Websites Providing Information About Animal Law

As a service to the animal law legal community, for general informational purposes, and to demonstrate how much animal law has permeated the American legal culture, ISAR is pleased to provide the names of organizations whose websites provide useful information about that subject.

American Bar Association, Blawg Directory: Animal Law
http://abajournal.com/blawgs/animal+law
Lists the most popular Animal Law Blogs, based on access by ABA members.

American Bar Association, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, Animal Law Committee http://apps.americanbar.org/dch/committee.cfm?com=IL201050
List of American Bar Association programs relating to animal law, and projects of the committee. Also contains archive of committee newsletters.

Animal Law Blog
http://animallawonline.blogspot.com/
Posts news stories pertaining to animal law cases, as well as other animal-related news. Also lists names and links for animal law attorneys nationwide, and state bar associations with animal law sections.

The Animal Law Center
http://www.theanimallawcenter.com/
Animal law firm whose site provides several links to national and international statutes, and other animal law sites.

Animal Law Coalition
http://www.animallawcoalition.com/
Posts breaking animal law news as well as the state of the law, grouped into several different animal law issues. Also contains message board for member and visitor discussion.

Animal Law Resources
http://www.animallawresource.com/
Links to California Animal Law Enforcement Guide. Enforcement The Guide is a .pdf, requiring Adobe Acrobat, and details California animal laws and enforcement powers of officials.

Animal Law Review
https://law.lclark.edu/law_reviews/animal_law_review/
Contains abstracts from past and current animal law articles featured in the Review, as well as links to other animal law organizations.

Animal Legal Defense Fund
http://www.aldf.org/
Contains recent animal law cases and incidences of publicized animal abuse. Also contains information for the general public (abuse statistics and assistance finding animal law attorneys), lay professionals (books, periodicals, and courses), and attorneys (case law, statutes, and legal forms).

Animal Legal Reports Services
http://www.animallegalreports.com/
Subscription service, providing in-depth analysis and commentary on animal law court decisions and their impact.

Animal Protection of New Mexico
http://www.apnm.org/publications/animal_law/index.php
Comprehensive list of New Mexico animal laws by city and county, as well as some state resources and links for understanding and interpreting statutes.

Animal Welfare Institute
http://www.awionline.org/
Has links under the “Government and Legal Affairs” tab to current and pending federal legislation relating to animal issues.

Animallaw.com
http://www.animallaw.com/
Contains numerous animal law statutes and cases, as well as model laws for legislative use. Also contains a searchable bibliography of animal law-related publications, including books, journal and newspaper articles, and government documents.

Anne Arundel County, Maryland, County Code Provisions Relating to Animal Control http://www.aacounty.org/animalcontrol/laws.cfm
Lists local animal law provisions.

Association of Lawyers for Animal Welfare
http://www.alaw.org.uk/
United Kingdom site, containing animal law articles including an international news feed.

Born Free U.S.A.
http://www.bornfreeusa.org/
Includes some current legislation pertaining to animal protection.

Defenders of Wildlife
http://www.defenders.org/index.php
Under “In the Courts” tab, lists issues Defenders of Wildlife pursues in the courts, as well as statutes relevant to animal and environmental.

Dog Bite Law
http://www.dogbitelaw.com/
A collection of national dog bite laws, with links for legal professionals, dog owners, bite victims, and more.

Dog Law
http://doglaw.hugpug.com/index.html
Lists legal resources relating only to dogs, organized by canine activities.

Doris Day Animal League
http://www.ddal.org/
Under “Legislative Update” tab, has links to current animal protection bills. Also has “Resources and Links” tab listing legislative research search engines and tools.

Equine Legal Solutions
http://www.equinelegalsolutions.com/
A collection of legal (and insurance) issues faced by horse-owners.

Florida Animal Law
http://www.floridaanimallaw.com/
Comprehensive list of Florida animal laws, federal animal laws, and animal organizations. Also includes recent news stories regarding animal law topics.

Florida State University College of Law Research Center Blog, Animal Law and Welfare http://guides.law.fsu.edu/c.php?g=84961
Basic news feed of animal law developments.

Free Information on Pet, Dog, Cat, & Horse Laws
http://petcaretips.net/pet_law.html
Basic compilation of links relating to animal laws, divided by species.

George Washington University Law School, Animal Law
http://www.law.gwu.edu/animal-law
Outline of University’s programs, annual conferences, and an animal law news archive.

Georgetown Law Library Animal Law Research Guide
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/AnimalLaw.cfm
Lists of books, periodicals, and websites dealing with animal law, both United States and International. Also includes suggestions for conducting additional research on the topic.

Gonzaga University School of Law Library Animal Law, https://www.law.gonzaga.edu/files/AnimalLaw.pdf
A .pdf file explaining animal law concepts, and good bibliography of cases, books, periodicals, and electronic sites.

Great Ape Project
http://www.greatapeproject.org/
Organization working to give great apes the status of personhood under laws, rather than property. Has a basic “news and information” tab for additional information.

Great Ape Standing and Personhood
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_ape_personhood
Site promoting the treatment of great apes as persons for the sake of legal statute enforcement, and promotion of this treatment, eventually, for other animals. Also includes a news feed on the international progress of this movement.

International Institute for Animal Law
http://www.animallawintl.org/
Links to databases of animal law statutes, animal law lectures, and research projects. Site promises to contain recent animal law news “soon.”

International Society for Animal Rights
http://www.isaronline.org/index.htmlwww.isaronline.org
Contains substantial information about animal law, including the first state and federal case ever to mention “animal rights.” Extensive site map.

Johnson County Humane Society
http://johnsoncountyhumane.org/law.html
Lists applicable animal law statutes for Iowa, broken down by county. Also has additional links for federal laws and animal law organizations.

Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy
http://www.jiwlp.com/index.html
List of journal’s articles and instructions for submission, as well as a database search engine focused on international animal law treaties.

King County Law Library Animal Legal Research Guide
http://www.kcll.org/guides/animal-law-guide
Lists animal law sources with an emphasis on Washington State Law. Divides sources into primary and secondary sources, as well as providing additional research tips.

Lawyers.com, Animal Law
http://animal-law.lawyers.com/
Links to some basic animal-law related articles, message boards, and a directory for finding local animal law attorneys.

Louisiana State Bar Association, Animal Law Section
http://www.animallawla.org/index.htm
Very basic site, with information about attorney members of the section and listing of state animal law provisions.

Maryland Pet, Animal Welfare Organizations, Laws and Legislation http://www.marylandpet.com/animal_welfare_laws_legislation.htm
Lists national animal law sites, as well as regional and national animal welfare organizations.

Maryland State Bar Association, Animal Law Section,
http://www.msba.org/sections/animallaw/
Limited website, with section ethics opinions, legislative testimony, and meeting minutes.

Massachusetts Trial Court Law Library
http://www.mass.gov/courts/case-legal-res/law-lib/
Lists Massachusetts animal laws, regulations, and case law, as well as a few additional web resources.

Medlibrary.org
http://medlibrary.org/medwiki/Animal_law
Article explaining basics of animal law, as well as links to animal law organizations and a handful of statutes.

Michigan State University College of Law: Animals Legal & Historical Web Center http://www.animallaw.info/
Database with over 800 full-text animal law cases, and 1,000 animal law statutes. Most are U.S., but some international law as well. Comprehensive “Frequently Asked Questions” section for attorneys and non-attorneys, as well as detailed search engine.

Minnesota State Bar Association, Animal Law Section http://www.mnbar.org/members/committees-sections/msba-sections/animal-law-section#.VqKX6JorK70
Basic site with a few practice links and basic information about members of the organization.

Mississippi Canine Coalition, Inc.
http://www.mississippi-canine-coalition.org/home
Lists Mississippi state animal law legislation, with a focus on dog ownership.

National Anti-Vivisection Society
http://www.navs.org/site/PageServer?pagename=index
Lists recent and pending legislation regarding animal rights and other developments in the area of animal law.

National Association for Biomedical Research, Animal Law Section
http://www.nabranimallaw.org/
Definitions and summary of anti-cruelty laws and other laws affecting animal-based research. Clearly slanted towards pro-biomedical research.

National Center for Animal Law
https://law.lclark.edu/centers/animal_law_studies/
Contains information about NCAL, different components of the law that make up “animal law,” and career links for animal law-based careers. It also contains information about Lewis and Clark Law School’s animal law curriculum, animal law-based extra curricular activities, and the group’s annual Animal Law Conference

National Institute for Animal Advocacy
http://www.nifaa.org/index.html
Details training program for effective lobbying on behalf of pro-animal legislation.

New Hampshire Animal Law and Animal Rights
http://www.pmorrislaw.com/NH_Animal_Laws.html
Contains New Hampshire animal laws and statutes, web links, and New Hampshire animal news.

New York State Bar Association, Special Committee on Animals and the Law http://www.nysba.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Special_Committee_on_Animals_and_the_Law_Home
Lists education programs, relevant statutes, electronic sources and publications relating to animal law, with an emphasis on New York State animal laws.

Open Directory, Society: Issues: Animal Welfare: Legal http://www.dmoz.org/Society/Issues/Animal_Welfare/Legal/
A very basic collection of animal law sites, with no real overall theme to provide context.

Orange County Community Resources, Orange County Animal Care
http://ocpetinfo.com/
Basic listing of Orange County, California animal laws.

Pet-Abuse.com,
http://www.pet-abuse.com/
Tracks upcoming animal abuse cases, and other animal-related cases, on dockets nationwide. Also contains chart of animal abuse laws state-by-state.

PetGuardian Pet Trust Plans
http://www.petguardian.com/
Contains information about creating a pet trust for care of pets whose owners predecease them.

Santa Clara Law, Guide to Animal Law
http://lawguides.scu.edu/animal
Links to monographs, journal articles, and electronic resources relating to animal law.

Species Survival Network
http://www.ssn.org/index.htm
Website run by an international coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) committed to the promotion, enhancement, and strict enforcement of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Contains information about CITES and other Animal Treaties, as well as recent news.

State Bar of Michigan, Animal Law Section
http://connect.michbar.org/animallaw/home
Variety of information, including a listserv, events, and newletters in addition to news, legislation, and legal resources.

State Bar of Texas, Animal Law Section
http://www.animallawsection.org/
Lists animal law treatises and papers featured in the Section’s Continuing Legal Education presentations. Contains little else.

Suffolk University Law Library: Animal Law
http://www.law.suffolk.edu/library/research/a-z/resguides/animal.cfm
Has links to federal and state law links, books, periodicals, law review articles, and major websites.

United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library, Animal Welfare Information Center, Government and Professional Resources https://awic.nal.usda.gov/government-and-professional-resources
Roundup of federal animal law statutes and regulations. Also has links to state and international statues and regulations.

University of Chicago Law Library, Animal Law and Animal Rights: An Introductory Guide to Selected Resources
http://law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/lomio_rp6.pdf
Lists a handful of publications and electronic resources. Also includes search tips to find additional sources.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville Law Library
http://law.utk.edu/library/
Lists research guides, journal articles, treatises, and other sources pertaining to animal law. Most concern Tennessee state laws, though some are national.

Washington State Bar Association, Animal Law Section
http://www.wsba.org/Legal-Community/Sections/Animal-Law-Section
Links to information relating to animal law practice in Washington State, including events and newsletters.

Wisconsin State Law Library, Animal Law
http://wilawlibrary.gov/topics/animal.php
Lists Wisconsin local and state statutes and ordinances regulating animal abuse and sales. Also lists national and state agencies engaged in the advocacy and protection of animals.

World Animal Net, Animal Protection Law
http://worldanimal.net/
Good primers on the usefulness of animal law legislation, both national and international, and links to books and electronic resources.

Young Williams Animal Center
http://www.young-williams.org/resources/animal-laws/
Outlines animal laws for various governmental levels, including federal, state (Kentucky), county (Knox), and city (Knoxville) levels.

Overview of ISAR’s Revolutionary Model Mandatory Spay/Neuter Statute

ISAR is pleased to announce that its new monograph, ISAR’s Revolutionary Model Mandatory Spay/Neuter Statute is now available at its website, http://www.isaronline.org/, under Site Map/LAW/Monographs. (See our blog of Wednesday, July 2, 2008, for the Table of Contents). We encourage constructive comments.

Counting the six appendices—which provide extensive bibliographies of books, articles and statutes relating to mandatory spay/neuter, legal cases directly and indirectly on that subject, and a lengthy resource explaining the legislative process generally and how animal advocates can use it to achieve their goals—the monograph is 125 pages long. Interested persons are encouraged to download and/or print it, and they may reproduce the monograph in accordance with the permission conditions that appear on the copyright page.

The Introduction explains the context in which the monograph has been written, which is that mandatory spay/neuter “laws must be grounded not in hope, sentiment, or a benevolent opinion of mankind, but rather in the world as we find it—a real world where companion animals are too often thought of as virtually inanimate objects, mere property to be used and abused by humans.”

Part A, “The Policy Component of the Companion Animal Overpopulation Problem,” establishes the foundation premises upon which rest the remainder of the monograph: that there is today a huge national problem of companion animal overpopulation (Chapter I), that at present the only way to ameliorate it is through spay/neuter (Chapter II), and that these medical procedures must be made mandatory (Chapter III).

Part B, “The Legal Component of the Companion Animal Overpopulation Problem,” is necessarily the next consideration because if spay/neuter is to be mandatory, statutes of state-wide application will have to be enacted. To understand fully ISAR’s Revolutionary Model Mandatory Spay/Neuter Statute and the philosophy that underlies it, an analysis is necessary of existing spay/neuter statutes (Chapter IV). Only against that background can ISAR’s model statute be understood and appreciated (Chapter V). Once one is talking statutes, inevitably the question of constitutionality or unconstitutionality arises, a crucial consideration for mandatory spay/neuter legislation (Chapter VI). Finally, once the constitutional hurdle is surmounted, other related issues arise (Chapter VII): For purposes of enforcement and otherwise, how to identify all companion animals; low-cost spay/neuter for the indigent; early-age spay/neuter; Departments of Animal Affairs.

Part C, “The Legislative Component of the Companion Animal Overpopulation Problem,” reveals how even the worst alleged “mandatory spay/neuter” statutes can be subverted by politicians, as recently occurred in California (Chapter VIII). As an antidote to fruitless lobbying and craven legislators, ISAR presents a powerful resource for animal advocates who seek to maximize their chance of getting legislation introduced and enacted (Chapter IX).

Part D, “Morality and Spay Neuter” (Chapter X) makes the case that animal protection, and mandatory spay/neuter as one element in accomplishing that task, is at root a moral issue. The chapter concludes with the thought that “[a]s ISAR’s national billboards beseech the public: “Spay/Neuter: It Reduces the Killing.”

The Case Against Zoos

There are many arguments against the existence of zoos, and there are many articles and some books that make a convincing case for their closure. (Among the latter is Peter Batten’s Living Trophies.) Some, but by no means all, of those arguments are:

· Zoo animals are often acquired from dealers who, in turn, have obtained them by brutal means.

· They are transported to their destinations, often over great distances, in a primitive manner with little, if any, regard to what kind of treatment their species requires.

· They are subject to attacks by vandals, and even psychopaths.

· They are often held in sterile cells or cages, suffering the debilitating effects of solitary confinement.

· They receive inadequate nutrition, eating unpalatable synthetic food, and inadequate medical care, suffering illness and disease, because of zoos’ financial constraints and zookeepers’ indifference.

· They are traded like baseball cards among zoos and other animal exhibitors, to satisfy perceived display needs.

· They are cross-bred, creating animals called “tigons” or “ligers,” that are, Frankenstein-like, neither tigers or lions.

· They are denied the life dictated by their genes and nature.

These are but a few of the reasons zoos should cease to exist, and each of them have been elaborated at great length elsewhere.

But the most fundamental objection to zoos, understood and expressed by only a small segment of today’s animal rights movement, is that zoos are an immoral enterprise because they exploit and abuse living creatures for the entertainment of the crowd, and in so doing so cause and perpetuate immeasurable suffering.

Zoos are an outrageous affront to the nature and dignity of the animals imprisoned there. The humans who gawk at zoo inhabitants are co-conspirators in the crime perpetrated against the captive animals.

Why, then, do they exist?

Geordie Duckler has written incisively at 3 Animal Law 189 (1997) that:

Zoo animals are currently regarded as objects by the state and federal courts and are perceived as manifesting the legal attributes of amusement parks. The few tort [civil wrong] liability cases directly involving zoos tend to view them as markets rather than as preserves; the park animals are viewed as dangerous recreational machinery more akin to roller coasters or Ferris wheels than to living creatures. Courts typically treat zoo keepers and owners as mechanics and manual laborers responsible for the maintenance of these dangerous instrumentalities. Disputes concerning the possession, sale and care of exotic animals, as well as the administration of the habitats in which such animals are housed, have also been treated by the courts in terms of control of materials for public exhibit and entertainment.

Note the words that I have italicized, chosen carefully by Duckler to describe captive animals imprisoned in zoos: objects, machinery, instrumentalities, materials.

In other words, zoo animals, though living creatures, are nothing more than inanimate objects.

Consider that. Primates, large cats, the magnificent elephants are no different from chairs, cars, xrays, yarn.

How, one may ask, is this possible conceptually? How can animals, that breathe, eat, drink, sleep, walk, climb, run, copulate, fear, nurture, reproduce, be considered mere inanimate objects?

Putting aside bloody biblical texts, Greco-Roman barbarity, and the influential anti-animal views of Thomas Aquinas, the father of current prevailing attitudes about animals was renowned Christian philosopher-mathematician Rene Descartes. He held that animals were automa­tons—literally. Decartes asserted that lacking a Christian “soul,” they pos­sessed no consciousness. Lacking a consciousness, he concluded, they experienced neither pleasure nor pain.

Decartes’s belief was a con­venient one because it allowed him to rationalize the dissection of unanes­thetized living creatures—all in the name of advancing the knowledge of anatomy.

If “advancing knowledge” as a rationale sounds familiar, let’s look at some of the major excuses, but certainly not legitimate justifications, for the existence of zoos today.

They supposedly “teach people about animals”—as the captive creatures pace interminably in cages, often in solitary confinement, or inhabit the same indoor/outdoor enclosure for life while humans throw them Cracker Jacks.

They allegedly “provide scientists an opportunity to study them”—while they no longer act as their genes and instinct drive them, neither seeking food nor roaming through natural habitats.

They presumably support “breeding programs,” especially of endangered species, both as an end in itself and to use the animals as barter with other zoos.

Even if these and other “practical” rationalizations for the existence of zoos were defensible, and they are not, none of them should be allowed to trump the fact that zoos are an immoral enterprise because they exploit and abuse living creatures for the entertainment of the crowd, and in so doing so cause and perpetuate immeasurable suffering.

Zoos are an outrageous affront to the nature and dignity of the animals imprisoned there. The humans who gawk at zoo inhabitants are co-conspirators in the crime perpetrated against the captive animals.

It is in the name of moral principle that zoos should be abolished, for the benefit of the captive “living trophies” and in the name of humane principle.

ISAR's Revolutionary Model Mandatory Spay/Neuter Statute

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

A. The Policy Component of the Companion Animal Overpopulation

I. The nature and scope of the problem

II. The case for spay/neuter
III. Spay/Neuter of companion animals must be made mandatory
B. The Legal Component of the Companion Animal Overpopulation Problem
IV. Analysis and critique of existing mandatory spay/neuter statutes
V. Text and annotation of ISAR’s model mandatory spay/neuter statute
VI. Constitutionality of mandatory spay/neuter statutes
VII. Corollaries to mandatory spay/neuter statutes
C. The Legislative Component of the Companion Animal Overpopulation Problem
VIII. California’s worse than useless “mandatory” spay/neuter statute
IX. Successfully promoting animal protection legislation
D. The Moral Component of the Companion Animal Overpopulation Problem
X. Morality and mandatory spay/neuter
Appendices
1. Chapters I, II and III bibliography

2. State and municipal spay/neuter statutes

3. Proposed California “mandatory” spay neuter statute

4. State cases raising constitutional questions regarding animal-related legislation

5. Fiscal Impact of Cat and Dog Intake & Euthanasia in California Shelters

6. Table of Contents: Get Political for Animals and Win the Laws They Need

For more information about ISAR's Revolutionary Model Mandatory Spay/Neuter Statute, contact ISAR at contact@isaronline.org

Vive Brigitte Bardot

Despite the promises of the French Revolution, France, like much of the world, has never had a First Amendment-like attachment to free speech.

Part of the explanation lies in xenophobia, especially regarding the United States. For example, some years back the French Parliament banned some 3,500 foreign words—including cheeseburger, chewing gum, and bulldozer—from use by advertisers, schools, corporations and the government.

Striking back at the use of mostly American/English words seen by many in France as having wounded that country’s “national pride,” the words—and thus the thoughts they represent—were interred in the graveyard of French political correctness.

So it should come as no surprise that in this day of uber-political correctness, especially in the Europe that is drowning in unassimilated Moslem immigrants, France has enacted “anti-racism” laws. They punish, criminally, speech which could incite hatred or discrimination on racial or religious grounds. These laws criminalize words on verboten topics.

We’ll put aside for now the wider issue of criminalizing pure speech, and what it says about a government that would enact such laws and about the citizenry that would stand still for it, and instead focus on the recent L’affaire Bardot.

Former actress Brigitte Bardot has for decades been France’s most vociferous voice for animal rights in that country and throughout the world. Fearless and eloquent, Mademoiselle (she will never be “Madame” to many of us) Bardot has been a lightening rod and target for France’s large anti-animal rights constituency.

Among them is the metastasizing Moslem invasion of Europe, which has brought with it Islam’s dietary and celebratory customs, including the ritual slaughter during religious holidays of conscious animals.

Two years ago, Bardot wrote a letter of protest to then-Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy, now president of France. She said “I’ve had enough of being led by the nose by this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts.”

For her exercise of free speech on behalf of animals Bardot was charged with a violation of the “incite hatred” law (she had been convicted of the same charge four times before).

The prosecutor wanted to send her to jail. Instead the judge fined Bardot the equivalent of $25,000, ordered that she pay about $1,500 to the “anti-racism” group that had complained about her letter, and required that Bardot reprint the judge’s order in the same place she had published her letter to Sarkozy.

Proudly unrepentant and undeterred, Bardot was quoted by her lawyer as saying “[s]he will not be silenced in her defense of animals.”

Thankfully, here in the United States animal rights activists do not exercise their free speech under threat of criminal punishment.

Because we don’t, we must applaud the courage of those who risk being branded as criminals in less enlightened countries like France.

According to the online Wikipedia encyclopedia, “the female depiction ‘Marianne,’ a national emblem of the French Republic, is, by extension, a personification of Liberty and Reason. It represents France, as a State, and its values . . . representing France as a nation and its history, land and culture. She is displayed in many places in France and holds a place of honor in town halls and law courts. She symbolizes the ‘Triumph of the Republic’, a bronze sculpture overlooking the Place de la Nation in Paris. Her profile stands out on the official seal of the country, is engraved on French euro coins and appears on French postage stamps; it also was featured on the former franc currency. Marianne is one of the most prominent symbols of the French Republic.”

Wikipedia also tell us that “[t]he official busts of Marianne, after having had [for many years] anonymous features, being represented by women of the people, began taking on the features of famous women starting in 1969”

The first French woman whose features appeared as Marianne, in 1969—“a personification of Liberty and Reason”—was Brigitte Bardot.

ISAR's "Harming Companion Animals" Monograph To Be Used In Law School "Animal Law And Rights" Course

Previous blogs (see May 8, 2008) have called readers's attention to the ISAR-produced monograph entitled "Harming Companion Animals: Liability and Damages."

Since its publication, the monograph has received considerable attention and has been used as a resource by animal custodians throughout the United States.

Recently, a lawyer who this summer will be teaching "Animal Law and Rights" at a New England law school asked for a copy of the monograph for use in his course. ISAR responded by offering him copies for all 25 of the students registered for the course, and he gladly accepted.

ISAR has additional copies in its inventory, and until we run out we'll make the same offer to any lawyer teaching an animal law course elsewhere.

ISAR and Animal Rights in Europe

Supporters of International Society for Animal Rights know that in recent years we have extended our humane education activities to many places outside the United States by "exporting" thousands of copies of our Reports and each August encouraging and assisting observance of our International Homeless Animals Day and candlelight vigils.

ISAR has looked beyond our shores because the awakening animal protection movements around the world are going to need all the help they can get, particularly in countries with no tradition of humane treatment of animals.

There is encouraging news:

• Three years ago, Great Britain barred hunting with dogs--although they are still allowed to follow the scent of foxes, but just not kill them.
• In Beijing where, as in the rest of China, people eat dog meat, restaurants have had a moratoriam imposed on the practice--although after the Olympics they will doubtless revert to this barbaric practice.
• Israel has barred the production of foie gras, as have some localities in Britain, and California has prohibited it--although the law is not effective until the year 2012.
• In Scotland, live animals may not be given as prizes, nor sold to children under the age of 16--although it is easy to see how the law will be circumvented.
• Hungary, Austria, Singapore, and Croatia have barred wild animals from circus acts--although the law apparently does not apply to domestic animals.
• Italy no longer allows animals to be used on television if they would be caused stressed or be forced to act against their nature--although the law's loopholes are evident.
• Bullfighting in Spain is under attack, with doping tests now conducted to ascertain if the doomed animals' useless attempts to defend themselves has been compromised and television no longer broadcasting the obscene spectacle--although without doping and TV broadcasts the fights continue.
• Four months from now a law goes into effect in Switzerland requiring dog owners to pay for and complete a two-part course focusing on the nature and needs of their animals--although holding wild animal in captivity goes on.
• Some medical schools in Russia have stopped what has been characterized as "the harmful use of animals"--although others have not, and experimentation has not been abolished.

ISAR is encouraged by these early steps toward animal protection because they stem from the growing awareness that took hold in the United States about a generation ago: that animals do have certain rights, and that it is arrogant and wrong for humans to abuse them.

Even though the current European laws leave a lot to be desired, they are a beginning--and ISAR intends to assist their proponents in strengthening and enlarging them.

We hope that our supporters realize, as we do, that animal protection seeds are sprouting all over the world--and that they need to be nurtured. With your help ISAR will keep working hard to do just that.