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.

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.

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.

Saving one animal may not change the world, but it will surely change the world for that one animal.

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

The expertise seasoned prosecutors bring to the charging process reflects the complexities which often determine the possibility of going forward with a criminal prosecution.

As a prosecutor for the past 15 years specializing in animal cruelty cases, I've come to realize that education, i.e., raising sensitivity, is key to making progress in the fight for animal rights.

It's time to close loopholes in the federal animal fighting law, thereby giving law enforcement the tools they need to hold animal abusers accountable.

Help make it illegal to attend or bring a minor to animal fights!

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

We will not rest as long as any animal is being abused.

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

Join us today to win animals the legal protection they deserve.

Spend enough time in the animal movement and you will invariably encounter people with suggestions on how better your time could be spent. What about famine? What about neglected and abused children? War crimes and genocide? The wrongly accused? In short, what about the humans?

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

Win real justice for animal victims like Rosco.

Teagan and I start our new lives together tomorrow. And it is going to be a very good day.

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?

Peter Bower of Shelby, Ohio, was arrested on May 18th, 2011, and charged with two counts of animal cruelty after allegations that he had sex with three companion dogs and possibly a horse owned by a local equestrian center.

We are all familiar with the concept of "double jeopardy." It is in the Fifth Amendment, which states, in relevant part, "nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb[.]"

Despite a huge effort to encourage Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to use his line-item veto power to exclude an unnecessary animal cruelty loophole provision from the state budget, Walker signed the budget on June 26th, 2011, with the provision as written.

Four more weeks. That is how long I have until I run the San Francisco Marathon on July 31st.

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!).

Convicted abusers may now be kept from residing with animals for up to 15 years.

Abusers Beware – Your Punishment Can Now Fit Your Crime

Contact your legislators and urge them to pursue laws which protect humans and animals from violence.

Animal Legal Defense Fund Seeks Information, Eyewitnesses to Abuse of "Trained" Elephants During Film and Television Productions

Have you witnessed an elephant being neglected, harmed, or mistreated in any way on a California movie set in the past year?

The city of Juárez considers bringing back bullfighting as a way to stimulate the economy.

Pennsylvania residents: Contact your Senator and ask support for SB 626, to finally ban pigeon shoots!

Tune in for the Animal Legal Defense Fund's series of exclusive one-on-one interviews with actress and animal advocate Kristin Bauer, who plays the lovely but lethal Vampire Pam on HBO's hit series, True Blood. Kristin shares her reaction to cities like El Paso, Albuquerque, and West Hollywood banning the sales of dogs and cats in pet stores.

Plaintiffs Protest Cruelty at the Zoo and the Use of City Funds to Support Facilities, Practices that Violate Animal Protection Laws

As temperatures sky-rocket all over the country, we are seeing more and more headlines about dogs left in parked cars. Dogs in parked cars are at extreme risk in hot weather; an enclosed car heats up in minutes, and the heat can be lethal.

Help stop this massacre of America's wild horses! Contact your U.S. Representatives and Senators today.

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.

Tell Google they should not sell mobile apps that promote animal cruelty!

The Los Angeles Times recently reported that the alleged "sport" of greyhound dog racing is in steep decline in America. Animal activists have long fought for the end of such racing, citing the horrendous conditions in which most of the dogs are kept.

A new app for mobile phones called "Dog Wars" was pulled from the Android market after public outcry only to be reintroduced a few days later under the name "KG Dogfighting."

Speak out against the sadistic practice of penning by submitting comments to the Indiana Natural Resources Commission by May 18th.

In Hawaii, Peacock "Pests" May Still be Killed, Just Not with Baseball Bats, and Attending a Dogfight Becomes a Felony; Florida Slated to Finally Criminalize the Sexual Assault of Animals

Baton Rouge Court to Consider the Animal Legal Defense Fund's Lawsuit Against the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries for Issuing Illegal Permit Allowing Tony to Be Kept on Display in Iberville Parish

Kristin talks about her concern over Tony's captivity.

This is your last chance before the hearing to join the over 27,000 people who have already signed the petition in ALDF's fight to get Tony moved to a reputable and humane big cat sanctuary.

Leo is the latest high-profile supporter to join ALDF's campaign to free Tony.

Pennsylvania residents: please make a brief, polite call to your state senator and ask support for Senate Bill 626, to finally ban pigeon shoots.

Patrick's plight moves many to action.

Your help is needed today to pass "Cooney's Law" SB 223 and make certain acts of animal cruelty a felony on the first offense!

Vampire Pam on HBO's True Blood joins ALDF in the fight to free Tony.

Animal Legal Defense Fund Sues Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries for Issuing Illegal Permit for Tony at Iberville Parish's Tiger Truck Stop

Tough new laws will protect sled dogs and other animals.

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

A Wisconsin court did not buy the recent argument of two brothers that the Wisconsin animal cruelty statute did not apply to their actions in killing several deer, no matter how cruel or senseless, because they were engaged in taking "wild animals."

This tragic case not only provides a disturbing reminder of the link between cruelty to animals and domestic violence, but also a reminder on the dangers of "free to good home" ads.

Recently, a program called Sheltering Animals of Abuse Victims (SAAV) was featured in the "O" Magazine, in an article devoted to the link between domestic abuse and animal cruelty.

Help put an end to dogfighting and create strong laws for animals so criminals who use animals for fighting receive meaningful sentences.

Baker County, Florida
Case Closed

AB 376 seeks to outlaw the practice of using shark fins to make the Chinese delicacy, shark fin soup. The bill has the support of conservationists, scientists and environmental groups, as well as sport and commercial fishermen.

Last month in Honolulu, Hawaii, Sandra Maloney (age 70) was acquitted by a jury at the end of her trial for second degree animal cruelty after she admitted to killing a peacock with a baseball bat.

Russell Swigart's parole was denied after breaking into his former co-worker's home and brutally stabbed two of her cats to death. Bridgett, the cats' guardian, sent us this letter to express her deep gratitude to all of her supporters.

The veterinarian told us Justin was rescued "just in time" after the Suffolk County, New York SPCA removed him from a foreclosed house in May 2010 where he was left abandoned with no food or water. Justin at the time of his rescueWeighing only 19 pounds, he was a skeleton with skin.

Today's daily action for National Justice for Animals Week is: suggest a caption for the recent photo of Justin, the week's official mascot.

Joshua Crain has been an Assistant District Attorney General in McMinnville, Tennessee, since July 2005. Joshua has aggressively prosecuted several animal abuse cases, three of which have made their way into Circuit Court.

Robin Gordon served as North Dakota's State Attorney in McHenry County from 1999 to 2010. During that time Robin worked on many animal cases -- most notably a hoarding case in which 18 dogs were removed from deplorable conditions in a trailer in Deering, North Dakota.

As a State Prosecutor with the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General in Los Angeles, Tannaz Kouhpainezhad, also a professor of animal law, has a perfect record of obtaining affirmances on animal cruelty appeals.

Susan Abrams Dannelly has served as the Assistant State Attorney of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of the State of Florida since 1978. Susan is known as a tough prosecutor of murder and rape cases, but she has also worked hard to gain convictions in heinous animal cruelty cases.

Gregory Vincent was elected as Edmonson County Attorney in 1998 and continues to hold the position. Determined to win justice for the birds abused in one of the largest cockfighting operations in the Southeast, Gregory is currently aggressively prosecuting the case.

Jamie Contreras is currently Assistant Attorney General in the appellate division with the Oregon Department of Justice in Salem, Oregon. She is working on a potentially precedent-setting cruelty case appeal, in which she is arguing that the court should recognize that abused animals are indeed individual "victims."

Deputy Lindsey Evans works with the Umatilla County Sheriff's office in Pendleton, Oregon. Recently, Deputy Evans prepared a painstaking police report in a nightmarish animal neglect case. Without her diligence at the horrific crime scene, there is a good chance prosecutors could not have moved forward with criminal charges.

Thank you to everyone who signed the petition and wrote letters to the Kentucky Parole Board!

Mississippi, one of the "Worst Five States" in the Animal Legal Defense Fund's latest animal protection laws rankings report, is one step closer to leaving the infamous list of the final four states currently without any felony animal cruelty penalties.

Kenton County, Kentucky
Case Closed

While the appellate opinion in the Kern County, California, Bemis/Trapani case is limited in scope, the underlying casework serves as an excellent example of a prosecutor's need to address three key issues in an animal hoarding prosecution.

Please help ALDF speak out for sled dogs by asking the corporate sponsors of events like the Iditarod to withdraw their support. Thanks to your efforts we've already overloaded the inboxes of the event's sponsors with thousands of emails.

This week, a shocking report from the British Columbia Worker's Compensation Board was leaked to the media: The general manager of a dog tour company filed an application for post traumatic stress disorder, after having killed 100 sled dogs on April 21 and 23, 2010, as ordered to by his employer.

Shocking report out of British Columbia leads to reward offer.

Many people are otherwise vegetarian, "except for fish" -- "pescatarian," in somewhat-common parlance. Personally, I think it's unarguably morally inconsistent to be an otherwise-ethical vegetarian and still to consume the bodies of fishes who have, there is no doubt, suffered in their deaths.

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.

Several criticisms were created by the sentence imposed by Plymouth County, Massachusetts District Court Judge Beverly Cannone in the Heidi Erickson animal neglect case.

On the third day of trial, Judge Bob LeBlanc dismissed the case against Christopher Comins, acquitting him of all charges related to the May 2008 shooting of two Siberian husky dogs in Orange County, Florida.

The latest indication of Spain's waning tolerance for the cruelty of bullfighting is the recent announcement by a Spanish broadcaster who is refusing to air bullfights on television, citing children as the reason for the ban.

ALDF grant aids sheriff's animal rescue

Authorities charged Martha Montgomery of Randolph County, North Carolina with felony and misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty after seizing three horses due to alleged neglect in December 2010.

President Obama's strong statement of support for the Eagles' hiring of Michael Vick and hollow rhetoric of "giving prisoners a second chance" suggests to me and other Americans that he has blinders on about the criminal atrocities committed by Michael Vick.

Thanks to your support, the Animal Legal Defense Fund has pushed the U.S. legal system to end the suffering of abused animals for over 30 years.

Michael Vick's federal sentence contains a three-year ban on the possession of a dog. Should it have been permanent? We at the Animal Legal Defense Fund certainly think so, but we have to recognize the jurisdictional limits inherent in our justice system.

Help ALDF ensure that abusers are held accountable for their crimes by making a special year-end donation toward our work to protect animals.

The Truth in Fur Labeling Act, written by Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), was approved by the Senate on December 7, 2010 and is now on its way to President Barack Obama's desk for his signature.

Kern County, California
Case Closed