Eagle killing sparks outrage

The St. Pete Times reports that there is a $4,000 reward for information that leads to the killer of a bald eagle in Seminole. An x-ray showed a metal fragment in the eagle's wing and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is conducting a necropsy to determine the cause of death. The federal government removed the bald eagle from the endangered species list in 2007, but they are still protected. Earlier this month in a separate incident, a man in Ruskin was charged with shooting a bald eagle.

Update: the Animal Crazy blog is reporting here that a spokeswoman for the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary has said that the nonprofit organization has already received some tips about the shooting.

Opinion piece on the threat of unregulated aquaculture to Gulf

The Fort Myers News-Press published a guest opinion on the possible dangers posed by large scale aquaculture farming in the Gulf of Mexico. It's written by University of Southern Florida professor John Ogden, who is also the director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography.

MSN Money weighs in on the problem with low damage values in companion animal cases

MSN Money has a great article on how the current state of the law may be changing when it comes to courts' treatment of damages in cases involving companion animals. It's common knowledge in the animal law community that courts are predisposed toward treating animals as just another piece of property in negligence cases where companion animals are injured or killed. The article mentions an insulting award of $1 from a Massachusetts court where a couples' beloved sheep were killed by a neighbors' dogs. However, the trend may be moving toward more realistic non-economic damages in these cases.

While it is worth checking out in it's entirety, the article mentions renowned Washington animal law attorney Adam Karp, who has filed wrongful death claims for the caretakers of companion animals. Karp points out the fallacy in the current "property" jurisprudence: "Truly, I do believe it is wrongful death. . . . It's not just semantics. I wouldn't say 'wrongful death' (regarding) my toaster because it was never alive, and my animal was."

Spay & Neuter bill introduced in Florida Legislature

There is more good news from the Florida Legislature regarding proposed laws to help animals. This past week, Representative Scott Randolph from Orlando introduced House Bill 451 that will require the sterilization of dogs & cats of specified age, with certain exceptions. It will also authorize counties and municipalities to enact ordinances requiring licensure of dogs & cats that are not sterilized.

News Roundup

• Ultralight led whooping cranes reach Florida (USFWS).
• Owner of seized pitbulls charged with animal neglect (News Journal).
• Horse Transport Bill reintroduced (thehorse.com).
• 37 arrested when authorities break up cockfight (Animal Crazy).
• U.S. EPA Steps in to set Florida Water Quality Standards (Environment News Service).
• Friends of Florida Panther meeting to be held January 29th (News Press).

Bob Barker funds new animal law program at University of Virginia

The Animal Law Blog points out that there's a lot to love about Bob Barker. His daily call to help control the pet population undoubtedly saved countless animals. In more recent years, he has been donating money to animal law programs around the country including schools like Harvard, Columbia, Georgetown, Duke, Northwestern, and Stanford. Most recently, he donated one million dollars to the University of Virginia to start an animal law program with students being offered formal classes starting in 2009-2010. Here's hoping that he looks to a Florida law school for his next donation!

Stetson to host 11th International Wildlife Law Conference - March 26-27

Stetson Law School will be hosting its 11th International Wildlife Law Conference on March 26 and 27, 2009. Sessions will focus on biofuel production and biodiversity impacts, sustainable ecotourism, regional fisheries management organizations and the Antarctic ecosystem. Registration information, forms, and a preliminary agenda are available here at Stetson's website.

Bill that would make bestiality a felony reintroduced in Florida Legislature

TBO reports that Sen. Nan Rich, D-Sunrise, and Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, have reintroduced a bill that would make bestiality a felony crime. A similar bill stalled in committee last year. The article notes that Rich pointed to the link between animal abuse and child abuse as an important reason to enact the law. A link to the Senate Bill (SB 448) is available at the Florida Senate's website here. The House Bill (HB 273) is available at the Florida House website here.

Supreme Court asked to hear case on depictions of animal cruelty

The ACS Blog reports that the Supreme Court may hear a case that would reverse a decision that invalidated the prohibition on selling videos that depict animal cruelty. In July of last year, the Third Circuit struck down the federal law that made it a crime to sell videos that depict animal cruelty. The decision (available here as a pdf) was profoundly disappointing - there were exceptions in the law that protected legitimate or educational uses of videos. More importantly, the law was originally passed to prohibit "crush" videos - disturbing and perverse videos where people would slowly torture and kill small animals. A majority of the Third Circuit held that the law violated the First Amendment's right to free speech inviting the Supreme Court to decide differently. However, an excellent dissenting opinion laid out the groundwork for why the law is constitutional recognizing that depictions of animal cruelty should be treated differently:

Our nation has extended solicitude to animals from an early date, and has now established a rich tapestry of laws protecting animals from the cruelty we so abhor. This interest has nested itself so deeply into the core of our society – because the interest protects the animals themselves, humans, and public mores – that it warrants being labeled compelling.

The ACS Blog post also links to an article from the NY Times that points out that the case has a better chance of being heard by the Supreme Court now that the Solicitor General has weighed in. The article quotes a portion of his brief to the Court: “Depictions of the intentional infliction of suffering on vulnerable creatures play no essential role in the expression of ideas.” I couldn't agree more. We'll keep an eye on what the Supreme Court decides to do.

Dolittler: Settling a veterinary malpractice case

I'm in the middle of a move, but have a moment or to to sift through some of the information that has been piling up in my inbox. Speaking of which, check out the guest posts here and here by Florida animal law attorney Marcy LaHart from the Dolittler Blog. They detail her experiences with cases involving veterinary malpractice and Florida's pet lemon law.

Ranking state animal protection laws

A post at Critter News Blog from a few days ago noted that the Animal Legal Defense Fund recently released its 2008 report ranking states as to the strength of animal protection laws on the books. The best five states were California, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, and Oregon. The worst five were Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, and North Dakota. Florida finished in the middle of the pack with eighteen other states and the District of Columbia. You can read more about the report and the results at the ALDF website. A copy of the report is available here as a pdf download.

Article on cruelty to animal prosecutions and law

The Lakeland Ledger published an interesting article on the shift toward more vigorous prosecution of animal cruelty cases in Florida. The article notes the links between violence toward animals being an indicator of a predisposition of violence toward people. The article also quotes Tampa animal law attorney Jennifer Dietz:

"Because we've turned into an urban society, we have brought animals into our homes now," Dietz said. "One hundred years ago, we didn't."

The result is that many people view their pets as family members rather than property. That sympathy toward "sentient beings" has extended to less sympathetic animals, like roosters, raccoons and squirrels. Dietz says that within a generation, animals could have rights in court.

Florida creates hotline to report animals used for fighting

Seen any evidence of animal's being used for fighting? Then you should call 1-877-TIP-HSUS (847-4787).

The folks over at the Orlando Sentinel's Animal Crazy blog posted an item about Florida's new animal fighting tip hotline. The hotline was created in Georgia after the Michael Vick dogfighting case, and since its implementation there, it has led to over 1,000 calls, seven raids and 11 arrests, according to a press release by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. The toll-free tip line allows anonymous calls and is being run by the Humane Society of the United States and an Atlanta-based security firm. If a caller's tip leads to the arrest and prosecution of an animal fighter, the caller is eligible for a reward of up to $5,000.

In the press release, AG McCollum recognizes the links between animal fighting and other types of crime:

"Animal fighting is a cruel and criminal behavior often associated with gang activity and other violence," said Attorney General McCollum. "Now Floridians will have an easy, anonymous way to help make their neighborhoods safer and perhaps receive a substantial reward for their efforts."