Brooks Animal Law Digest - Issue No. 17 (February 17, 2020)

SeaWorld has settled a securities class action and related litigation related to the company’s handling of the 2013 documentary Blackfish. The company will pay $65 million to settle claims that it misled investors about declines in park visits following the release of the film.

The Department of Agriculture has revoked notorious roadside zoo Wildlife in Need’s Animal Welfare Act license, after finding the company’s owner, Tim Stark, willfully violated the law “well over 120” times. The agency has also fined the facility $300,000 and Stark $40,000.

Self-titled activist the “Prince of Whales,” Richard Maximus “Max” Strahan, may continue his Endangered Species Act lawsuit against the state of Massachusetts, a federal judge has ruled. The lawsuit alleges that the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs violates the Endangered Species Act by requiring lobster fishermen to use a type of gear (vertical buoy ropes) that may harm and kill endangered right whales.

SeaWorld has settled a securities class action and related litigation related to the company’s handling of the 2013 documentary Blackfish. The company will pay $65 million to settle claims that it misled investors about declines in park visits following the release of the film.

A federal judge has ruled that the Center for Biological Diversity does not have standing to challenge the Fish and Wildlife Service’s failure to present its Species Status Assessment Program to notice and comment rulemaking because the Endangered Species Act is not primarily an informational law.

The Department of Agriculture has revoked notorious roadside zoo Wildlife in Need’s Animal Welfare Act license, after finding the company’s owner, Tim Stark, willfully violated the law “well over 120” times. The agency has also fined the facility $300,000 and Stark $40,000.

A new review article examines the current state of cell cultivated meat, including health and nutrition, cost, and environmental impacts.

A new study suggests that the economic burden in the United States of foodborne illnesses from meat and poultry products may exceed $20 billion per year.

A note published in the Georgia State University Law Review examines the effects of the current Endangered Species Act’s implementing regulations and the changing climate may have on the administration of the statute. The note also makes direct recommendations to the Fish and Wildlife Service can accommodate climate change.