By STEPHANIE HOOPS
Scripps Howard News Service
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Animals are getting more legal protection in the United States as lawyers and legislators devote more of their time to animal rights.
"More and more people are appreciating the value of animals, so they're willing to spend money on protecting them in the private cases," said attorney Bruce Wagman. His animal-law practice in the San Francisco offices of Schiff Hardin LLP has gone from nothing to so much work in the past six years he now does it full time and has hired two summer associates to assist him.
His clients include animal-rights organizations, such as the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
The demand for animal law classes has grown as well, said Wagman, who teaches at several law schools, including Stanford and Boalt Hall.
"I've been teaching animal law for 11 years and when I started there were six courses and now there are 80 around the country," he said.
Growth is also seen in the number of regulations and bills.
The city of West Hollywood's prohibition on cat declawing was recently reinstated by a state appeals court, effectively legitimizing ordinances enacted in other cities.
Orly Degani, an attorney who argued West Hollywood's case, said animal activists are becoming more engaged, and lawyers are taking up their cause.
"And there are a lot of state and local bars that now have animal-law committees," she said.
With Bob Barker, retired host of "The Price Is Right" television show, helping with the cause, a hot topic before the California State Legislature is a first-in-the-nation bill requiring spaying or neutering.
The California Healthy Pets Act would require California dogs and cats 6 months and older to be spayed or neutered, or the owner to pay a $500 fine. Breeders can each buy a permit that allows one litter a year.
The bill has its critics, including the American Kennel Club, which argues that it will unfairly penalize responsible dog and cat owners.
Breeding restrictions in the bill that were not acceptable to the California Veterinary Medical Association recently prompted the organization to withdraw its co-sponsorship of the bill. It has taken a neutral position.
California's protections for companion animals and anti-cruelty laws stand out as some of the best in the nation, according to Joyce Tischler, the founder of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. However, the state trails in protecting factory-farming animals.
Gestation crates, which leave only enough room for breeding pigs to rise and stand but are too small for them to turn around in, is one area. The crates, now being phased out of use by companies such as Burger King, have specific legislation banning them in Oregon, Florida and Arizona.
"At this point the other states are ahead of us with regard to factory-farming issues," Tischler said.
Without a law specific to gestation crates, lawyers in California use the state's anti-cruelty laws to argue against their usage, Wagman said.
"There is a law in California that requires adequate exercise for animals that are confined so that should ban gestation crates," he said.
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