Food safety risks, animal abuse, and illegal working conditions are rampant on factory farms, and the corporate agriculture lobby is attempting to pass so-called "ag gag" laws -- laws which would make it illegal to photograph or videotape at agricultural facilities, or to possess or distribute such evidence.

An estimated 50,000 chickens were found starving on a Stanislaus County farm after they were left without feed for over two weeks. Homes are needed for surviving hens, who will be ready for adoption in a week or two. Please visit Animal Place's adoption page if you can help.

Today's daily action for National Justice for Animals Week is: fight animal abuse in one click.

Today's daily action for National Justice for Animals Week is: become a Partner in Protection.

The laws intended to protect animals in this country are only as strong as the people willing to defend them. Thankfully for a lonely tiger named Tony, there are legal professionals like Monica Frois, Erin Pelleteri, and Brandy Sheely.

It's that time of year, when the best and the brightest law students, coaches, and judges congregate at the National Animal Law Competitions, an inter-law school competition presented by the Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark, in collaboration with the Animal Legal Defense Fund. The prestigious national competition will be hosted at UCLA School of Law, February 24-26, 2012.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund currently has an opening for a development associate in our Cotati, California office. The development associate is responsible for assisting the director of development with the day-to-day operations of ALDF fundraising programs.

The Committee on Animals and the Law of the New York State Bar Association is pleased to announce the Fifth Annual Student Writing Competition. The deadline for submission is June 29, 2012.

Animal Welfare Institute
Washington, D.C.

In May 2008, Christopher Comins shot two Siberian husky dogs that had come onto an Orange County, Florida property where Comins happened to be walking.

In January, the City of Claremont, California announced that coyotes will be a "New Priority Project" for 2012.

After relocated to Aurelia, Iowa, the Saks learned that they had an unwelcome family member, Snickers, a service dog.

ALDF wants to support and encourage dedication to the field of animal law by offering recent law graduates a free attorney membership in ALDF's Animal Law Program for one year.

Please take a moment today to contact Governor Brown and your state legislators! Urge them to oppose any legislation that will remove existing protections for homeless and lost companion animals.

Oppose legislation that will remove existing protections for homeless and lost companion animals!

Help prevent the cruel mistreatment of sick and disabled farmed animals!

Contact your federal legislators and ask for their support of the Downed Animal and Food Safety Protection Act.

The Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) has enjoyed tremendous success thanks to Pamela Frasch, assistant dean and executive director of CALS, and Kathy Hessler, clinical professor and director of the Animal Law Clinic at CALS -- the only animal law clinic in the country.

Farmed animals have been left unprotected from cruelty laws for too long.

Animal Groups Urge Indiana to Correct Legal Snafu that Has Allowed Abuse of Turtles at Annual Event as Appalling Footage from Indiana's Snapperfest 2011 Is Released

Especially where groups of neighboring urban buildings are involved, empty foreclosure properties present an increasing challenge for law enforcement as incoming criminals replace outgoing residents.

Law school is meant to be punishing, and finding ways to relieve stress while earning a J.D. can be elusive. So it is quite encouraging that some law schools have introduced warm hearts, cold noses, and four paws to help students get through these stress-filled days.

Animal Legal Defense Fund and Compassion Over Killing Seek to Stop Abuse of Newborn Chicks Following Undercover Investigation

I just got back from Washington D.C. and a productive visit at the 2012 Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Annual Meeting. For those of you unfamiliar, the AALS is a non-profit educational association of 172 law schools representing more than 10,000 law faculty in the U.S., and its Annual Meeting constitutes the largest gathering of law faculty in the world.

John joined the Animal Legal Defense Fund as a litigation fellow in October 2011 and works on a variety of cases, including farmed animals with a focus on foie gras and egg laying hens, and coyote and fox penning.

Chris joined the Animal Legal Defense Fund as a litigation fellow in September 2011 after graduating from law school. Chris works on a broad range of animal issues including puppy mills, factory farms, and consumer rights.

With the support of marine scientists, environmental groups, and the International Game Fish Association, which keeps track of all sport fishing records, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted in November to protect tiger sharks, smooth hammerheads, scalloped hammerheads, and great hammerheads.

One Southern California city trail blazes new ways to deal with their coyote populations.

Help ring in the new year by inviting your friends and family to Abuse an Animal, Go to Jail! today.

Science continues to destroy the myth that animals' rights are not worthy of legal consideration.

You helped make incredible strides for animals this year! Please make a special year-end gift to the Animal Legal Defense Fund and help make 2012 another year of extraordinary progress.

With the steady stream of shocking undercover video documenting abuses of America's "food animals" making it into our regular media diet, I am not at all surprised that the factory meat/egg/dairy industries are trying to suppress the free flow of information about their operations.

Your generous donation, and all you do to support ALDF in your everyday life, truly makes a difference... to the animals abused on factory farms, in puppy mills, and in the name of entertainment.

That first year, their focus was on raising awareness about the existence of animal law. Three years strong, this chapter continues to pool their creativity and positivity to further their goals on behalf of animals everywhere.

ALDF combats attempts to criminalize documenting abuse on factory farms.

What laws exist to protect the greatest number of animals used by humans: farmed animals?

Factory farms, also known as concentrated animal feeding operations, house hundreds or thousands of animals in very small spaces. Many of the animals on factory farms live their entire lives in cramped, dirty conditions just eating and excreting.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund is interested in hearing from you if you bought or adopted a dog from Pennsylvania after July 31, 2010 with problems caused by a lack of exercise before adoption.

Help the Animal Legal Defense Fund expose animal abusers by making a special year-end donation toward our work to protect animals from repeat abuse and win justice for animal victims.

Many people will buy foie gras this season, believing the industry's lies that it's somehow humane.

Animal Legal Defense Fund Releases Annual Report Ranking Animal Cruelty Laws Across the Nation; Illinois Remains on Top, Mississippi Shows Most Improvement

Animal Legal Defense Fund's annual study ranks laws across the country.

Rats were motivated to act empathically and made personal sacrifices to do so.

Take a moment to speak out for horses!

With your support, we can win victories for exploited and abused animals.

Last week, the USDA announced the largest penalty ever assessed against an animal exhibitor for violations of the Animal Welfare Act when it settled with the owners of the Ringling Bros. circus for $270,000 stemming from alleged mistreatment of elephants and tigers.

Co-author Lisa Turner is the president of the Texas Wesleyan SALDF chapter. This article appeared in the November issue of the Texas Bar Journal, which was devoted to animal law.

Will you help us reach one million members and raise $2012?

Current regulations under the Endangered Species Act have created an illogical and self-defeating double standard that grants "wild" chimpanzees vital protections under the Act, while denying "captive" chimpanzees in the United States any protection at all.

Call Congress today!

Contact your legislators and let them know that you are concerned about animal abuse and domestic violence in your community.

More than a quarter-million Americans have already signed the Animal Legal Defense Fund's Animal Bill of Rights. Sign on your support and speak out to your lawmakers today!

California passed several significant bills into law targeting persons who victimize animals, including the following.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund, PETA, and three individuals filed a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service for violating the Administrative Procedure Act by excluding Lolita, a solitary orca who has been confined to a tiny concrete tank at the Miami Seaquarium for more than 40 years, from the Endangered Species Act.

In August 2011, the University of Pennsylvania was issued an official warning letter for its "failure to establish programs of adequate veterinary care" for some of its research animals.

Maybe it's time for the legislature of Florida and other states to start explicitly treating animals like the victims they, so very often, tragically are.

So reads the headline of one of the many news stories on the trial and sentencing of Diane Eldrup who operated a "shelter & boarding facility" in Deer Park, IL, named "Muddy Paws."

ALDF intervenes in case, supporting state anti-cruelty law against corporate profit-seekers

On November 9, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear arguments in a case that will determine whether California voters or out-of-state corporations have the right to decide how farmed animals in California are treated.

Who can argue that a tiger wants to be spend his life in a cage at a truck stop?

Judge agrees with ALDF and rules current permit must be revoked.

An innovative program, "dog owners" who break the law for the first time (dog license, leash law infractions, and the like) are being sentenced to attend a Pet Owner Responsibility Class in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and surrounding Bernalillo County.

By moving towards this next level of laws, we can continue to advance the interests of animals through the legal system and in so doing, help make their lives more valued and meaningful.

ALDF is now fighting a case in the Supreme Court that shows they are.

In the last two weeks, we've received 130 great designs by 22 talented designers, and now it's your turn to vote for your favorite one!

Help ban private ownership of exotic animals in Ohio!

Join us in our fight against abusive puppy mills and those who support them.

For those interested in having ALDF file an amicus curiae ("friend-of-the-court") brief, please fill out this form.

Lewis & Clark Law School to launch Animal Law LL.M. (Master of Laws) program.

What Is a Dog Worth? Oral Argument in Heartbreaking Case Addresses How Our Legal System Values Companion Animals

Texas is putting the welfare of factory farmers over that of its citizens. What else are state officials good for if they cannot even protect food safety?

The Cal-Maine facility, where more than one million chickens are crammed into cages so small that the hens cannot even spread their wings, was packed full of live birds in various stages of illness and disease, and caged alongside dead, decaying corpses.

Third-year Western Law student Teri Muszak has started up the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund at Western, much to the appreciation of Cash, a 6-year-old border collie mix.

Calling all designers! The Animal Legal Defense Fund is looking for a fun, new t-shirt design.

More than 2.1 million people -- and millions of animals -- now protected.

Help ALDF stop Barkworks' blatant and illegal deceptive practices.

On July 31, I ran the San Francisco Marathon, referred to by The Wall Street Journal as "The Race Even Marathoners Fear." My motivation for running? I ran the San Francisco Marathon to raise awareness and support for the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

Calls out cruel treatment of nonhuman animals.

California Governor signs law banning shark finning.

Groups join Texas legal battle to protect consumers from salmonella outbreaks

What you can do help establish mandatory minimum sentences in aggravated forms of animal abuse? Educate yourself and then act

West Hollywood is the first municipality in the country to outlaw the sale of fur.

Slowly but surely, our culture and our laws are converging on a consensus that fashion should be pain-free.

A resource guide for students and graduates interested in this dynamic and cutting-edge area of the law.

Help stop the abuse and slaughter of horses for human consumption!

The rightness or wrongness of how we treat animals is not just about the number of animals.

Parma, Ohio joins 17 other cities in officially recognizing pets as family members, changing the phrase pet "owner" to pet "guardian" with regard to all animal-related ordinances.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a legal petition with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, urging that foie gras -- the "fatty liver" of a force-fed duck or goose -- bear a consumer warning label stating "NOTICE: Foie gras products are derived from diseased birds."

Join the Animal Legal Defense Fund in urging the USDA to place a consumer warning label on foie gras.

Kern County, California
Case Closed

Was Off-Duty Law Enforcement Officer Actually in Fear of his Safety When He Shot and Killed his Neighbor's Chihuahua with a Bow and Arrow? Kansas Prosecutors Don't Think So...

Veterinarians play an integral role in the fight against animal cruelty. Download ALDF's quick reference guide for state by state information regarding veterinarians' duty to report suspected animal cruelty.

The bill outlawing shark fins in the State of California has cleared a big hurdle and is on its way to a final vote by the full Senate.

The Los Angeles City Council moved to make it illegal to buy animals from vendors on public streets or sidewalks.