OSHA Fines Animals of Montana While Failing to Require Protective Physical Barriers

Lolita was one of seven orcas kidnapped in the notorious 1970 Penn Cove round up in Puget Sound, Washington. She is now confined to the smallest orca tank in North America, despite violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund had a great week in our fight to protect the lives and advance the interest of animals!

Yesterday the Louisiana Court of Appeal issued its long-awaited opinion in Animal Legal Defense Fund v. State of Louisiana, holding that Michael Sandlin is ineligible for a permit to confine Tony the Tiger in a cage at the Tiger Truck Stop.

Federal Agency Must Now Decide Whether to Offer Captive Orca the Same Protection Afforded to Her Wild Kin

From the stench of fuel to the drone of diesel engines and the isolation of his roadside prison, Tony, a 12 year-old Siberian-Bengal tiger, has endured more than a decade of misery at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana.

This month the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Animal Book Club discusses issues of orcas in captivity as we continue our fight to protect Lolita, an orca trapped at the Miami Seaquarium.

Groups Challenge Have Trunk Will Travel's Bid for Permit to Breed Elephants Into Violent and Law-Violating Business

Is it ethical to confine the ocean's largest predators in tiny tanks and make them perform tricks? Is it safe?

As the days grow warmer here in Northern California, the Animal Legal Defense Fund docket is heating up with innovative ways to fight animal cruelty.

Animal Legal Defense Fund Intends to Sue for Suffering Grizzly Bears Under the Endangered Species Act

The Animal Legal Defense Fund is excited to announce its first Animal Book Club contest!

For sled dogs, animal cruelty has become a corporate-sponsored industry. On March 2, 2013 Alaska will hold the annual Iditarod.

Everyone is excited for the Academy Awards ceremony this Sunday. I've always been disturbed by the use of animals in film. This year's Oscars highlight the reason why.

The mascot for the Bakersfield Condors hockey team escaped from her "handler" during the national anthem before a game and was dropped several times. From the bird's perspective, she was far from "OK."

Endangered Species Act Protects Grizzlies, But Chief Saunooke Bear Park Is Violating Law, Has No Permit to Keep Bears in Concrete Pits

ALDF, PETA, and Local Residents Get Green Light to Challenge Licensing of Roadside Zoo with History of Animal Abuse

Feds Must Protect Orca Under Endangered Species Act or Supply a Legal Reason for Exclusion, Groups Say

Elephants confined in zoos often face a parade of horribles, and ALDF is responding on all fronts.

Newborn Elephant “Lily” Could Be Sent to Traveling Elephant Rental Company

Tara’s impressive history includes working as the CA Director and Legal Coordinator of a wildlife program for Earth Island Institute, clerking for the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center and for In Defense of Animals, serving as a legislative extern for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and managing the Golden Gate Audubon Society.

In a desperate attempt to resuscitate a dying industry, the Georgia Aquarium is vying for a permit to import 18 wild-caught beluga whales.

Lawsuit Means Government Must Protect Deprived Orca Under Endangered Species Act or Supply a Legal Reason Why Not to Do So

Lawsuit Against Jambbas Ranch Means New Life for Bear Who Had Languished for Years on Cement in Chain-Link Kennel

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources states that live turtles will not be used in campground festivities, following year of investigation and legal legwork by animal advocates.

Wild animals kept in captivity, whether born there or captured in the wild, are inherently dangerous. The recently surfaced video of a trainer being held under water by an orca at SeaWorld highlights this reality.

After years of living in a small, barren enclosure with a dirty concrete floor, Ben the bear bites at the chain link fence, an outward sign of the deep emotional despair he suffers in confinement.

Tony, a Siberian-Bengal tiger, paces on the hard concrete surface of his cage. He has spent every day and night of the last eleven years on display at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana – nearly his whole life. It’s no life for a tiger, or any other animal.

Animal Legal Defense Fund Asks OSHA to Require Barriers Between Trainers and Dangerous Animals at Facilities Like SeaWorld

Government excludes captive orca from Endangered Species Act protections

Will Tony stay or will he go?

San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael A. Ramos and Senator Bill Emmerson, R-Hemet, recently addressed state legislators on SB 1145, a bill that seeks to increase the fines levied against participants and spectators of illegal cockfights.

Steer tailing and horse tripping are tortuous events that have been banned in California and at least eight other states. It is time for the Minnesota State Legislature to step up and ban these rodeo activities. They are animal cruelty, plain and simple.

Last week I was forced to watch a bear, Ben, pace in his pathetic concrete and chain link enclosure in North Carolina. His sadness and mental and physical anguish is palpable.

Urge the USDA not to renew the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) license of Jambbas Ranch in Fayetteville, N.C. due to its repeated and ongoing violations, resulting in the suffering of Ben, a solitary bear, and the other animals kept there.

Roadside Zoo Allowed to Subject Bear and Other Animals to Inhumane Conditions Despite Repeated Violations of Welfare Laws

ALDF Demands an End to Owner's Illegal Possession of the Big Cat

Urge the National Marine Fisheries Service to include captive members of Lolita's Southern Resident pod in Endangered Species Act protections.

Because dolphins, porpoises, and whales are so intelligent and should be regarded as "non-human persons," a group of scientists, ethicists, and animal welfare groups has proposed a bill of rights for them, advocating for greater protection under the law.

For Seaquarium Owners, Exploiting an Endangered Whale Is Just Business as Usual

Atlantic City's Steel Pier recently came under heavy fire for plans to revive its famous diving horse show. The show, which ran from the 1920s through the 1970s, involved forcing a horse to jump off a 40 foot platform into a pool of water below.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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

The Animal Legal Defense Fund is running a 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. Get Kristin's take on the use--and abuse--of animals in entertainment.

ALDF goes back to court to fight for Tony's immediate release.

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

In the wake of ALDF's recent victory in the Tony the Tiger case, we've received a lot of questions about the ruling. ALDF staff attorney Matthew Liebman answers some of these questions.

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."

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will not renew the permit that allows Michael Sandlin, owner of Grosse Tete's Tiger Truck Stop, to display Tony, a ten-year-old Siberian-Bengal tiger.

Baton Rouge Court Grants Permanent Injunction, Ordering Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to Stop Issuing Illegal Permit Allowing Tony to Be Kept on Display in Iberville Parish

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.

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.

Great news from Baton Rouge, where Judge Michael Caldwell has ruled in favor of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and Louisiana taxpayers in our lawsuit to free Tony the Tiger from the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana.

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.

It is always good to hear when people are working on behalf of the animals, giving a voice to the voiceless. Here is a recent smattering of updates.

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

National Elephant Day you ask? Perhaps it's not the most Hallmark-ready holiday, but it's a day of celebration nonetheless.

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.

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.

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.

New law makes it a crime to sell crush videos.

So Michael Vick played a great football game for the National Football League on Monday, November 15th. So do you think that the many animals Vick abused and tortured during his reign of terror at "Bad Newz Kennels," his interstate dog fighting ring, care about his athleticism?

The Senate, following the House, passed legislation on November 19th to ban the selling of videos that depict the abuse, mutilation, torture, and killing of animals.

Animal Legal Defense Fund Urges Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to Revoke Illegal Permit for "Tony" at Iberville Parish's Tiger Truck Stop

File under: another failed attempt at interspecies communication

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

Please contact Senator Wayne Kuipers (Chair) and the other Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and ask them to pass HB 5655, 5656 & 5668. These three bills would give law enforcement new legal tools to help combat the growing scourge of animal fighting.

Please contact the zoos in your state and ask them to document their policies on "animal loans" for you.

Last night, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to pass the language of S. 3841 through a substitute amendment to H.R. 5566 which will ban the sale of animal crush videos.

It's time for the U.S. Senate to act on anti-crush legislation. Contact your Senators today and ask them to support S. 3841!

In addition to her teaching endeavors, Megan is a partner at the law firm of DeWitt Ross & Stevens in Madison, Wisconsin, where she concentrates her practice on complex civil litigation and appellate advocacy.

Charleston County, South Carolina
Case Closed

Earlier this week the New York Times published an editorial called "Disgusting but Not Illegal," which defends animal crush videos as free speech. Not only does the Times' editorial ignore the reality of these videos, but it also misreads the text of the new bill to ban their sale and distribution.

In response to recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Congress seeks to find a narrower road to protecting animals

Good news from Congress: last week, the House of Representatives voted 416-3 to pass the Prevention of Interstate Commerce in Animal Crush Videos Act of 2010, which would prohibit the sale and distribution of crush videos in interstate and foreign commerce.

Have you ever felt so passionate about a social issue... yet when you explain your position to others, rather than igniting a similar passion their eyes just glaze over? Since I started learning about the plight of the three elephants at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo a year ago, I've experienced this frustration over and over again.

Urge the City of Seattle to stop funding the Woodland Park Zoo's cruel elephant exhibit.

Help win justice for Chai, Bamboo, Watoto and Sri by making a special donation and signing the petition today. Shamefully, the Woodland Park Zoo continues to use taxpayer money to exploit its elephants for profit while failing to provide them with adequate care. Together, we can stop this abuse.

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

Pennsylvania is the last state to openly practice live pigeon shoots -- an archaic competition where live pigeons are used as shooting targets. Please help put an end to this cruel and barbaric event by contacting your Pennsylvania state legislators and asking them to support House Bill 1411 and Senate Bill 843.

Email your representatives today.

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?

What the Court's decision means for animals.

The United States Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of United States v. Stevens, a constitutional challenge to 18 U.S.C. § 48 ("Section 48"), the federal law that criminalized the sale of depictions of animal cruelty. The Court held that the law violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment and is therefore unenforceable.

ALDF's Stephen Wells' first-hand account of whales in the wild.

Whale that killed trainer is reintroduced to Sea World.

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.

An amicus curiae brief permits a non-party to offer its view of a case, typically premised on either its interest in the outcome or its expertise in the field. The Animal Legal Defense Fund submits amicus briefs in a wide variety of cases, working to advance the interests of animals by urging courts to recognize their own interests and their special value to humans.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments tomorrow in U.S. v. Stevens, a case involving the sale of dogfighting videos. The sale and possession of such videos has been illegal in the U.S. for a decade, but this case may result in the Supreme Court ruling that video depictions of animal cruelty are protected under the First Amendment.

ALDF Submits Amicus Brief Supporting Anti-cruelty Law

When ALDF discovered a chimpanzee named Barney in a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-licensed roadside zoo, he was languishing in solitary confinement on the cement floor of a cage. Deprived of companionship and veterinary care, he suffered from severe psychological and physical distress until he escaped from his cage and was shot and killed by a zoo employee.

Volusia County, Florida
Case Closed
Take Action! Support ALDF's First Strike and You're Out law!

I write today to express my deep gratitude to Representatives Sara Gelser and Brad Witt for sponsoring a very important bill on behalf of yours truly and ALDF, namely House Bill 2529. HB 2529 does a number of good things for animals.

In the media frenzy surrounding all things Michael Jackson over the past two weeks, it comes as no surprise that, after endless interviews with Quincy Jones, Lisa Marie Presley, Brooke Shields, Elizabeth Taylor, and pretty much anyone who might have some insight into the man behind the icon, we'd also be hearing from one of the King of Pop's closest associates - Bubbles, the chimpanzee.

U.S. Supreme Court will directly address the issue of animal cruelty.

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.

The case of dogfighter Craig Boyd illustrates how failing to prosecute operators aggressively, issuing lenient sentences for the convicted, and completely ignoring accessories to the crime impede efforts to stop animal fighting and all its cruelty.

Animal fighting has been brought to the forefront of the nation's attention by the highly publicized conviction of NFL star quarterback Michael Vick and three of his associates on federal and state charges related to illegal dogfighting.

This comprehensive resource discusses the most common types of animal fighting, issues common to animal fighting cases, state and federal laws and prosecuting animal fighting crimes.

Tragic results for everyone when wild animals are kept as "pets"

The tragic death of Travis, a Connecticut family’s “pet” chimpanzee, earlier this week, has been making international headlines. Sadly, the unfortunate result of keeping a chimpanzee as a pet comes as no surprise to us at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, where we have worked to protect the interests of Great Apes for decades.

Rescued Chimps Enjoying Life at New Sanctuary

Animal Legal Defense Fund's Federal Suit against Sid "Ranger Rick" Yost Ends in Settlement Mandating Retirement of His Allegedly Abused Chimpanzees