The Case for the Legal Protection of Animals

This book presents the case for legal protection for animals based on humanity’s shared interests and destinies with the animal kingdom.  To underscore the urgent need for legal reform, the book documents how animals are in crisis, with separate discussions on animals in entertainment, research, fashion, the food industry, and animals in our homes, as well as issues that impact wildlife and aquatic animals. In each of the foregoing areas, there is a discussion of major developments for animals across the globe, the objective being to demonstrate how the U.S. is out of step with other major countries in its legal treatment of animals. The importance of media as a driver of change is also considered.  This background culminates to the heart of the book, which discusses and analyzes the link between human rights and animal rights, with nine areas explored (e.g., loss of biodiversity; environmental destruction; zoonotic diseases; world hunger; violence). Challengesto legal reforms are also explored, including issues associated with weak laws, the failure to enforce existing laws, and governmental agencies that tend to overlook the actions of industries.  Finally, the book explores the development of animal law and the trajectory of current laws, with analysis of developing ‘rights of nature’ laws and ‘legal personhood’ status for animals. 

"The Case for the Legal Protection of Animals is a thoroughly researched account of how we treat animals today and why far-reaching reforms are urgently needed, for the sake of the animals, the environment, and humans as well.  The book is an excellent guide to the emerging field of animal law and to the challenges it faces." (Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation and Animal Liberation Now)

"Kimberly Moore powerfully and persuasively makes the case for the legal protection of animals demonstrating the undeniable link between animal welfare, public health and the environment.  A compelling read!" (Joan Schaffner, Faculty Co-director, Animal Legal Education Initiative, The George Washington University Law School)

"Nonhuman animals (animals) need all the help they can get. The Anthropocene, often referred to as 'the age of humanity,' has evolved into 'the rage of inhumanity,' and despite thefact that we now know far more about animal sentience and emotions than in the past, countless individuals are treated as if they are merely unfeeling objects and 'property' to be 'owned' rather than as deeply feeling beings. Why, for example, does the Federal Animal Welfare Act inanely exclude rats, mice, and other animals from its definition of 'animals,' and why can more industrially farmed and brutalized pigs be legally killed per hour now when compared to years past? In her clearly written and jargon-free book, Kimberly Moore makes a strong case for granting legal rights to animals for a wide variety of reasons, including our moral obligation to respect their highly evolved emotional lives. The book unequivocally establishes that what works for 'them'—to be treated with respect, dignity, kindness, and compassion – is also good for our own well-being, a win-win for all." (Marc Bekoff Ph.D., author of The Animals' Agenda: Freedom, Compassion, and Coexistence in the Human Age  and The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy―and Why They Matter.)

 “As this book goes to print, activists are being incarcerated for rescuing animals from inhumane conditions and ag gag laws are being defended in court and introduced in national legislatures.  At the same time animal abuse on factory farms, zoos and research facilities goes unpunished.  Moore’s timely book provides the social and legal context to understand and appreciate the myriad ways that the law makes animal suffering invisible, while also providing reasons for optimism and concrete proposals for legal reform that would make a tangible difference, such as a “general legal right to rescue animals in distress.”  The book is a rare blend of research, passion, and readability, and it is a call to action.”   (Justin Marceau, Director of the Animal Law Program at the University of Denver and author of Beyond Cages).  

Kimberly C. Moore is a senior attorney at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in Washington, D.C., where she is an expert on laws governing the treatment of animals, federal income taxation, private equity and real estate. She is the Director of Public Relations for Fur Free Society, Inc. and has represented organizations dedicated to the protection of animals. Kimberly is a Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.