A Project of Animal People, Inc., 1992-2013
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2012:
Jessie L. Smith, who headed Pennsylvania dog law enforcement 2005-2011, on August 15, 2012 filed a defamation case in Dauphin County Court against Main Line Animal Rescue founder William Smith, of Chester Springs, North Penn Puppy Mill Watch founder Jenny Stephens, of Lansdale, and blogger Teresita Delgado, of Lancaster. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2012:
Bat World Sanctuary wins $6.1 million libel judgment
FORT WORTH–Bat World Sanctuary, and Bat World founder and president Amanda Lollar of Mineral Wells, Texas, were on June 14, 2012 awarded $6.1 million in damages by Tarrant County district Judge William Brigham, who found after a four-day trial that Los Angeles activist Mary Cummins had committed “intentional, malicious, and egregious” defamation against Lollar and had breached an internship contract she signed in 2010 with Bat World. The award was the highest known to ANIMAL PEOPLE in a defamation case involving animal advocates. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2012:
Rhode Island to give animals legal representation in cruelty & neglect case
PROVIDENCE–Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee on June 15, 2012 endorsed into law a bill that allows the director of the state Department of Environmental Management to designate a department veterinarian or a representative of the Rhode Island SPCA to act as an advocate for the animal victims in abuse and neglect cases. The advocate would be assigned to make recommendations on behalf of animal victims to any court in Rhode Island before which the custody or well-being of an animal is at issue. Introduced by state senator John J. Tassoni Jr. and state representative Peter John Petrarca, the new Rhode Island law is believed to be among the first of its kind in the world. Swiss voters in March 2007 rejected by a margin of more than 2-to-1 a ballot question seeking to establish a similar system. Governor Chafee on June 21 signed into law a bill banning the use of veal crates and restricting the use of gestation stalls for pigs. Nine other states have similar legislation.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2012:
Ringling wins right to proceed in racketeering case vs. ASPCA, AWI, HSUS, and Born Free USA
WASHINGTON D.C.–Rejecting motions seeking dismissal, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on July 9, 2012 issued a highly technical 87-page ruling that Feld Entertainment Inc., owner of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, may pursue a lawsuit under the federal Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act against the American SPCA, the Animal Welfare Institute, the Fund for Animals, the Humane Society of the U.S., and the Animal Protection Institute. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2012:
California foie gras ban takes effect
LOS ANGELES–A California law forbidding the sale of foie gras took effect on July 1, 2012, almost eight years after passage–and was challenged in court less than 24 hours later by plaintiffs including Hot’s Restaurant Group, the foie gras trade organization Association des Éleveurs de Canards et d’Oies du Québec, and Hudson Valley Foie Gras, the upstate New York firm that is the largest foie gras producer in North America. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2012:
How Arizona ranchers won a partial exemption from cruelty laws
by Debra J. White
Under the headline “Legislation in the cowboy states,” the May 2012 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE reported that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer in mid-April endorsed into law a bill by state representative Peggy Judd (R-Wilcox), HB 2780, which exempts dogs used in ranching and herding from anti-cruelty laws. Judd introduced the bill after one of her constituents, a Cochise County rancher, was charged for leaving two dogs in a horse trailer for two days without food or water. Three others were left tied without clean water. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2012:
Houndsmen are convicted by video in Maine & worried in Indiana
BELFAST, Maine; LINTON, Indiana–A Superior Court jury in Waldo County, Maine on April 23, 2012 deliberated for less than an hour before convicting Randall Carl of Knox, 46, of aggravated cruelty for setting four bluetick coonhounds on an illegally trapped and tethered bobcat in February 2009. The bobcat was killed. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2012:
Paul Watson arrested on Costa Rican warrant
FRANKFURT–Season five of the Animal Planet series Whale Wars, following the exploits of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in confrontation with Japanese whalers off Antarctica, debuted on June 1, 2012 with Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson awaiting an extradition hearing in Germany. Watson was arrested in Frankfurt on May 13, 2012 on a 10-year-old Costa Rican warrant as he tried to board a flight to attend the Cannes film festival in France. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2012:
RICHMOND, Virginia–A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on April 20, 2012 unanimously
affirmed that Congress has the constitutional authority to prohibit
animal fighting. The verdict upheld federal legislation passed in
2007 that created felony penalties for cockfighting and dogfighting
in cases involving interstate transport of participants, animals,
money, or fighting paraphernalia. The 2007 legislation reinforced
sections of the federal Animal Welfare Act which have been in effect
since 1976, but previously carried only misdemeanor penalties.