PROGRAMS

Farmed Animal Rescue in New York: Catskill Animal Sanctuary
Thursday,
March 12
6:30 - 8:30 PM
Marine wildlife entanglement and overfishing are pushing some species to the brink of extinction. Experts in wildlife biology, animal welfare and regulatory enforcement will discuss difficulties of regulation enforcement and proposed solutions including consumer influence.

Navy v. Whales: Defending Marine Habitats From Naval Sonar
Thursday
April 23
6:30 - 8:00 PM
Joshua Horwitz, author of the recently-published War of the Whales, will speak about the Natural Resources Defense Council's legal challenge to Navy sonar that causes mass stranding of whales. The lawsuit, decided by the Supreme Court, dramatized the often competing claims of environmental protection and national security. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.

CLE

Ethics, Discipline & Real World Obligations
Thursday
March 26
6:00- 9:00 PM
A premier faculty drawn from the judiciary, the disciplinary bar and law firms will focus on the ethical and potential disciplinary issues confronting attorneys in everyday litigation practice

Missed a Program? You Can Still Benefit! CLE Programs' CDs, DVDs and other course
materials can be found on the website.

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Phasing Out Elephant Circus Acts
March 5th New York Times article revealed that the Ringling Brothers Circus will begin phasing out their elephant acts, retiring all of their elephants by 2018. The issue of wild animals in traveling circuses was previously commented on in an Animal Law Committee report from 2014. The report advocated the restriction of any “traveling circuses or show” from allowing the “participation of an exotic or wild animal, including a non-human primate, in an animal act if during the thirty day period preceding such participation, such animal was traveling in a mobile housing facility.”

Legislation to Prohibit Cruel Treatment of Elephants
The Committee on Animal Law has issued a report supporting State legislation that would prohibit certain enumerated acts that constitute cruel treatment of elephants. The Committee has supported legislation to ban or severely restrict the use of animals in circuses and by other exhibitors due to the animal welfare and public safety concerns associated with such activities. Short of a full ban, the Committee supports the proposed legislation as a means of prohibiting some of the most egregious abuses of elephants who are subject to inhumane handling, discipline, and training techniques by circuses and other traveling shows.

Pet and Women Safety Act
This proposed federal legislation, which would extend protection and support for the pets of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and dating violence, was supported in a report issued by the Committees on Animal Law, Children and the Law and Domestic Violence. The proposed legislation would amend the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to prohibit threats and acts of violence against a victim's pet by prohibiting conduct that places a person in reasonable fear of the death of, or serious bodily injury to, that person's pet. The proposed legislation also would include a prohibition on interstate violations of protective orders for pets and establish a grant program to provide assistance to victims of domestic violence with pets. The committees wrote that the legislation is necessary because there is a well-established and growing body of research demonstrating a connection between animal cruelty and violence against humans, including domestic violence and child abuse, as animals are often used as a tool to control and harm human victims of domestic violence and child abuse.

African Lion as Endangered Species
The Committee on Animal Law submitted a letter in response to a request for comments from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding a petition to list the subspecies African lion as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The Committee recommended that the Secretary of the Interior determine the African lion "is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range," and list the subspecies as "endangered" throughout its range under the Act, rather than as "threatened." The Committee based its recommendation on its analysis of the work done by established organizations regarding the conditions in which the African lion exists, as applied to the relevant law, which demonstrates that the African lion satisfies the criteria for designation as "endangered" under the Act. The Committee also noted that the population of African lions continues to decline at a significant rate.

Veterinarians at Livestock Marketing Facilities
In a comment to the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (“APHIS”), the Committee on Animal Law opposed a proposed rule which would eliminate APHIS's requirement that an accredited veterinarian, state representative, or APHIS representative be on the premises of a livestock marketing facility at all times on sale days to perform duties in accordance with state and federal regulations. The Committee opposes the proposed rule because it would put animal and human health at risk and increase the likelihood of animal abuse.

Legalization of Domestic Ferrets as Pets in NYC
In testimony before the NYC Board of Health, the Committee on Animal Law supported proposed amendments to the New York City Health Code to remove the prohibition on pet ownership of domestic ferrets and require certain public health safeguards with respect to such animals kept as pets, such as immunization against rabies, sterilization (including at the time of sale or transfer), and restraint when outdoors. The Committee reasoned that domestic ferrets are recognized as enjoyable household companions (and indeed the current prohibition has not curtailed ferret ownership within the City) and there are minimal health or safety risks associated with keeping such animals with proper vaccinations as pets.

Retirement of Animals Used for Experimentation
The Committee on Animal Law issued a report supporting the proposed Research Animals Retirement Act, which would require certain research facilities to offer dogs and cats held at such research facilities for adoption, either through private placement or placement by non-profit animal rescue and shelter organizations, prior to the facilities' euthanizing such animals after the completion of any testing or research. The Committee supports this state legislation as a humane way of handling animals after their use in research. The Committee recommends that the bill be expanded to (a) include dogs and cats used for educational purposes, (b) prevent transferring animals for research or other commercial purposes, (c) provide criteria for the research facilities in determining "whether the animal's destruction is not required" or "the animal is no longer needed"; (d) establish reporting requirements on the facilities; and (e) define "higher education research facility" to comport with the term "higher education" as defined in Section 2(8) of the Education Law.

EPA Regulations re: Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
In response to a request for comment, the Committee on Animal Law submitted a comment in support of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ("NPDES") Electronic Reporting Rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency as it relates to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations ("CAFOs"). That rule would require electronic reporting instead of current paper-based NPDES reports. The Committee supports the proposed rule because it would improve the ability of federal and state regulators, as well as concerned citizens and affected communities, to better monitor and enforce issues of animal welfare, environmental pollution, and human health by increasing the availability, accuracy, and timeliness of CAFO-related information.

Committee Involvement--It's Never too Late
Committees are how the City Bar’s work gets done. Working on a committee can give you great experience while opening up a number of career doors, some you may not even anticipate.

A full list of the City Bar committees along with a brief description of each and an application form can be found on the City Bar’s website. As a number of City Bar committees have more applicants than available slots, please consider applying to more than one committee.

For more information about the Animal Law Committee and some of their previous publications, you can go to their committee page.

Legislative Affairs

Have an interest in or questions about the City Bar’s legislative work? Send an email to legislation@nycbar.org, visit our website or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.