Search Results for: animals

The United States District Court for the District of Nevada Tuesday held that a county’s conditional permit regulations for housing exotic animals did not violate the US Constitution. Karl and Kayla Mitchell sued Nye County, Nevada, claiming that the conditions on their exotic animal permits were unconstitutional conditions and constituted a taking of property. The [...]

Justice Stephen O’Meara of the Supreme Court of Victoria Wednesday dismissed a case brought by the Australian Brumby Alliance (ABA) against Parks Victoria (PV) to stop the “inhumane killing” of brumby horses. PV is the government agency responsible for “managing a diverse estate of more than 4 million hectares including 3,000 land and marine parks [...]

The State of Texas Wednesday executed Wesley Ruiz after the US Supreme Court denied Ruiz’s petition to for a stay. Ruiz, convicted of fatally shooting a Texas police officer, filed an application with the court on Tuesday to stay his execution and consider his petition for a writ of certiorari. The court denied both the [...]

The Supreme Court of California Monday reversed Billy Ray Waldon’s conviction and death sentence from 1991. The court agreed with Waldon that the trial court judge wrongly allowed Waldon to represent himself at trial, even after a prior judge denied his request. The court stated that the trial court’s failure to provide counsel for Waldon [...]

Three wildlife conservation groups Wednesday sued the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Services and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in the US District Court for the District of Montana over a predator removal program which the groups argue harms “native wildlife, predator conservation, grizzly bears, and grizzly bear conservation.” The petitioners include [...]

Hamline University in Minnesota has fired adjunct art professor Erika Lopez Prater for showing 14th-century paintings of the Prophet Muhammad in class. The University asserts that the professor’s act is Islamophobic and that bringing the artwork to the classroom with Muslim students breached the limits of academic freedom. The facts do not suggest that Professor [...]

The New South Wales (NSW), Australia, Environment and Heritage Group (EHG) Friday suggested further modifications to minimise the impacts of the Warragamba Dam Raising project on NSW biodiversity and Aboriginal cultural heritage sites. The project would raise the dam by 14 metres, aiming to “reduce risk to life and property damage due to flooding downstream [...]

James Joseph is a UK staff correspondent for JURIST. He files this report from The Hague. Following on from JURIST’s breaking news from Friday last about the legal defence staff of the International Criminal Court launching a historic strike over labour rights and pay disparity, I offer this personal account from the literal front line [...]

The US Supreme Court Tuesday heard oral arguments concerning a California animal welfare law that may impact interstate commerce in violation of the dormant commerce clause. The legislation at issue in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross is Proposition 12, which prohibits California merchants from selling uncooked pork products from breeding pigs confined in a [...]

Experts in England and Wales have concluded that granting legal rights to non-human entities, such as animals, trees and rivers, would help tackle climate change and the loss of biodiversity, according to a report published Monday by the Law Society. The report suggested that introducing legal protections would create a link between the damage to [...]