The Litigation Program files high-impact lawsuits against individuals and industries that exploit animals, including factory farms, puppy mills, research laboratories, and roadside zoos. We litigate cases in state and federal courts with the goal of stopping abusive practices and setting ground-breaking precedent that will establish justice for animals in the legal system. In addition to suing animal abusers, we often sue state and federal governments and agencies to invalidate laws and regulations that harm animals; and we intervene in litigation to defend animal protection laws when they are under siege from industries that abuse animals.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit to compel the USDA to respond to a petition for rulemaking requesting the agency promulgate standards to promote the psychological well-being of primates used in research.
Center for Biological Diversity v. USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services
The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, arguing the wildlife-killing agency failed to reconsider the environmental effects of killing wildlife.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund and the American Wild Horse Campaign filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Forest Service’s plans to round up and sell horses living in the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory in northeast California’s Modoc National Forest.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the unlawful failure to protect “downed” or “non-ambulatory” pigs at slaughterhouses.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against Houston’s Downtown Aquarium and Landry’s Inc., alleging violations of the federal Endangered Species Act due to the conditions in which its four tigers are kept captive.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund led a coalition of animal, environmental, and community advocacy groups in challenging the constitutionality of Iowa’s Ag-Gag law. Federal courts similarly struck down Ag-Gag laws in Idaho and Utah as unconstitutional.
USDC: Animal Legal Defense Fund v. USDA #17-cv-03903-PJH
The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the USDA under FOIA for its failure to expedite records relating to Tony the tiger where those records related to potential imminent risks to Tony’s physical safety.
Animal Legal Defense Fund and Lockwood Animal Rescue Center v. Fur-Ever Wild; Wolves, Woods & Wildlife; and Teresa Lynn Petter
In 2017, the Animal Legal Defense Fund sued wildlife exhibition and fur-harvesting facility “Fur-Ever Wild” for violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by killing threatened gray wolves.
