California animal law crawls forward...

A good opinion by a California appellate court last week.  Apologies for the delay in posting this; just dropped the in-laws off at LAX and am catching up on things.

At any rate, I say "good" rather than "great" because while Martinez v. Robledo holds that companion animal owners may recover reasonable costs for the treatment of a wrongfully injured companion - as opposed to mere market value - the court expressly stops short of acknowledging any sentimental, intrinsic or other value.  Very disappointing for a state that often leads the nation in progressive thinking in so many other regards. 

Championing Life And Liberty For Animals

And here's a great feature about Steve Wise's pioneering efforts to gain some genuine measure of rights for non-humans, and what we can look forward to in 2013 and beyond from the Nonhuman Rights Project. 

You go, Steve!

Read the story from NPR...

L.A. council votes to ban stores from selling non-rescue dogs, cats

Yay!

Credit for the heads-up on this one goes to Steve Wells at ALDF - read more in the L.A. Times Local...

Australian Department Stores Ban Retail Fur

VegNews Magazine is reporting that the Humane Society International is reporting that "animal fur has been abolished from all Australian department stores."

Read more here... Haven't seen anyone else reporting on this yet...

World’s 1st masters of laws program concentrates on animal law, lures animal welfare advocates

Way to go, CALS! Great write-up in today's Washington Post about their new LL.M. program... and just days after wrapping up their TWENTIETH annual animal law conference!

And perhaps even better news?!...

It appears that Canada may have stopped accepting U.S. horses for slaughter!  Read more in the Daily Racing Form, and a big shout-out to food safety guru Doug Powell at Kansas State for the heads-up on this one!

More good news!

Our friends at University of Pennsylvania Law School report that animal law is back on campus there.  Read more here.  Congrats, guys - keep up the good work!

Good news!

Word has it that Idaho is now the 23rd state to approve an animal law practice section for its state bar association! Yay!

Nepal deploys drones to fight rhino poachers

See more about this we-mean-business law enforcement technique in this Youtube video. Thanks to blog reader Bruce for forwarding the link...

The irony is not lost here...

70-year-old Oregon farmer eaten by his hogs

On Wednesday morning, Terry V. Garner, a 70-year-old Oregon farmer, went to feed his animals. Several hours later, when he hadn’t returned, a family member went to look for him and found, on the ground of the hog enclosure, his dentures. 

Read more from NBC News...