Programs
Litigation
The Animal Legal Defense Fund goes to court for animals. From filing high-impact lawsuits to providing ''amicus curiae'' briefs, its litigation work is a primary tool in the work to advance the interests of animals. The Animal Legal Defense Fund's team of expert staff attorneys may bring suit themselves, or it may retain outside counsel for representation. Its civil actions on behalf of animals often include filing ''Criminal justice
The Animal Legal Defense Fund's Criminal Justice Program is staffed by attorneys, including former prosecutors, with expertise in animal protection law who provide free legal assistance to prosecutors, law enforcement, and veterinarians handling animal cruelty cases. It also works with state legislators to strengthen criminal animal protection laws.Animal law
The Animal Legal Defense Fund's Animal Law Program works closely with law students and law professionals to advance the emerging field of animal law. Moving toward the day when animal law is part of the curriculum at each and every law school, the Animal Law Program collaborates with students, faculty, and school administrations to facilitate the development of animal law courses and assists students in forming Animal Legal Defense Fund Student Chapters.Pro bono
Working to expand the practice and understanding of animal law in the legal community, the Animal Legal Defense Fund partners with attorneys and pro bono coordinators across the country. The program utilizes these volunteers to support the Animal Legal Defense Fund's litigation, criminal justice, and legislative goals. The Animal Legal Defense Fund also works to expand the practice and understanding of animal law in the legal community by delivering presentations at law firms and state bar association events and keeping volunteers updated on the latest cases, animal law conferences, and continuing legal education opportunities.Legislation
The Animal Legal Defense Fund works at the state and local levels to advance important legislation. The Legislative Affairs Program advocates for laws that promote or protect the lives and interests of animals and opposes legislation that would be detrimental to animals’ well-being.U.S. Animal Protection Laws State Rankings
The Animal Legal Defense Fund's annual report comprehensively surveys animal protection laws of all U.S. states and territories. It is the longest-running and most authoritative report of its kind, assessing the strength of each jurisdiction's animal protection laws by examining over 4,000 pages of statutes. The report also highlights the top, middle and bottom tiers of jurisdictions and notes the "Best Five" and "Worst Five" states overall.Cases & campaigns
2018
In December, the Supreme Court denied the2017
In August, a California judge ordered Manning Beef, a slaughterhouse, to pay $94,500 in attorneys' fees after Manning falsely accused Los Angeles Cow Save, a group that organized vigils for animals killed at the slaughterhouse, of trespassing. The fees were awarded after the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the Law Offices of Matthew Strugar, and attorney Ryan Gordon filed an anti-SLAPP motion on behalf of the group. In July, the U.S. District Court of Utah ruled the Utah ag-gag statute was unconstitutional, the second decision against an ag-gag statute affirming it was unconstitutional. Both rulings were due to lawsuits filed by the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Ag-gag laws criminalize undercover investigations at factory farms and slaughterhouses that often expose serious animal cruelty and violations of environmental and safety laws. In February, the inhumane King Kong Zoological Park in North Carolina shut down permanently after the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit alleging the zoo's treatment of animals violated North Carolina's animal cruelty laws. North Carolina's unique civil animal cruelty law empowers concerned members of the public to report when criminal animal cruelty laws go ignored and under-enforced, as they did at the King Kong Zoo.2016
In September, the Animal Legal Defense Fund won a lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Deptartment of Agriculture for dogs suffering in puppy mills. The department was forced to reinstate comprehensive regulations for commercial dog breeders. The rules had prohibited some of the cruelest and most inhumane practices, such as keeping mother dogs in cages with metal wirestrand flooring and never letting mother dogs outside for exercise. In August, the Animaland Zoological Park in Pennsylvania permanently shut down in response to a March 2016 lawsuit filed by the Animal Legal Defense Fund. The lawsuit alleged that the zoo violated the Endangered Species Act and state wildlife laws by failing to provide adequate care for animals confined at the facility. Two bears and an endangered wolf were relocated to sanctuaries that are capable of meeting their needs. In February, the Animal Legal Defense Fund won an Endangered Species Act lawsuit on behalf of four tigers and three lemurs held in substandard captivity at Cricket Hollow Zoo, a roadside zoo in Iowa. This victory is the first time that animal advocates successfully used the Endangered Species Act to obtain a court order for the removal of captive animals from substandard conditions, and sets important precedent that isolation of social animals violates the Act.2015
In October, the2014
In May, following a petition by the Animal Legal Defense Fund,2013
In July 2013, the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed the first lawsuit in the nation to challenge the constitutionality of an ag-gag law. Utah's law, which criminalizes the videotaping on factory farms, attacks activity protected under the U.S. Constitution's First and Fourteenth Amendments. Also in July 2013, eleven bears were removed from gladiator-style bear pits at a North Carolina roadside zoo after the Animal Legal Defense Fund sent the Chief Saunooke Bear Park a letter threatening to sue for ongoing harm to the grizzlies. As a result of the false advertising lawsuit against New York-based Hudson Valley Foie Gras, the company agreed to stop advertising its products as "humane."2012
In March, the Clay County (Kentucky) Circuit Court entered an agreed order of judgment resolving the Animal Legal Defense Fund's lawsuit against the county to stop systematic abuses at the local animal shelter. In June, the Animal Legal Defense Fund finalized a settlement and court order resolving a lawsuit alleging widespread egregious animal abuse and neglect at Cal-Cruz Hatcheries, Inc., a Santa Cruz, Calif. hatchery that processed millions of birds each year destined for the chicken and duck meat industries. Following the lawsuit, which was based on an undercover video, Cal-Cruz is no longer in operation, and the former owner may no longer work with animals. In August, a North Carolina judge granted Ben the Bear permanent sanctuary at the Performing Animal Welfare Society as a result of a lawsuit against Jambbas Ranch—Animal Legal Defense Fund attorneys worked to represent the plaintiffs. Ben had languished for years on cement in a chain-link kennel—he now has the chance to live like a bear should, with plenty of space to roam, play, and forage in his new habitat.2011
In February, Guam voted to dramatically strengthen the territory's laws protecting animals. Guam's new legislation adopts robust minimum care standards and other definitions which mirror much of what is contained in the Animal Legal Defense Fund's model animal protection laws. In November, the Animal Legal Defense Fund won its lawsuit to free Tony the Tiger from the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana. The judge ordered the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to revoke the current permit and prohibited it from issuing any new permits to the Truck Stop.2010
After more than 100 live and approximately 150 dead Chihuahuas and Chihuahua-mixes were removed from Kenneth Lang Jr's home in 2009, the Animal Legal Defense Fund provided a grant of $3,500 to allow the Dearborn Police Department to conduct necropsies on 10 of the Chihuahuas whose bodies were removed from freezers on 56-year-old Lang's property. Kenneth Lang Jr. pleaded guilty to animal cruelty in January 2010.2009
The Animal Legal Defense Fund secured permanent custody of seven horses rescued from Michael, Judy, and Gayle Keating, the abusive North Carolina owners who allowed them to starve nearly to death, in the case of ALDF v. Keating. On October 6, the United States Supreme Court directly addressed the issue of animal cruelty for the first time in more than fifteen years. The Animal Legal Defense Fund submitted an amicus curiae brief in the case of U.S. v. Stevens, urging the Court to uphold the law and recognize that the prevention of cruelty to animals is a compelling government interest.2008
In August, the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed lawsuits in Kentucky against Estill and Robertson Counties for neglecting their homeless animals, despite their legal requirement to provide basic humane care. The Animal Legal Defense Fund called on Kentucky's legislature to push for comprehensive changes in its laws protecting horses and other animals. In 2008, Kentucky ranked last in the nation for animal protection laws.See also
*References
Further reading
External links
* {{Authority control 501(c)(3) organizations 1979 establishments in California Animal charities based in the United States Animal law organizations Animal rights organizations Charities based in California Law in the San Francisco Bay Area Legal advocacy organizations in the United States Non-profit organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area Organizations established in 1979 Organizations based in Sonoma County, California