The Animal Legal Defense Fund’s mission is to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. The Animal Legal Defense Fund accomplishes this mission by filing high-impact lawsuits to protect animals from harm, providing free legal assistance and training to prosecutors to assure that animal abusers are punished for their crimes, supporting tough animal protection legislation and fighting legislation harmful to animals, and providing resources and opportunities to law students and professionals to advance the emerging field of animal law. Click to see author's profile.
Fish are living, feeling beings, yet they often go without any form of legal protection from cruelty. In ten states, they are expressly excluded from the definition of “animal” under state cruelty laws.
When Justice was rescued he was horribly neglected and 300 pounds underweight. This lawsuit could be the first to establish whether animals have a legal right to sue their abusers.
It can be heartbreaking to see a neighbor’s animal suffering in a situation of neglect. Depending on the situation, there are various ways you can help the animal or animals involved.
After a recent visit to Special Memories Zoo in Greenville, Wisconsin, Tucker was so disturbed by the conditions and health of the animals she felt compelled to stand up and advocate on their behalf. Please take action and urge the USDA to investigate the roadside zoo.
Some California restaurants and retailers have continued selling foie gras, despite a state ban on the sale of this cruelly-produced “gourmet” delicacy made from the liver of a force-fed duck or goose.
We need the Florida Orca Protection Act because Kayla deserved better than what she got: a short life in a small tank. Orcas are counting on us to make sure this generation of captive orcas is the last.
Iowa’s Ag-Gag law criminalizes undercover investigations at a broad range of animal facilities, preventing advocates from exposing animal cruelty and environmental, workers’ rights, and food safety violations. The law achieved its goal of suppressing undercover investigations; no investigations have taken place since the law’s passage in 2012.
The rankings are based on a comprehensive review of each jurisdiction’s animal protection laws. This is the longest-running and most authoritative report of its kind, and tracks which states are taking animal protection seriously.
Animal and food safety advocates argue that the state law criminalizing factory farm investigations violates the First Amendment. Since it was enacted in 1990, the law has successfully prevented whistleblowers from investigating the cruel conditions that millions of animals endure.
The public must have access to the USDA’s animal welfare records. This transparency is not only critically important for protecting animals, but is required by the law and necessary to hold government agencies accountable
Missouri has passed a law that prohibits many products, including plant-based and cellular meat, from identifying themselves as “meat.” It’s clear the law is designed to protect the animal agriculture industry.
When beloved and healthy dog Chloe died due to medical negligence, it became obvious that the law saw her as replaceable property, not family. The #notproperty campaign calls for animals’ legal status to match their actual status — not as property, but as thinking, feeling beings who have intrinsic value, not just economic value, and who need and deserve that recognition in the law.