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Animal Law

Animal Law Pathfinder

Animal law refers to the legal rules governing human interactions with nonhuman animals.  The core concern of animal law is animal protection exemplified in anti-cruelty statutes and endangered species legislation.  Animal protection laws affect a wide range of activities including: domestic animal ownership, fish and livestock farming and meatpacking, hunting and fishing, wildlife management, veterinary practice, scientific experimentation, animal sacrifice, and sports and entertainment such as circuses, rodeos and horse races. 

Animal law also encompasses matters beyond the scope of traditional animal protection.  These include laws and regulations concerning the health and safety of foods and drugs derived from animals, the control of dangerous animals, animal populations and animal diseases, as well as estate planning for the care of animals after the death of their owners.  Animal protection advocates are often divided into two groups: animal welfare advocates and animal rights advocates.  Animal welfare advocates recognize human ownership and the humane use of animals as legitimate.  Animal rights advocates seek an end to the treatment of animals as property.  This pathfinder includes primary and secondary source materials available in print and online at the Law Library and the Falvey Library.

Contents

Primary Sources

  • Federal Statutes
  • Federal Regulations
  • Pennsylvania Statutes
  • Case Law

Secondary Sources

  • Books
  • Journals
  • Internet Resources 
    • Websites
    • Weblogs
  • Subject Headings

 

Primary Sources

Since animal law includes a large number of legal issues crossing the boundaries between tort, property, criminal, and environmental law, the primary sources of law are scattered throughout the state and federal statutory and regulatory codes.  A comprehensive list of these laws is not feasible within this brief pathfinder.  The list below provides citations to some of the frequently cited statutes and regulations governing the field of animal law.

Federal Statutes

Title 7 Agriculture

  • Animal Welfare Act of 1970 (7 U.S.C. §§ 2131 et seq.)
  • Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. §§ 1901 et seq.)
  • Swine Health Protection Act (7 U.S.C. §§ 3801 et seq.)
  • Animal Cancer Research Act (7 U.S.C. §§ 3901 et seq.)
  • Animal Health Protection Act (7 U.S.C. §§ 8301 et seq.)

Title 16 Conservation

  • Dolphin Protection Consumer Information Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 1385 et seq.)
  • Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. §§ 1531 et seq.)
  • Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 661 et seq.)
  • Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1980 (16 U.S.C. §§ 2901 et seq.)
  • Great Ape Conservation Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. §§ 6301 et seq.)
  • Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. §§ 1361 et seq.)
  • Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burros Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 1331 et seq.)

Title 21 Food and Drugs

  • Poultry and Poultry Products Inspection (21 U.S.C. §§ 451 et seq.)
  • Meat Inspection (21 USC §§ 601 et seq.)
    • Humane methods of slaughter (21 U.S.C. § 603(b))
    • Prohibited acts (21 U.S.C. § 610)
    • Administration of animal drugs or antibiotics (21 U.S.C. § 620(g))

    Title 49 Transportation--Transportation of animals (49 U.S.C. § 80502)

     

    Federal Regulations

    Title 7 Agriculture
    Title 9 Animals and Animal Products
    Title 21 Food and Drugs
    Title 40 Protection of Environment
    Title 50 Wildlife and Fisheries

     

    Pennsylvania Statutes

    Cruelty to Animals (18 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 5511 et seq.)
    Humane Methods of Slaughter (3 Pa.C.S.A. § 2362)

     

    Case Law

    In addition to the case citations found in the annotated versions of state and federal statutory codes, citations to animal law cases can be located in West's American Digest System by using the following topics:

    • Animals
    • Environmental Law--Plants and Wildlife 
    • Fish
    • Game

     

    Secondary Sources

    Books

    • Animal experimentation: a guide to the issues .  By Vaughan Monamy (New York: Cambridge University Press) 2000.  Falvey Library Call No. HV4915 .M65 2000.  Written by an expert in environmental science and ethics, this book is intended for graduate and undergraduate students in the life sciences.  The chapters cover five topics: (1) issues in animal experimentation, (2) history of animal experimentation, (3) opposition to animal experimentation, (4) moral status of animals, and (5) animal use and regulation of experiments.
    • Animal Law Conference .By the Pennsylvania Bar Institute 2008.  Law Library Call No.: KFP84.5 .A45 .A55 2008.  Written by Pennsylvania attorneys with experience litigating animal law cases, this book contains the materials distributed at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute's annual Animal Law Conference.
    • Animal Law: welfare, interests, and rights. By David Farve (New York: Aspen Publishers) 2008.  Law Library Call No.:  KF390.5 .A5 .F382 2008.  Written by a law professor at Michigan State University, this book is intended primarily for law students.  The chapters cover nine topics: (1) animal ownership, (2) veterinary practice, (3) damages for harm to pets, (4) state regulation of ownership, (5) anti-cruelty laws, (6) agricultural animals, (7) access to courts, (8) the Animal Welfare Act, and (9) animal rights.
    • Animal rights: a bibliography .  By Joan Nordquist (Santa Cruz, CA: reference and Research Services) 1991.  Falvey Library Call No.: HV4708 .N67 1991.  This book lists books, pamphlets, periodical articles and other documents concerning seven aspects of animal rights: (1) general materials, (2) the animal experimentation controversy, (3) other animal rights and welfare concerns (factory farming, the fur trade, hunting, etc.), (4) regulatory and legal issues, (5) the animal rights movement, (6) history, and (7) resources.
    • Animal rights: a historical anthology . By Andrew Linzey & Paul Barry Clarke (eds.) (New York: Columbia University Press) 2004.  Falvey Library Call No. HV4711 .P65 2004.  This book is divided into three parts: I--differences between humans and animals; II--dominion and the limits of power, and III--justice, rights and obligations.  Each summarizes the writings of great western thinkers (e.g. Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke, Rousseau).  Part III includes a few more recent animal rights advocates such as Peter Singer and Tom Regan.
    • Animal rights: current debates and new directions . By Cass R. Sunstein & Martha C. Nussbaum (eds.) (New York: Oxford University Press) 2006.  Law Library Call No.: HV4708 .A56 2006.  This book of essays by legal commentators is divided into two parts.  Part one examines the current state of legal and philosophical disagreements over animal rights as well as the current "frontiers" of these disagreements.  Part two offers guidance for the future.
    • Animal rights: history and scope of a radical social movement .  By Harold D. Guither (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press) 1998.  Falvey Library Call No. HV4708 .G85 1998.  This book describes the major leaders, groups, and events in the evolution of the animal rights movement.
    • Animal rights law . By Margaret C. Jasper (Dobbs Ferry NY: Oceana Publications) 2002.  Law Library Call No.: KF3841 .Z9 J37 2002.  This book begins by discussing the animal rights movement and the major factions within it, then covers nine broad topics including: (1) anti-cruelty legislation, (2) marine mammals, (3) livestock and the meatpacking industry, (4) animal experimentation, (5) hunting and wildlife management, (6) sports and entertainment, (7) endangered species, (8) companion animals, and (9) animal sacrifice.
    • Animals and their legal rights .  By the Animal Welfare Institute (Washington, D.C.) 4th Ed. 1990.  Falvey Library Call No.: KF3841 .L4 1990.  This book contains chapters concerning specific categories of animals (cats, dogs, horses, birds, marine mammals) and chapters concerning specific activities (fighting and bating, trapping and poisoning, animals and airlines) as well as the text of various state, federal, and foreign animal welfare laws. 
    • Animals, the law and veterinary medicine: a guide to veterinary law .  By Orland Soave (Lanham, MD: Austin & Winfield) 2000.  Law Library Call No.: KF3835 .S67 2000.  This book discusses topics such as veterinary malpractice and negligence, the veterinarian-client relationship, protection of animals and protection of the public.
    • Introduction to animal rights: your child or the dog? By Gary L. Francione (Philadelphia: Temple University Press) 2000.  Law Library Call No.: HV4764 .F72 2000.  This book argues for animal rights and against the treatment of animals as property.
    • Oryx Science Bibliographies Volume 9--Animal experimentation and animal rights. By Ruth Friedman & David A. Tyckoson (eds.) (Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press) 1987.  Falvey Library Call No.: HV4708 .A54 1987.  This book provides citations for, and very brief descriptions of, public laws, congressional hearings, government reports and journal articles (mostly from the mid-1980s) concerning animal experimentation and animal welfare.
    • People, property, or pets? By Marc D. Hauser, Fiery Cushman & Matthew Kamen (eds.) (West Lafayette Ind.: Purdue University Press) 2006.  Law Library Call No.: KF390.5 .A5 P46 2006.  This book is a collection of essays discussing the philosophical and ethical basis for animal welfare, animal rights, and animals' status as property.
    • The Animal rights movement in the United States, 1975-1990: an annotated bibliography .  By Bettina Manzo (Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press) 1994.  Falvey Library Call No.: HV4764 .M38 1994.  This book begins its coverage with 1975 because the publication that year of Peter Singer's Animal Liberation: A New Ethic for Our Treatment of Animals led to more vocal and organized efforts by the animal rights movement.  The bibliography includes citations and brief descriptions of publications in newspapers, magazines, journals, books, government publications and reports.  Citations are categorized under major animal rights issues such as: factory farming and vegetarianism, trapping and fur industry, companion animals, animal experimentation, etc.
    • Unleashing rights: law, meaning, and the animal rights movement . By Helena Silverstein (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press) 1996.  Law Library Call No.: HV4708 .S555 1996.  This book focuses on the animal rights movement as an example of the way rights language is used by social movements generally.
    • Wildlife law: a global perspective .  Edited by Raj Panjwani (Chicago, IL: ABA Publishing) 2008.  Law Library Call No. K3525 .W53 2008.  This book surveys wildlife laws in the following countries: China, India, Nigeria, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.

     

    Journals

    • Animal Law  -- electronically available through HeinOnline, Lexis (2002-current) and Westlaw; printed version at Law Library Call No.: K1 .N56.
    • Drake Journal of Agricultural Law  -- electronically available through HeinOnline, Lexis and Westlaw; printed version at Law Library Call No.: K4 .R354
    • Journal of Animal Law and Ethics  -- electronically available through HeinOnline, Lexis and Westlaw; printed version at Law Library Call No.: K10 .O82255
    • The Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly published a series of articles titled "What the general practitioner needs to know about Pennsylvania animal law" in April 2006 with additional articles in the July and October issues.  Electronically available through Lexis and Westlaw; printed version at Law Library Call No.: K16 .E55.
    • The Journal of Law & Contemporary Problems devoted their winter 2007 issue to animal law and policy.  Law Library Call No.: K12 .A911.
    • San Joaquin Agricultural Law Review --  electronically available through HeinOnline, Lexis and Westlaw.

     

    Internet Resources -- Websites

    • Animal Law.com -- This website is maintained by the International Institute for Animal Law.  It provides a selected bibliography of books, legislation, case law and periodical articles.  http://www.animallaw.com/index.cfm
       
    • Animal Legal & Historical Center -- This website allows browsing of cases and statutes by jurisdiction (including international), subject and species.  It includes pleadings in selected cases.  It is maintained by the Michigan State University College of Law.  http://www.animallaw.info/
       
    • Animal Legal Defense Fund -- This website is maintained by an animal welfare advocacy organization.  http://www.aldf.org/
       
    • Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care -- This website includes links to U.S., Canadian and European laws and policies concerning the use of animals in scientific research (see Reference Resources link).  http://www.aaalac.org/
       
    • International Society for Animal Rights -- This website provides information supporting the animal rights movement.  It provides an alphabetical list of federal animal protection statutes as well as brief summaries and critiques of each statute.  It also provides several model statutes.  http://www.instituteforanimalrightslaw.org/
       
    • Lewis & Clark Law School , Center for Animal Law Studies -- This website provides a variety of information relevant to law students interested in studying or practicing in the field of animal law.  http://www.lclark.edu/org/cals/
       
    • National Association of Biomedical Researchers, Animal Law Section -- This website provides articles as well as descriptions and links to cases and statutes.  http://www.nabranimallaw.org/
       
    • ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) is an animal welfare and anti-cruelty advocacy organization.  The website includes a collection of state animal cruelty law summaries: http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=lobby_2k5_searchLaw
       
    • U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal Welfare Information Center -- This site provides news and legal information as well as government reports and guidelines.  http://awic.nal.usda.gov/
       
    • U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare -- This website has links to U.S. laws and policies concerning the use of animals in scientific research.  http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/olaw/#pol
       
    • U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. http://www.fws.gov/
       
    • U.S. National Institutes of Health, Office of Animal Care and Use -- This website has links to policies and guidelines for the use of animals by NIH research staff.  http://oacu.od.nih.gov/

     

    Internet Resources -- Weblogs

     

    Subject Headings

    The following subject headings are used in the Library Catalog and/or periodical indexes (LegalTrac, Legal Resource Index on Westlaw, Current Law Index, Index to Legal Periodicals) for animal law publications:

      • Agriculture
      • Animals
      • Animals--Law and Legislation
      • Animal Genetic Engineering
      • Animal Rights
      • Animal Welfare
      • Endangered Species
      • Farming
      • Fishing
      • Game Animals
      • Hunting
      • Laboratory Animals
      • Wildlife