Brooks Animal Law Digest

This weekly publication is intended to keep interested parties abreast of the newest and most important updates in the field of animal law. But what does it mean to be within the field of animal law?

The definition of animal law can be drawn narrowly (i.e. statutes and regulations written specifically to govern conduct toward and about nonhuman animals) or broadly (i.e. any and every statute and regulation that impacts any nonhuman animal—domestic or wild—including environmental laws, trade laws, industry regulations, and so on). This resource draws the line somewhere in the middle, but closer to the latter definition. The Brooks Animal Law Digest includes updates since the prior week’s digest to federal, state, and municipal legislative affairs; federal and state case law; federal agency actions; academic publications; and occasional updates that do not fit neatly into one of the above categories but nonetheless may be helpful to those interested in animal law, whether professionally or personally. These updates will draw from a wide swath of subject areas that impact nonhuman animals’ lives, including the regulation of: animal testing and research, the advertising and sale of animal products, breed specific restrictions, setting up trusts for the care of companion animals, the treatment of companion animals in domestic violence cases, the conditions of animal breeding and slaughter operations, cultivated meat products, hunting, pollution, and wildlife in captivity. The Digest also follows litigation, legislation, and regulation under key animal law statutes and other statutes often utilized in the field, such as the Animal Welfare Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, the Freedom of Information Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. These updates also cover a wide variety of types of animals, including aquatic animals, companion animals, animals used for food and fiber, and captive wild animals.

This Digest is meant to serve as a resource for anyone interested in learning more about the field of animal law—either as high-level overview of weekly developments for those who are focused on specific work but nevertheless want to stay aware of other actions, or as a jumping off point for digging into a specific current issue in the field. The drop down menu allows you to compile updates by category, and each update contains links to background materials that will orient the reader around that specific issue.