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INTERNATIONAL TRENDS

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Austria Balearic Islands Canada Colombia Croatia European Union France Greece

Germany India Israel Italy Spain Switzerland United Kingdom

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INTRODUCTION

Many other countries are addressing issues relating to animals and the law. In many ways their experience can be quite instructive or even predictive of future activities here in the United States.

NEWS ARTICLES

Austria

Court won’t declare chimp a person
Yahoo News, Austria, Vienna September 27, 2007 - He's now got a human name — Matthew Hiasl Pan — but he's having trouble getting his day in court. Animal rights activists campaigning to get Pan, a 26-year-old chimpanzee, legally declared a person vowed Thursday to take their challenge to Austria's Supreme Court after a lower court threw out their latest appeal. Read the article

Austria Court to Rule if Chimp has Legal Rights
The Observer (UK), April 01, 2007 – Judges in Austria are considering whether to grant a chimpanzee human status by allowing a human to become the chimpanzee’s legal guardian. Under existing law, only humans have a right to legal guardians. Read the article

Austria moves towards ban on ape experiments
CORDIS News, May 10, 2005 - An amendment to the law that would prohibit experiments on great apes is currently being considered in Austria. Such experiments are currently neither requested or approved in Austria, but Education, Science and Culture Minister Elisabeth Gehrer believes nonetheless that a change to the law is desirable as it will send a strong signal on the protection of animals in Austria, and will put the country in a ground-breaking position.
Read the article

Austria Enacts Strict Animal Rights Laws
Associated Press, May 27, 2004 - Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel hailed the law as a "pioneering example" for the world on how to respect animals, and said he would press for similar legislation across the European Union. The measure had broad support among all four main parties in the National Assembly, where Minister of Social Affairs Herbert Haupt drew laughter by holding up a small stuffed toy dog while addressing lawmakers Thursday.
Read the article

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Canada

Pets’ rights explored
Saanichnews.com, Mar 7, 2007 - Every second Sunday, Cynthia Hanischuk’s seven-year-old French bulldog gets a poached egg. Tut eats fish three times a week and likes to sit at the table during dinner parties. “Tonight he’s going to have yam,” Hanischuk said, adding that he’ll even eat off a fork.
Read the article

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Croatia

Animal Protection Act of Croatia: The Animal Protection Act of Croatia became effective as of January 1st, 2007. The purpose of the act is to protect the life, healthy and welfare of animals. Regulations created by this new animal protection act include the introduction of an Ethical Committee and a Committee for Animal Protection, the banning of experiments for the purpose of research or development of ingredients or cosmetic testing, and the ban on conducting animal experiments in elementary and high schools. The entire in its entirety can be found here.

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Colombia

Attorneys demand due process for Pacho the burro
Yahoo! News, March 9, 2005 - A burro named Pacho, held by police for three days after being involved in an accident with a drunken motorcyclist, unleashed a virulent debate in Colombia over the rights of animals to due process of law.
Read the article

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European Union

EU Plans Ban on Animal Testing for Cosmetics
Deutche Welle, January 16, 2003 - Starting in 2009, the majority of the tests conducted on animals to ensure the safety of cosmetic products -- ranging from deodorant to hand cream and lip sticks -- will be outlawed, with companies forced to use the alternative methods. For those remaining tests where no alternative has been developed yet, companies will be given a grace period until 2013.
Read the article

France

Animals to get official status in French civil code
Agence France Presse, March 11, 2005 - Animals are for the first time to get an official status of their own under France's 200 year-old civil code, in a move that reflects the country's arrival from a rural to urban society. Justice Minister Dominique Perben this week approved the recommendation of an expert's report that animals should be recognised to be "protected property, as living and sentient beings." The change to the civil code -- which is likely to go into law by the end of the year -- will create for animals a third kind of property, alongside movable and immovable goods.
Read the article

Germany

Animal protection amendment to the German constitution
European Biomedical Research Association, Winter, 2002 - In May 2002 the lower house of the German Parliament, the Bundestag, adopted a bill that would include animal protection in the national constitution. The bill was passed by a huge majority after more than 10 years of debate in political and animal welfare circles. The Bundesrat, the upper house, approved the bill in June, making Germany the first country in Europe to include animal welfare in its constitution.
Read about it

India

Animal rights group zeroes in on IISc
Tehelka.com, May 06 , 2006 - The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has come under attack by animal activists. After a verbal war over the unhygienic condition of animals in the institute campus for vivisection, animal rights activists of Do It Yourself Activism (diya), a Bangalore-based group, staged a protest, saying they are not being allowed to see the caged monkeys in the institute.
Read the article

Ministerial committee approves bill banning animal testing for cosmetics
Haaretz, Jan 28, 2007 - A bill banning animal testing for cosmetics and cleaning products was approved Sunday in the Knesset Ministerial Committee for Legislation. Following the decision, the bill will be brought Wednesday to the Knesset plenum for a preliminary reading. The current law allows the Council on Animal Experimentation to issue permits to cosmetics and detergent industries for conducting experiments which serve no medical purpose.
Read the article

Israeli Government Rejects Proposed Increase Animal Testing Restrictions
The Jerusalem Post, Jan 15, 2007 - A proposed amendment to a bill proposed by Likud MK Gideon Sa'ar that would have seen new legislative action taken to prevent experimentation on animals for the purposes of testing cosmetic or cleaning products was rejected by the Knesset on Sunday morning. They were proposing to make the law stricter Chedva Vanvenvroucke, representative of the Jerusalem Society for Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. What gives us the right to take advantage of other creatures so that we can be more beautiful?" she asked angrily. "The face of a dog or a rabbit is not like my face. Read the article

Italy

Treat dogs like kids says court
ROME (ANSA), June 7, 2007 - Dogs should be looked after like children when people take them out for a walk or in the car, Italy's Supreme Court said Tuesday. Ruling in the case of a drunk man who slammed his dog's leash in his car door and dragged it for about a kilometre before realising the animal wasn't in the vehicle, the Court said: "animals, whether led on the leash or transported in vehicles, demand the same care and attention that are normally paid to minors". Read the article

Spain

Spain may grant 'rights' to great apes
Monsters and Critics.com, April 26, 2006 - Spain's governing Socialist Party is promoting a controversial parliamentary initiative to grant rights to great apes on the basis of their resemblance to humans, news reports said Wednesday.
Read the article

Switzerland

New Swiss law protects rights of 'social' animals
Under a new Swiss law enshrining rights for animals, dog owners will require a qualification, anglers will take lessons in compassion and horses will go only in twos.
Read the article

Campaign for animal advocates gathers pace
Swissinfo.com, March 30, 2006 - The leading Swiss animal-welfare group has formally launched its proposal for legal representation for animals.
Read the article

Parliament approves animal protection law
NZZ Online, December 14, 2005 - The Swiss parliament has passed a stricter law on animal protection which falls short of the demands of animal-rights campaigners. The new law aims to protect the dignity and well-being of animals. People who abandon animals, harm their dignity or abuse them will in future face prosecution.
Read the article

Stiffer penalties demanded for animal abusers
NZZ Online, October 4, 2005 - Cruelty against animals needs to be punished more harshly according to animal protection advocates in Switzerland, who say that many cases go unreported. The Zurich-based Foundation for Animals and Law said on Monday that specialised lawyers were also needed to defend animal rights.
Read about it

United Kingdom

Legal Battle to Ensue Over the Animal Scientific Procedures Act in the UK
Third Sector (a UK publication for non-profit information), March 14, 2007 – The British Union for the Abolition Vivisection (BUAV) alleges that the Home Office failed to enforce measures to protect research animals from substantial suffering. BUAV claims to have conducted a 10-month undercover investigation at Cambridge University and collected evidence that the Home Office has inadequately enforced the Animal (Scientific Procedures) Act of 1986. Thus suit against the Home Office stems form the information gathered during the investigation and will come before the High Court on July 23, 2007. (Please contact NABR for more information on this article.)

Scottish pets to get charter of rights
UPI, January 31, 2006 - By July, dogs, cats and other domestic pets will have a 5-point charter guaranteeing animal rights under a bill moving through Scotland's parliament. The bill would make it mandatory for pet owners to provide a suitable environment, a suitable diet, allow pets to exhibit normal behavior patterns, be housed with, or apart from, other animals and be protected from suffering, injury and disease.
Read the article

Animal law will give pets their own 'bill of rights'
The Telegraph, January 31, 2006 - Pets are to be given five "freedoms" under new legislation before Parliament that aims to raise the standards of welfare by fining or jailing owners who neglect their animals.
Read the article

Government plans new rights for pets
Reuters, October 14, 2005 - The government launched a new bill to protect animals on Friday with measures that included banning children from buying pets. Ministers described the Animal Welfare Bill, which applies to England and Wales, as the most significant such legislation for nearly a century.
Read the article

Life in a goldfish bowl earns protection from laws on animal rights
The Independent, March 4, 2005 - Their three-second memory means they are unlikely to remember whether they have been badly treated by their owners. But the humble goldfish is to be afforded new rights that could leave people who fail to cater for their pet fish's needs - including changing their water regularly - facing prosecution.
Read the article

FEDERAL LEGISLATION

(current congressional session)
Bills Introduced
New Laws Enacted
Private Right of Action &
Standing under AWA

STATE ACTIVITIES

Animal Cruelty
Ownership v. Guardianship
Personhood for Animals
Pet Custody Disputes
Pet Trusts

Tort Law
Overview
Non-Economic Damages
Emotional Distress
Loss of Companionship
Primary Interests of a Chimp
Veterinarian Malpractice

Ballot Initiatives
Summary

EDUCATION

Dissection

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BAR ASSOCIATIONS

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RESOURCES

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