2025 Spring Quarterly Update

Victory! Cruel Cat Declawing Banned in Rhode Island

With advocacy from the Animal Legal Defense Fund and our coalition partners, Rhode Island has passed a ban on declawing cats!

Many well-meaning cat guardians have been misled into thinking that declawing is a minor procedure. In reality, it’s a major surgery in which the last digits of a cat’s toes are removed, often causing lingering or even lifelong pain in their paws. And this not only impacts the cat’s quality of life directly — it can also lead to new behavioral problems, such as causing the cat to resort to biting when their primary defense mechanism, scratching, is gone.

Declaw bans outlaw the procedure in most instances, but preserve the option for a veterinarian to remove a cat’s claws in rare cases when it’s medically necessary, such as to treat cancer of the nail bed.

With your help, ALDF has been a nationwide leader in the effort to ban declawing, with victories in multiple states and active efforts in still more — including a similar bill in California that has unanimously passed the state Assembly and is awaiting a floor vote in the state Senate by September 12. California animal advocates can advocate for the bill by sending a message to their state senators at aldf.org/californiadeclaw.

Learn more about the work you’re powering to end elective declawing at aldf.org/protectpaws.

Anti-Animal Bills Defeated in State Legislatures

Sometimes, protecting animals through legislation doesn’t just mean passing new animal-friendly bills, but also stopping bills that would harm animals from becoming law.

With your help, ALDF’s recent defensive victories include successfully opposing a Missouri bill that would have undermined local efforts to pass cat declaw bans at the city or county level; multiple Minnesota bills that would have created an open hunting season on wolves in the state; Oregon legislation that would have allowed the cruel chasing and hunting of cougars using dogs; and an Arkansas bill that would have made it nearly impossible for the crime of cockfighting to be prosecuted in the state.

California’s Proposition 12 Upheld in Big-Ag Lawsuit

From the beginning, ALDF supporters have been instrumental in working to pass, then protect, California’s landmark farmed animal protection law.

In June, yet another industry effort to overturn Proposition 12 failed when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the Iowa Pork Producers Association’s lower-court loss in its case challenging the law. With coalition partners, ALDF had intervened in the case to help California defend Prop 12. We’ve since petitioned to intervene in yet another lawsuit, this one brought by the federal government itself, and are also opposing multiple bills that would undermine state farmed animal protection laws in Congress. This work simply couldn’t happen without you.

Hosting Impactful Events for Animals

Your support enables ALDF not only to fight for animals directly, but also to educate others to help them do the same. Recent events you’ve made possible have included:

Animal Law Symposium: Shifting Legal Landscapes in a New Administration | This two-day event explored regulatory changes, emerging issues in legal standing, and other pressing issues for animal lawyers and advocates. It’s available to watch on demand at aldf.org/animallawsymposium!

Massachusetts Humane Lobby Day | Every state and territory is vital in the fight to protect animals, but some states are at the vanguard. Massachusetts ranks #2, behind only Oregon, on our latest U.S. State Animal Protection Laws Ranking Report — and critical wins there have helped inspire other legislatures to protect animals across the country. With coalition partners, we co-hosted Massachusetts Humane Lobby Day to help advocates get face time with their lawmakers to urge them to support pro-animal bills, including legislation that would protect puppies, kittens, and rabbits from cruel commercial breeding mills.

Judicial Institute on the Human-Animal Bond and the Link Between Animal Cruelty and Interpersonal Violence | Violence toward animals and violence toward humans is all too often interconnected. With our partners at the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, we brought together judges and other professionals from across the country (including Guam!) to help them navigate these complex issues to protect vulnerable animals and people alike.