On April 17, 2025, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (“NMFS”) published a notice of proposed rulemaking to rescind the agencies’ respective regulatory definitions of “harm” as that term appears in the statutory
Animal Law Developments
Animal Law Developments, published by Duane Morris LLP, covers legal issues related to animal law including endangered species protection, animal personhood cases, regulatory changes under the Endangered Species Act, and legal disputes involving animals in contexts such as divorce and environmental impact. The blog discusses court decisions, legislative proposals, and regulatory interpretations affecting animal welfare, conservation, and property law as it pertains to animals. It also addresses emerging legal frameworks for animal custody and rights, reflecting ongoing developments in animal-related jurisprudence and policy.
Latest from Animal Law Developments - Page 2
Divorcees in Massachusetts may be forced to have the conversation: ‘You want Tom’s game winning jersey or Brady the Basset Hound?’”
By Tim Stafford
Massachusetts is looking to become the ninth state to standardize a framework for judges to use in determining care and custody of companion animals during divorce. Pets are property. As much as owners, individually, give their animals value akin to…
Maine Lobster Dispute Reaches Boiling Point
by Jesse Stavis On February 6, 2025, Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. of the District of Maine issued an eighty-five-page opinion denying a motion to dismiss filed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation (“Monterey Bay”) in a case concerning allegedly…
D.C. Circuit: Machine Using AI to Create Artwork Cannot Own a Copyright in the Artwork
On March 18, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that a work created with artificial intelligence (AI) using a machine cannot be registered in the name of the machine itself because…
PETA Claims First Amendment Right to Communicate with Monkeys
The Beach Boys wrote a song called “Pet Sounds.” In a recently filed federal lawsuit, animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment Animals (“PETA”) claims that it has a First Amendment right to receive monkey sounds (as well as…
USDA Office of Inspector General’s Audit of Dog Breeders: Have Inspectors Been Barking Up the Wrong Tree?
By Michelle C. Pardo On February 3, 2025, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report of an audit that OIG had performed of the Animal Care Program Oversight of Dog Breeder Inspections. …
U.S. Supreme Court Limits “Prevailing Party” Status for Attorney’s Fee Recovery by Plaintiffs
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Lackey v. Stinnie, No. 23-621 (U.S. Feb. 25, 2025), clarified for plaintiffs what it means to be a “prevailing party” for recovery of attorney’s fees. While the case arose under the attorney’s fee…
PETA’s Animal Shelter Still Shows Grim Euthanasia Results
Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) runs a facility that it calls an animal “shelter” in Norfolk, Virginia. All animal shelters in the Commonwealth of Virginia must report annually the number of animals the shelter…