The Animal Law Podcast
Society & Culture
About
Join animal law professor and longtime activist Mariann Sullivan as she explores groundbreaking legal cases shaping the future of animal protection. Each episode features in-depth discussions with leading attorneys, scholars, and advocates about critical developments in animal law—focusing on significant court decisions and their enforcement. Whether you’re a legal professional, animal advocate, or concerned citizen, discover how case law is evolving to recognize and protect animals. From landmark litigation to emerging legal theories, the Animal Law Podcast makes complex legal issues accessible while examining their impact on animals and society.
Episodes
- Court Strikes Down Trump ESA Regulations — A Win for Endangered Species
In a landmark ruling, a federal court in the Northern District of California struck down four of six challenged Trump administration regulations that had significantly weakened the Endangered Species Act’s core enforcement mechanisms. Host…
- Canada’s Live Horse Exports: Fighting for Animal Transport Law Enforcement w/ Camille Labchuk
When Canadian animal rights lawyer and Animal Justice Executive Director Camille Labchuk discovered that a Manitoba horse exporter had shipped 97 horses to Japan in December 2022 — on a rerouted flight projected to exceed Canada’s 28-hour…
- Understanding EU Farmed Animal Welfare with Dr. Neil Dullaghan
In this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, Mariann Sullivan sits down with Dr. Neil Dullaghan, political scientist and author of The Compassion Mandate : Remaking the European Union’s Leadership on Farmed Animal Welfare. Together, they exp…
- A Case of Significant Evil: Animal Law, Activism, and Constitutional Rights
In this compelling episode, Mariann Sullivan interviews Wayne Hsiung and attorney Steffen Seitz about Wayne’s conviction following animal rescues at factory farms in California. The case hinges on several groundbreaking legal arguments, in…
- The Case of the Lobster, a “Living, Sentient Creature”
In a bold legal challenge that could redefine animal protection law, PETA is taking on the Maine Lobster Festival for steaming 16,000 lobsters alive on public parkland. The case hinges on Maine’s unique animal cruelty statute that protects…
- Animals and the Constitution with Michael Dorf
In this intellectually stimulating episode of the Animal Law Podcast, Mariann Sullivan speaks with constitutional law expert Michael Dorf about his innovative course “Animals and the Constitution.” Dorf shares how fundamental legal princip…
- The Case of the Overlooked Law: Challenging Animal Confinement Through Forgotten Legislation
Attorneys Will Lowrey ( Animal Partisan ) and Jessica Blome ( Greenfire Law ) join Mariann to discuss their battle to use California’s century-old animal protection laws to help dairy calves confined in tiny hutches. Despite having clear e…
- The Case of Banning the Truth in a Public Park | First Amendment, Animal Agriculture & Free Speech
In this thought-provoking episode of the Animal Law Podcast, we dive into a First Amendment case that cuts straight to the heart of animal advocacy: can the government prevent activists from showing the public what actually happens to anim…
- Animal Law Breakthrough: Court Recognizes Dogs as Family Members with Christopher Berry
This episode of the Animal Law Podcast features Christopher Berry, Executive Director of the Nonhuman Rights Project , discussing a groundbreaking court case that recognizes companion animals as family members in certain legal contexts. Ma…
- Challenging “Alligator Alcatraz”: The Legal Fight to Protect the Everglades with Elise Bennett
In this compelling episode, Mariann Sullivan speaks with Elise Bennett, Senior Attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity , about the lawsuit challenging the controversial immigration detention facility in Florida’s Everglades. Bennet…
- Redefining Democracy: How Constitutional Law Could Embrace All Sentient Life
In a groundbreaking episode of The Animal Law Podcast, we explored radical new concepts that could fundamentally transform how constitutional law treats animals. Host Mariann Sullivan welcomed Cambridge University’s Raffael Fasel and Queen…
- Is Ventilation Shutdown Legal? Private Citizens Fighting Factory Farm Cruelty
In this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, Mariann Sullivan welcomes back Will Lowrey, legal counsel for Animal Partisan , alongside David Rosengard, managing attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund ‘s Criminal Justice Program. They div…
- Can an S.P.C.A. Prevent Cruelty to Cows? with Alene Anello
Alene Anello of Legal Impact for Chickens joins us once again, this time to talk, not about chickens, but about cows. Of course, the laws affecting farmed animals are often the same regardless of species and Legal Impact for Chickens think…
- The Case of the Cows, the Gas, and the Money with Kelsey Eberly and Skye Walker
FarmSTAND attorneys Kelsey Eberly and Skye Walker join us on this episode to discuss an absolutely infuriating case, Blumm v Northwest Natural Gas Company. They explain how an increasing number of dairy farms are more in the business of se…
- The Case of the Frankenchicken with Edie Bowles
Edie Bowles, the Managing Director of UK law firm Advocates for Animals, joins us on this episode to help us understand what appears to be a groundbreaking decision in animal welfare law that involves one of the most widespread and egregio…
- The Case of the Thirsty Elk: Saving Point Reyes’ Tule Elk with Chris Green and Rebecca Garverman
Chris Green and Rebecca Garverman join us this week to talk about a case that managed to catch the attention not only of the public at large but of a number of lawyers and, after a great deal of hard work, resulted in a historic victory. Y…
- The Case of the Cultivated Chicken with Paul Sherman
Paul Sherman, senior attorney with the public interest law firm The Institute for Justice, joins us this week to discuss the legal battle over cultivated meat in Florida. Paul is leading the landmark lawsuit brought by UPSIDE Foods, challe…
- Animal Law Podcast 114: The Case of the Not-So-Clean Water Act
Emily Miller of Food and Water Watch joins us to talk about Food and Water Watch v EPA , which involves the Clean Water Act and why, when it comes to one particular industry (guess which one!), it is so ineffective in guarding our water fr…
- Animal Law Podcast 113: The Case of the Cows Who Sought Sanctuary
Wayne Hsiung and Justin Marceau are joining us on this episode to talk about the criminal prosecution of Tracy Murphy, founder and director of Asha’s Farm Sanctuary in Newfane, New York, for supposedly stealing two cows who wandered onto h…
- Animal Law Podcast 112: The Case of the Monster Dairy
On this episode, I will be speaking about a topic that is crucial to the fight against factory farms, i.e., zoning. My guest is Holly Bainbridge, an attorney with FarmSTAND, a legal advocacy organization dedicated solely to taking on indus…
- Animal Law Podcast 111: A Lamb to the (Botched) Slaughter
Two lawyers who are at the forefront of some of the new directions in which animal law is developing join us once again on this episode. Will Lowrey of Animal Partisan and Chris Carraway of the University of Denver’s Animal Activist Legal…
- Animal Law Podcast 110: Will JBS Investors Get the Truth about Animals and Climate?
Laura Fox of the Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School and Stijn van Osch of the Humane Society of the United States join us to talk about cows, chickens, pigs, securities law, the Securities and Exchange Commiss…
- Animal Law Podcast 109: The Case That Didn’t Happen
Christopher Carraway and Steffen Seitz of the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project join us on this episode to talk about the case that didn’t happen. You may have heard about a criminal trial that was supposed to take place back in March…
- Animal Law Podcast 108: The Case of Compelled Dairy Promotion
Deborah Dubow Press, an attorney with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, joins us to talk about Williamson v USDA . This case involves both the Los Angeles school system and the USDA’s school lunch program, which influences…
- Animal Law Podcast 107: Prosecuting Cruelty
Jake Kamins joins us to talk about his groundbreaking work as an Animal Cruelty Resource Prosecutor in the Oregon Department of Justice. This position, which was created very recently, not only allows him to prosecute animal cruelty cases…
- Animal Law Podcast #106: A Case Farms Case of Cruelty
Sarah Gold of Legal Impact for Chickens joins us to discuss litigation against giant poultry factory Case Farms. As you may know, I am a big fan of efforts to get anti-cruelty laws to do what they were meant to do, that is, protecting anim…
- Animal Law Podcast #105: Breaking the Rules?: Taxpayer-Funded Animal Research Outside the US
Vanessa Shakib joins me once again, and this time, we will be discussing litigation brought by her client, White Coat Waste Project, about a really extraordinary situation at the National Institutes of Health. As you probably know, the NIH…
- Animal Law Podcast #104: The Biogas Nightmare
Christine Ball-Blakely of the Animal Legal Defense Fund joins us to discuss the work of a coalition of organizations that has filed petitions for rulemaking regarding the unbelievable subsidization, with your tax money, of “biogas,” aka fa…
- Animal Law Podcast #103: The Case of the Ad on the Bus
Matthew Strugar joins us, once again, to talk about the many surprising legal issues that arise vis-a-vis bus ads. Specifically, we’ll be discussing White Coat Waste Project v Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority , a relatively r…
- Animal Law Podcast #102: A Case of Justice Delayed for Endangered Animals
Ryan Shannon joins us to talk about Center for Biological Diversity v Haaland. The Center actually brings a lot of cases involving the Endangered Species Act, but this one is different. As you may know, if you pay attention to ESA litigati…
- Animal Law Podcast #101: The Case of the FBI at the Meat Conference
On this episode, I will be talking once again with Will Lowrey, who is heading up the relatively new legal advocacy organization, Animal Partisan . We will be talking about a Freedom of Information Act request, which has just recently beco…
- Animal Law Podcast #100: The Case of the Drugged Cattle
Larissa Liebmann, a Senior Staff Attorney with the Animal Legal Defense Fund , joins me to discuss ALDF v Becerra, in which the plaintiffs are suing the Food and Drug Administration regarding its authorization of the use of a drug known as…
- Animal Law Podcast #99: The Case of the Prohibited Protest
Civil rights attorney Matthew Strugar joins me this week to talk about a case in Washington, DC, involving the rights of animal activists protesting the sale of foie gras at two prominent restaurants in that city. Our conversation will inv…
- Animal Law Podcast #98: The Animal Law Firm
On this episode, we have something a bit different. I will be talking with Kristina Bergsten, the owner and founder of The Animal Law Firm , a Colorado law firm with a multi-state practice. For those of you who are graduating from Law Scho…
- Animal Law Podcast #97: The Case of the Miserable Monkeys and the Apathetic Agency
On this episode of the podcast, I will be talking, once again, with Katherine Meyer, who is the Director of Harvard Law School’s Animal Law and Policy Clinic, about a recent decision in a case handled by the clinic entitled New England Ant…
- Animal Law Podcast #96: What Happened to the Pigs at the Supreme Court?
If you are pleased that California’s Prop 12 (which, in a small but important way, limits the amount of suffering that can be imposed on mother pigs) survived in the Supreme Court, but you are still unclear as to exactly why and exactly wh…
- Animal Law Podcast #95: The Case of A Little Girl and Her Goat
On this episode, I will be talking, once again, to Vanessa Shakib of the California law firm, Advancing Law for Animals . Vanessa is representing E.L., who, though you don’t know her by name, you have definitely heard about. She is the you…
- Animal Law Podcast #94: The Case of the Illegal Secrets
On this episode, I will be talking, once again, with Asher Smith, Director of Litigation at the PETA Foundation, about a recent victory in the 9th Circuit in Sullivan v The University of Washington . This case involves a crucially importan…
- Animal Law Podcast #93: The Apparently Never-ending Case of Sanctuary for Chimpanzees
On today’s episode, I will be talking to Margie Robinson, an attorney with the Humane Society of the United States . Margie will be telling us about Humane Society of the United States v National Institutes of Health , the latest lawsuit i…
- Animal Law Podcast #92: Must New Vegan Foods Be Tested on Animals?
On this episode, I will be talking to Taimie Bryant, a law professor at UCLA School of Law . She will explain some of the ins and outs of a law review article she recently published in the Marquette Law Review entitled “Novel Food Ingredie…
- Animal Law Podcast #91: So You Want to Teach Animal Rights Law
Today I will be talking to Raffael Fasel and Sean Butler, who are the founders of the Cambridge Center for Animal Rights Law at Cambridge University in the UK. They are doing something quite special — a series of workshops in various parts…
- Animal Law Podcast #90: The Case of Costco’s Chickens
On this episode, I will be talking to Alene Anello, whose law firm, Legal Impact for Chickens , is pursuing a shareholder derivative case against Costco regarding the treatment of the poor little birds whose bodies end up being their extre…
- Animal Law Podcast #89: The Supreme Court Considers the Lives of Pigs
On this episode I will be discussing a case that a lot of you have no doubt heard of, and that is National Pork Producers Council v Ross , which was recently argued in the Supreme Court. This case brings into question the constitutionality…
- Animal Law Podcast #88: Going to Prison for Rescuing Animals?
On this episode, I will be discussing State of Utah v Hsiung , the case that has everyone in the movement talking. Wayne Hsiung and Jon Frohnmeyer will be here to discuss the prosecution of Wayne, along with his co-defendant Paul Picklesim…
- Animal Law Podcast #87: The Case of the Vanishing Comments
On this episode I will be discussing Krasno v Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin , a crazy case involving comments made on the Facebook and Instagram accounts of the University involving the dreadful research conducted on prim…
- Animal Law Podcast #86: A Case of (Un)”Sustainable” Salmon
It’s become pretty clear that the more that meat-eating consumers find out about how the animals they eat were treated, the more temptation there is for the industry to, shall we say, fudge the truth. Thus, today I will be talking to Dije…
- Animal Law Podcast #85: Desmond’s Law
On this episode I will be speaking with Jessica Rubin , who is the Associate Dean of Experiential Learning and the Director of the Animal Law Clinic at the University of Connecticut School of Law. She will be discussing a Connecticut law,…
- Animal Law Podcast #84: The Case of the (Un)Ethical Eggs
On this episode I will be talking to Asher Smith, who is the Director of Litigation at the PETA Foundation, about Usler v Vital Farms , which is a class action against an egg facility which makes some very elaborate claims about how well t…
- Animal Law Podcast #83: The Case of the Slaughtered Chickens
On this episode I will be talking, once again, to Kelsey Eberly, who is now with Harvard Law School’s Animals, Law and Policy Program, as well as with Dena Jones of the Animal Welfare Institute about the deeply troubling topic of chicken s…
- Animal Law Podcast #82: Maybe Cruelty Laws CAN Protect Farmed Animals!
On this week’s podcast I will be talking to Will Lowrey of Animal Outlook about a case that really has everyone in the animal law community talking. Several years ago Animal Outlook conducted an undercover investigation of Martin Farms , i…