Instead of amending Moose’s law to remove untenable, unreasonable provisions, last discussed here, the bill was amended to to provide that persons charged with “animal cruelty offenses,” a presumption against being admitted into a pretrial intervention program.  As described in the statement to S861, “[a] pretrial intervention program is a program that provides defendants, generally first-time offenders, with opportunities for alternatives to the traditional criminal justice process of ordinary prosecution.” Once again, the…

On November 25, 2019, FDA posted 15 warning letters from the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) or the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) stating that certain products containing CBD were illegally labeled as dietary supplements and in many cases were also: unapproved new drugs, misbranded drugs, adulterated human foods, and in some cases were also unapproved new animal drugs and adulterated animal foods. FDA explains its position about its regulation…

Direct Action Everywhere practices what it calls “Open Rescue” which involves criminal trespass and stealing animals raised by farmers, ranchers and breeders, and believes such conduct should be legal because they are opposed to raising animals for food and biomedical research. The animals rights group has worked with councilpersons in California to introduce resolutions that support, if not applaud such conduct, as the Right to Rescue, and call for leniency for several members facing criminal…

A disturbing new trend has been developing on Facebook: raffling off animals. For example, a well-bred registered Quarter Horse yearling was recently offered for sale through a raffle on a local North Carolina equestrian page. The seller offered 100 spots, each selling for $40. Bidders paid the seller directly through PayPal for a slot, and when all of the slots were filled and paid in full, the seller held a random drawing and a winner…

Without clear statutory authority, FDA has proposed to expand its legal authority over veterinarians and veterinary compounding pharmacies in its newly released “Revised Draft Guidance on Compounding Animal Drugs from Bulk Drug Substances,” (#256) as announced on November 19, 2019. FDA continues to describe the use of certain compounded medications for animals as violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), which it will not enforce under certain prescribed circumstances. As stated…

As mentioned in Part 1 of this blog, a district court in Kentucky recently dismissed the appeal brought by Maximum Security’s owners to overturn his first place disqualification in the 2019 Kentucky Derby. Part I of this blog explained the court’s dismissal of the Wests’ state law claims. The court also dismissed Plaintiffs’ due process claims, primarily on the grounds that the Wests were not deprived of any due process rights. Id. at 9-10.…

Maximum Security’s owners cannot challenge the Kentucky racing officials’ disqualification of Maximum Security in the Kentucky Derby, according to a recent federal court decision. West v. Kentucky Horse Racing Comm., No. 5:19-211, 2019 WL 6053014 (E.D. Ky. Nov. 15, 2019). As you may remember, Maximum Security finished first in the Kentucky Derby earlier this year, but his first-place finish was unanimously disqualified by the racing stewards after it was determined that the horse interfered with…