United States

Summary: Howard Lyman discusses a case that provides an example of using the law to force activists to use their scarce resources in court to defend the right of free speech.

Summary: Ms. Perry outlines the actions taken on animal issues during the first session of the 105th Congress and discusses the weak consideration and lack of progress made in much of the legislative agenda in is this area. She also provides a current legislative update for each bill involved.

Summary: From the courtroom, to Capitol Hill, to the international arena, the struggle for animal rights continues (as it does too for human rights). In this volume of Animal Law, several authors discuss how the legal rights of humans compete with those of animals. Rick Eichstaedt's article, "Save the Whales" v. 'Save the Makah": The Makah and the Struggle for Native Whaling, discusses the competing interests of the Makah Indian tribe and the gray whale. The Makah will begin hunting gray whales for the first time in over seventy years in the fall of 1998. Some defenders of indigenous peoples' rights argue that the Makah should be allowed to return to their traditional ceremonial practice. Animal rights groups argue that it is not right to kill even one whale. There are no easy answers in conflicts such as these.

Summary: Mr. McGovern discusses the reasoning behind the leap from patentability of non-living things to the living things within the last twenty years. He concludes that neither the Supreme Court or Court of Customs and Patent Appeals has offered a convincing rationale for the inclusion of living things within 35 U.S.C. Section 101.

Summary: In recent years, the equine industry has become concerned by court decisions which undermine the traditional view that persons who participate in horseback riding activities assume the risk of any injury they incur. Ms. McEvoy examines significant cases and state statutes designed to meet the challenges posed by these decisions, as well as the legislative history behind a Connecticut statute.

Summary: Mr. Duckler examines the historical perceptions of zoo animals as legal entities and discusses a proposal to classify zoo animals as objects for historical preservation, suggesting that zoo animals and society will be better served by a change in the historical legal status of zoos and zoo animals.

Summary: Approximately thirty-five million dollars are spent each year by the Animal Damage Control division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to destroy predator animals that supposedly kill livestock. The methods by which the ADC kills these “predators” are appalling. Mr. Hoch argues that funding for this program is excessive, irresponsible, and raises serious ethical questions. The authors conclude that ADC activities should be terminated immediately.

Summary: Ms. Hessler examines the constitutionality of the federal hunter harassment statute and concludes that protests of hunting events should be protected under the First Amendment.

Summary: In Rain Without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement, Professor Gary L. Francione argues that the modern animal rights movement is propelled similarly like the American abolitionist movement. "New Welfarists," he claims, fruitlessly pursue the goal of ending the exploitation of nonhuman animals through measures that better their welfare but cannot result in what matters most, the abolition of their legal status as property. In this essay, Steven Wise argues that New Welfarism does not contain a "structural defect," but a "structural inconsistency" that is necessary to achieve Gary Francione's goal of abolishing the property status of nonhuman animals in a manner consistent with the moral rights of nonhuman animals.

Summary: This article provides a review of the book "Animals, Property, and the Law" by Gary Francione regarding the differences between animal rights and animal welfare.