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Animal Legal Defense Fund

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For the legislative assembly of Mexico City (ALDF according to its Spanish name), see Legislative Assembly of the Federal District.
Animal Legal Defense Fund
Founded1979; 45 years ago (1979)
TypeNonprofit organization
Legal status501(c)(3)
FocusAnimal law
Location
Area served
North America
MethodLegal pursuit
Members
100,000+[1]
Key people
Joyce Tischler (co-founder)
Stephen Wells (CEO)
Revenue
$6,760,000 (2007)[2]
Websitealdf.org

The Animal Legal Defense Fund is an animal law advocacy organization. Its stated mission is to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. It accomplishes this 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. In addition to their national headquarters in Cotati, California, the Animal Legal Defense Fund maintains an office in Portland, Oregon.

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 amicus curiae briefs arguing the case for recognition of the bonds between humans and nonhuman animals and filing formal complaints against government agencies charged with enforcing laws meant to protect animals.

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.[3]


Cases & campaigns

2018

In December, the Supreme Court denied the foie gras industry's petition attacking California's ban on the sale of foie gras. As a result, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ mandate went into immediate effect. It is now against the law to sell foie gras in California. The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed numerous amicus briefs in the six-plus years of litigation, urging courts to uphold the law.[4]

In October, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) announced a first-of-its-kind partnership to address judicial response in court cases related to animal cruelty.[5]

In the spring of 2018, after the Animal Legal Defense Fund announced its intent to sue Deer Haven Mini Zoo in Keymar, Maryland for violations of the federal Endangered Species Act and state cruelty laws, the owners agreed to voluntarily relinquish some of the animals on the property. Two endangered lemurs, a bobcat, six arctic foxes, four cavies, and a coatimundi were removed from the unaccredited roadside menagerie and transferred to sanctuaries.[6]

2017

In August, a California judge ordered Manning Beef, a slaughterhouse, to pay $94,500 in attorneys’ fees after Manning Beef falsely accused Los Angeles Cow Save, a group that organizes 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 Los Angeles Cow Save.[7]

In July, the U.S. District Court of Utah ruled the Utah ag-gag statute was unconstitutional.  The decision marked the second time that a state ag-gag statute was found 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.[8]

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 cruel 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 stop animal cruelty when criminal animal cruelty laws go ignored and under-enforced, as they did at the King Kong Zoo.[9]

2016

In September, the Animal Legal Defense Fund scored a major victory for dogs suffering in puppy mills when it won its lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. As a result of the lawsuit, 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.[10]

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.[11]

In February, the Animal Legal Defense Fund scored a precedent-setting victory in 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.[12]

2015

In October, the California Coastal Commission voted at the Animal Legal Defense Fund's request that SeaWorld San Diego must discontinue its captive orca breeding program in order to proceed with its Blue World expansion plans at that facility.[13]

In February, the Animal Legal Defense Fund settled its public nuisance lawsuit against Jim Mack's Ice Cream to secure the release of a female black bear named Ricki from her 16-year confinement at the ice cream shop to the Colorado-based Wild Animal Sanctuary.[14]

In August, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho ruled that the state's ag-gag law, Idaho Code sec. 18-7042, violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution—the first time a court has declared an ag-gag statute unconstitutional and a landmark victory for a broad-based public interest coalition of national nonprofits, including the Animal Legal Defense Fund, PETA, the ACLU of Idaho, and the Center for Food Safety.[15]

2014

In May, following a petition by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, PETA, Orca Network, and others, the National Marine Fisheries Service proposed a rule to grant Lolita the same status under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that covers all other Southern Resident orcas—the pod that she was seized from in 1970. The Animal Legal Defense Fund and PETA believe that the current confinement conditions that Lolita is subjected to are prohibited by the ESA. This action opens the door to the prospect that she could be retired from performing and transferred to a seaside sanctuary.[16]

In January 2014, Caltrans agreed to remove bird-killing nets at a local highway project, and vowed to use safer construction methods, after settling with the Animal Legal Defense Fund and conservation groups.[17]

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.[18]

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.[19]

In a groundbreaking end to its false advertising lawsuit against New York-based Hudson Valley Foie Gras, the Animal Legal Defense Fund celebrated the company's decision to stop advertising its products as “humane.”[20]

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.[21]

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.[22]

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.[23]

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.[24]

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.[25]

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.[26]

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.[27]

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.[28]

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.[29]

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.[30]

See also

References

  1. ^ About Us Archived 2010-05-05 at the Wayback Machine, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Retrieved August 29, 2008
  2. ^ [1] Archived 2014-07-01 at the Wayback Machine, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Retrieved September 4, 2014
  3. ^ "U.S. Animal Protection Laws State Rankings". Animal Legal Defense Fund.
  4. ^ "Foie Gras". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  5. ^ "Animal Legal Defense Fund Partners with the NCJFCJ to Address Animal Cruelty". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  6. ^ "Animals Rescued from Maryland Roadside Zoo After Threat of Lawsuit". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  7. ^ "Defending Animal Activists' First Amendment Rights". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  8. ^ "Utah Ag-Gag Law Declared Unconstitutional". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  9. ^ "King Kong Zoological Park". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  10. ^ "Seeking Enforcement of Pennsylvania's Dog Law". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  11. ^ "Animaland Zoological Park". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  12. ^ "Challenging Cricket Hollow Zoo's Care of Endangered Species (2014)". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  13. ^ "Motion to Intervene in SeaWorld v California Coastal Commission". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  14. ^ "Ricki the Bear Caged at Pennsylvania Ice Cream Shop". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  15. ^ "Ag-Gag Laws - Why Are Ag-Gag Laws Harmful?". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  16. ^ "Judge's Refusal to Review Seaquarium's Violations of Law Prompts Court Appeal - Animal Legal Defense Fund". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Archived from the original on 2014-07-22. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
  17. ^ "Caltrans to Remove Bird-killing Nets at Highway Project, Vows to Use Safer Methods - Animal Legal Defense Fund". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Archived from the original on 2014-07-17. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
  18. ^ "Ag-Gag". Animal Legal Defense Fund.
  19. ^ "Freedom for Bears at Chief Saunooke Bear Park - Animal Legal Defense Fund". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
  20. ^ "Foie Gras". Animal Legal Defense Fund.
  21. ^ "Settlement in Clay County Lawsuit Will Mean Dramatic Improvements in Conditions for Kentucky's Homeless Animals - Animal Legal Defense Fund". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Archived from the original on 2013-05-31. Retrieved 2012-12-18.
  22. ^ "Animal Cruelty Lawsuit Settled: Santa Cruz Hatchery Closed, Owner Agrees Not to Work with Animals for Five Years - Animal Legal Defense Fund". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Archived from the original on 2012-08-20. Retrieved 2012-12-18.
  23. ^ "Ben the Bear Caged at Roadside Zoo in North Carolina". Animal Legal Defense Fund.
  24. ^ "Animal Legal Defense Fund Applauds Improvements to Guam's Anti-Cruelty Laws". Aldf.org. 2012-03-23. Archived from the original on 2011-05-16. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
  25. ^ "Revoke Permit for Tony the Truck Stop Tiger". Aldf.org. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
  26. ^ "Canine "CSI" Crucial in Charging Chihuahua Hoarder". Aldf.org. 2009-09-03. Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
  27. ^ "Animal Legal Defense Fund Sues to Rescue Starving Horses in Horrific Wake County Neglect Case". Aldf.org. Archived from the original on 2013-05-10. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
  28. ^ "U.S. Supreme Court to Rule on Animal Cruelty Ban". Aldf.org. Archived from the original on 2012-03-13. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
  29. ^ "ALDF Takes Kentucky Counties to Task for Failing to Protect Homeless Dogs and Cats". Aldf.org. Archived from the original on 2013-06-04. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
  30. ^ "ALDF Calls For Sweeping Reform in Laws Protecting Bluegrass State Horses". Aldf.org. 2008-04-30. Archived from the original on 2012-03-13. Retrieved 2017-05-01.

Further reading

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