The Law Must See Animals As More than Just Property
Opposing Views, November 16, 2009
The Animal Legal Defense Fund has posted an article on
Opposing Views arguing that "one of the driving issues behind the field of animal law is the disconnect between the law’s description of animals as 'property'" and pet owners notion that pets are "members of the family." The article draws on the ancient Egyptian's practice of mummifying pets to argue view pets as family members is not a new notion.
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Animal Studies Tests the Boundary between Human and Animal—and Between Academic and Advocate
Chronicle of Higher Education, October 21, 2009
Academic researchers, "spurred on by a shift in consciousness that has been going on for several decades, beginning with the environmental and social-justice movements of the 1960s and 70s," are working to break down the categories and distinctions between humans and animals. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education,
At the curricular level, courses with some kind of animal-studies emphasis are popping up almost everywhere, in law schools and in literature departments. But students cannot yet get a Ph.D. in animal studies.
Michigan State University is edging closer. It has had an animal-studies graduate specialization for about a year now. Linda Kalof, a professor of sociology, founded and directs the program. "We are the first doctoral specialization in animal studies anywhere in the world," she says. "We focus primarily on the question of how animals figure in human lives and how humans figure in animal lives, from a social-science and humanities perspective." The program attracts faculty members and students from beyond those areas, too. Professors from the school of veterinary medicine and from the law school take part, as do students from zoology and animal science as well as sociology, anthropology, and American studies
...Taken far enough, animal studies ultimately points to "a revision of our most basic social institutions and our most fundamental intellectual assumptions," Calarco says. "There are no guideposts. You're on very experimental terrain."
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click here.
Excuse me, Mr. Squirrel. Would you mind leaving? -- Proposed D.C. legislation outlines humane treatment for dealing with critters
Washington Post - October 21, 2009
According to the
Washington Post "wild animals that roam city neighborhoods could soon have their own bill of rights." Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) has introduced a bill that allows "lethal control" of raccoons, rabbits, bats and other wild animals "only when public safety is immediately threatened" or non-lethal methods have proven unsuccessful. The bill exempts "commensal rodents," meaning homeowners and exterminators will still be able to use traps and poison to kill rats and mice and, as drafted, applies only to wildlife specialists and professional trappers. But, according to the
Washington Post, Cheh plans to have it amended so that it also prevents homeowners from using inhumane tactics or traps.
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Moving Beyond Animal Rights: A Legal/Contractualist Critique
Law professor Richard Cupp has published an important law review article documenting the explosive rise of animal law in United States courts and law schools, and analyzing the increasingly volatile animal rights versus animal welfare debate. Professor Cupp concludes that the rights paradigm does not fit well in a legal context when addressing animals, and he supports biomedical research with an emphasis on human responsibility for the humane treatment of animals. The article, entitled "Moving Beyond Animal Rights: A Legal/Contractualist Critique," has been published by the San Diego Law Review.
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Ha-Ha! Ape Study Traces Evolution of Laughter
Washington Post, June 4, 2009
Researchers have concluded that human laughter and the laughter of chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas originated from a common ancestor that lived some 10 million years ago. "After measuring 11 traits in the sound from each species, they mapped out how these sounds appeared to be related to each other. The result looked like a family tree. Significantly, that tree matched the way the species themselves are related, the scientists reported online Thursday in the journal Current Biology."
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Animals 'Can Tell Right from Wrong': Scientists Suggest It's Not Just Humans That Have Morals
Daily Mail UK, May 26, 2009
The
Daily Mail UK reported that animals have a sense of morality and can tell right from wrong, according to new research. The research studied species ranging from mice to wolves and determined that animals are governed by codes of conduct similar to those that humans follow. Until recently, humans were thought to be the only species to experience complex emotions.
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Brothers of Man - European Commission May Ban the Use of Great Apes
Economist, March 30, 2009 - No Great Apes have been used in Europe for scientific testing since 2002. However, the European Commission is considering banning the use of Great Apes for scientific research by legislation. This
Economist article discusses the benefits of costs of banning Great Ape research. The article notes that chimpanzees are the only animals, other than humans that can be used to study Hepatitis C, points out that less than 0.1% of research involving animals is conducted using primates and notes that it may be hypocritical to ban great ape research and subsequently use drugs developed using great apes. The article balances this interest against the the welfare of the Great Apes which it notes can be approximately as intelligent as a two and a half year old human child.
http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13399137
Hampshire Scientists Reveal Chimpanzee Study
Hampshire Chronicle, February 1, 2009 - Orphaned chimpanzee infants given special ''mothering'' by humans are more advanced than the average human child at nine months of age, Hampshire scientists said today. The study found that chimpanzees who were given extra emotionally-based care were more cognitively advanced than human infants.
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Law Schools Make Room For Animals
CBS News, March 18, 2005 - It's called animal law and Taimie Bryant, an animal law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, says it goes far beyond custody battles over Bowser. The concern is less about pound animals or the nations 280 million domestic pets than the 10 billion animals that are raised for food and research; creatures largely unprotected by cruelty and welfare laws.
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Now It's the Lawyers' Turn - Animal Rights Moves Into Courts, Legislatures
AVMA News, March 1, 2005
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Animal Personhood—A Threat to Research?
Steve Michael
The Physiologist, Volume 47, No. 6, December 2004
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Personhood' Redefined
The AAMC Reporter
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Activists Seek Personhood for Animals
JAVMA News
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