of bullhooks may lie with local lawmaking authorities. Many counties and municipalities have begun to protect captive elephants by enacting ordinances that expressly ban these devices within their jurisdictions. These local laws, which are growing increasingly popular, could offer the most effective protections against elephant abuse to date. |
Overview of Horse Laws | Craig M Smith | Animal Legal & Historical Center |
This college level paper provides a general overview of horse law. Included is a discussion of anti-slaughtering laws, cruelty laws, and the federal Wild Horse and Burros Act. |