Animal Welfare Act: Excluded Animals

Authors

Michael McFadden
Sue Leary
Kathy Hessler, Lewis & Clark Law School

First Page

203

Abstract

Michael McFadden discusses the Animal Welfare Act’s exclusion of farmed animals and possible reasons for their exclusion. He then briefly discusses welfare problems faced by farmed animals. He ends by describing the various ways in which consumers are showing increasing concern for farmed animals and how consumers, especially millennial consumers, are poised to force the agricultural industry to improve conditions for farmed animals. Sue Leary recounts the history of efforts to include rats, mice, and birds, in the AWA. Next, she explains the historical and contemporary issues with including common laboratory research animals under animal protection laws. She ends her discussion with an analysis of the polarized scientific and political views on this issue. Kathy Hessler begins by discussing how the AWA ignores aquatic animals. She then explains that although marine mammals are offered some protection, there are no protections for the growing number of other aquatic animals used in research, exhibition, and in the pet industry. Her discussion ends with proposals for solutions to this problem and analysis of the political barriers to those solutions.

Recommended Citation

Michael McFadden, Sue Leary & Kathy Hessler, Animal Welfare Act: Excluded Animals, 25 Animal L. Rev. 203 (2019).
Available at: https://lawcommons.lclark.edu/alr/vol25/iss2/7