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.

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

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

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.

ALDF combats attempts to criminalize documenting abuse on factory farms.

Post-Holiday Indulgence, Could Celebrity Chef Be as Diseased as Birds Force-Fed for Foie Gras?

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.

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

Give thanks that turkeys are not our food, but our companions.

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.

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

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.

Groups join Texas legal battle to protect consumers from salmonella outbreaks

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.

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

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.

In its treatment of farmed animals, how does the United States compare to Europe? Sadly, the answer is: not so great.

When we are faced with mass suffering, is it easier not to care?

If you have purchased foie gras believing it was humanely raised, we want to hear from you.

On July 7th, the Humane Society of the United States and the United Egg Producers announced an agreement by which the two traditional adversaries will jointly recommend that Congress pass new standards for the welfare of egg-laying hens. So how does this legislation fit into the broader scheme of federal animal protections?

In hipster enclaves from Silver Lake to Williamsburg, the long July 4 weekend no doubt meant a serious run on PBR, miles of windblown bangs, and artfully-uniformed ironic dodge ball games (the short shorts! the tube socks!).

A post on kcrg.com reports that "Opponents of a measure aimed at helping agricultural operations guard against 'gotcha' videos secretly filmed inside livestock operations are raising food safety and other concerns in an attempt to keep House File 589 from reaching Gov. Terry Branstad's desk this legislative session."

By now many readers will have heard of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's recent announcement that he will only eat animals that he personally killed. He's since boiled to death a lobster and cut a goat's throat.

When we animal lovers/defenders/activists/ lawyers/caregivers get together for a seminar, why on earth do the event organizers serve meat?

The following excerpt comes from a letter that ALDF received in response to our last member newsletter, in which we wrote about the need for labeling eggs due to the terrible conditions that chickens are kept in by the egg industry.

Support a win-win approach to providing children with nutritious, wholesome food choices while simultaneously reducing the number of animals used in the food industry.

Those willing to profit by causing animals to suffer share a disturbing characteristic: they lack empathy.

Recently, Animal Legal Defense Fund attorneys filed suit against the state of Texas in the case Doe v. Suehs. The suit alleges that the state has done nothing to ensure that companies that produce eggs in the state comply with a state law which, in no uncertain terms, requires egg producers to not keep hens in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, and to attend to dead, injured, and ill hens.

Make 2011 a happy new year for the animals, the earth, and yourself.

Cal-Maine came under an international spotlight last month when an undercover investigation there revealed harrowing, clearly illegal conditions for chickens and a veritable breeding ground for human health threats.

Concerned residents of Travis County and Gonzales County, Texas, represented by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, filed a lawsuit in Travis County District Court in an effort to stop the horrific abuses to birds and the human health risks posed by Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. -- the nation's largest egg supplier -- at its chicken-raising and egg production facility in Waelder, Texas.

Were you ever that passionate? Were you ever that hopeful?

Animal welfare related claims on egg cartons are almost entirely unregulated in the U.S., rendering the labeling landscape nearly meaningless.

Proposed Regulations Would Require Truthful Disclosure

I rise today to speak about free-range eggs, and I congratulate Woolworths on its recent announcement that it will decrease the number of cage-laid eggs it stocks while increasing the range of free-range eggs available on its shelves. I should note that Coles supermarkets have also undertaken this course of action.

The link between animal cruelty and basic food safety.

My trip to Australia has reminded me that the exploitation of other animals by human beings is not limited to one culture or one country. And, our duty is to speak up for the animals, even those outside our continental borders, as they will never have a voice unless and until we give them one.

When Katrina Sharman and I arrived in Perth to continue the Voiceless animal law lecture series, we had a few hours of free time. We decided to take a cab to Fremantle, where the shipping port is and where live animals, mainly sheep and cattle, are shipped overseas.

One of the big challenges is the plight of live animals exported by ship to other countries. This is a large industry in Australia. Each year, Australia exports 4 million live sheep to the Middle East and 1/2 million live cattle to Southeast Asia.

Last night, I delivered my first keynote address for the Voiceless Animal Lecture Series to a large and eager audience at the University of Sydney Law School. I was joined at the podium by Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, the Governor of New South Wales, Dr. Melissa Perry QC, and Professor Gillian Triggs, Dean of the Law School, who graciously welcomed us all.

TIME published an article yesterday that asks, "Can animal rights go too far?" - citing examples such as California's vote in 2008 to increase the size of cages for egg laying hens so they can stand up, lay down and spread their wings, and the more recent law signed by Governor Schwarzenegger last week that requires out-of-state egg producers to follow the same rules if they intend to sell their eggs in California.

Non-Californian egg-laying hens are included in a new law allowing them to stretch their wings if their eggs make it to market in the Golden State but they still must wait until 2015 to gain this new freedom.

New study looks at purchasing habits in response to public education.

Check out the most recent Student Animal Legal Defense Fund chapter spotlight, submitted by Kristina Moen, president of the SALDF chapter at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago.

Last year, Americans spent roughly $18 billion dollars on coffee—and virtually nothing to protect animals from some of the worst abuses imaginable. Is this who we are?

Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a California law banning the use of sick and disabled ("downed") animals in the human food supply. Last year, a federal judge temporarily blocked the state from enforcing the law as a result of a lawsuit brought by the National Meat Association and the American Meat Institute.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a California law banning the use of sick and disabled animals in the human food supply.

The University of Washington Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF) recently hosted a talk by Howard Lyman, author of "Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat."

I resisted becoming a vegan for a long time, mostly because I had a cheese addiction like you wouldn't believe. The funny thing is, I had several vegans around me at various times who should have been influential.

Jeremy Rifkin is a bestselling author, adviser to the European Union, founder and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and senior lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School's Executive Education Program. Imagine my delight as I was listening to the radio earlier this week to hear a full-hour interview with Rifkin discussing his newest book, in which he argues that our future rests on our ability to function as an empathic society.

Bob Barker may best be known as the beloved host of the longest running TV game show in history. But "The Price is Right" host is also a long-time advocate for animals and is the keynote speaker at Animal Legal Defense Fund's "Future of Animal Law" conference on April 9-11 at Harvard Law School.

Earlier this year, ALDF attorney Bruce Wagman did a speaking tour in the land down under with the excellent Australia-based animal rights organization Voiceless. Among the many interviews he did while on his Australian tour, he spoke with "The Law Report" at ABC Radio National, which just posted his interview on their site as "one of the best programs of 2009."

I used to dread the holiday season. Like many people, I allowed myself to be burdened with obligations that felt overwhelming. I've let go of a lot of those obligations and in recent years, I've begun to concentrate more on what the spiritual meaning of the season is.

Proving that a few voices can create change, Boston College Law School Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF) members convinced the school to stop using eggs from hens kept in battery cages and instead switch to using cage-free eggs.

In the spring 2009 semester, the Boston College Law School SALDF strategized a campaign to convince the school to stop using eggs from hens kept in battery cages and instead switch to using cage-free eggs.

Podcasts are now available of Animal Law: The Links, The Animal Law Conference at Lewis & Clark, hosted by the Center for Animal Law Studies and the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund at Lewis & Clark Law School.

How will you make your holiday kinder this year?

Back in September, we launched our Support Better Laws for Farmed Animals cause on Facebook, bringing awareness to the fact that there are no federal laws governing the conditions in which farmed animals are raised. If you received our Farmed Animal and the Law brochures, please comment and tell us your story.

It might likely surprise you to hear that the United Nations has identified animal agriculture as the largest single contributor to climate change. According to a 2007 report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), livestock generate a whopping 18 percent of human-related greenhouse gas emissions - that's even more than the gas-guzzling transportation industry. In addition, the report states that animal agriculture is a major source of land and water degradation.

AB 243 has cleared the California Legislature and now awaits Governor Schwarzenegger's signature. ALDF provided research and advice to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office (who championed the proposal) on the drafting of the bill - a process which began more than a year ago.

If you haven't had a chance to watch this video of Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, talk about the devastating role factory farms are playing in the climate change crisis, take a moment to watch it now. According to the 2007 report by the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), livestock generate a whopping 18 percent of human-related greenhouse gas emissions—that's even more than the gas-guzzling transportation industry.

Farmed animals are among the most abused in the United States, in numbers that are so staggering as to be almost incomprehensible. Investigations and industry whistleblowers have discovered abuses on farms and in slaughterhouses that are so horrific, most people cannot even bear to witness them.

Excluded by most state animal cruelty laws and the federal Animal Welfare Act, farmed animals are particularly at risk for large-scale exploitation and abuse since the advent of factory farms, which mechanized and exponentially expanded the production of animal products at the expense of humane animal care.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently heard arguments in National Meat Association v. Brown, a case in which the meat industry is attempting to invalidate a California law designed to reduce animal suffering and protect public safety.

This week only, ALDF's Farmed Animals and the Law brochures are available for FREE. Hand them out at events, display them at supporting merchants or conveniently leave them on the coffee table for your meat-eating housemates to peruse.

The July/August 2009 issue of GPSOLO magazine is all about animal law, providing tons of information for practitioners interested in the field - and further validating animal law's place as a recognized part of mainstream legal practice.

Farmed animals - those raised for the meat, dairy, and egg industries - are among the most abused in the United States, in numbers that are so staggering as to be almost incomprehensible. Find out how you can help.

Volume 2 of the Stanford Journal of Animal Law and Policy (SJALP) is now online.

While I wouldn't turn down gemstones, platinum, or even costume jewelry, I'm pretty sure the appropriate gift to offer me this month is tofu - I'm celebrating ten years of being vegan.

Have Americans' attitudes towards animals changed? Yes, they have, and it is most obvious in how Americans view their own companion animals.

I spend more evenings than I'd care to admit trying to divine what my dog and two cats are thinking. It is a never-ending source of amusement for me to watch them relate to each other, and to me, and see how they motivate and manipulate each other.

As a special tribute to all mothers, both human and non-human, I felt compelled to revisit ALDF staffer Paula Mullen's blog post about the power of the mother/child bond.

In case you need a reminder that censorship remains alive and well or that the idea of even learning about a vegetarian diet is still threatening to many industries (and academic folks who should know better), here's an article proving it.

If you're vegan, chances are you've heard someone say, "Oh, I respect what you're doing, but I could never give up ice cream." It's an understandable reaction: ice cream is good. Really good. Here's a very simple recipe for vegan ice cream.

There is a little-known practice in the dairy industry called "tail docking." According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), tail docking is a procedure by which a dairy cow's tail is either removed or partially removed.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund appealed a Feb. 19 court decision which temporarily stops the state from enforcing key provisions of California's newly upgraded law banning the use of sick and disabled animals in the food supply.

The Chicago-Kent Student Animal Legal Defense Fund hosted the Chicago-Kent "Foie Gras Panel" to debate the legality, wisdom, and ramifications of Chicago's former ban on the sale of foie gras.

California Food Safety Law Enacted in Wake of Hallmark Meat Recall Put on Hold

The Animal Legal Defense Fund fought key legal battles to protect farmed animals in 2008, including filing a lawsuit to stop cruel confinement of calves to speaking on Capitol Hill in support of a new federal bill, the Farm Animals Anti-Cruelty Act. Watch our 2008 Victories for Farmed Animals slideshow as we look back at a few of the Animal Legal Defense Fund's greatest accomplishments and celebrate the animals whose lives have benefited from the support of ALDF members and advocates like you.

Eating Meat and Its Impact on the Environment

Historic Election Day Victory for Millions of Animals

Help Stop Animal Cruelty

ALDF offers a case study analysis on the criminal laws in Iowa, where the abuse of pigs on a farm supplying Hormel has raised a national outrage.

ALDF addresses caucus supporting Farm Animals Anti-Cruelty Act