Over the last few months, it has come to my attention that several pet shops in NYC are purchasing dogs from puppy mills, advertising the dogs as being “locally bred” and then selling the trendy dogs for a huge profit. Several of these dogs are getting sick and sometimes dying almost immediately after purchase. If this happens to you, it is …
Livestock Animal Cruelty Laws in Connecticut
Over the last month or two, I have been blogging about livestock animal cruelty laws in New York. However, Connecticut has a similar statute that proscribes the neglect of livestock animals. Pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53-247(a), livestock producers in Connecticut can be prosecuted for the failure to provide necessary food, water, shelter and veterinary care. Thus far, horse …
AgriTourism: A Few Considerations
I am a huge supporter of farms and ranches generating additional income through agritourism — not only does this help generate additional monies for an agriculture operation but it can serve as a way to help bridge the gap of understanding between city folks and producers. However, as Craig Raysor (a.ka. @AgriLawyer) from Gillon & Associates, PLLC points out in …
Ag Torts 101: Premise Liability
Sorry that it’s been a while since my last Ag Torts 101 blog. As a reminder, in this blog, I stated that a “tort” is a civil wrongdoing other than breach of contract. Among the different types of torts, negligence is the most common tort among farms, ranches, and agribusinesses. In this blog, I stated that the four common law …
Livestock Animal Cruelty Law Article
I recently wrote a livestock animal cruelty article addressing farm animal welfare issues in New York. The article discusses five defensive moves that New York livestock producers should make to help prevent criminal prosecution. Though the article is state specific, the article is informative to livestock producers all over the country. If you would like specific information on livestock animal …
Animal Law Student Writing Competition
As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I am a member of Committee on Animals and the Law (“CAL”) for the New York State Bar Association (“NYSBA”). Last spring, I was appointed as a member of the subcommittee for the Student Writing Competition. The subcommittee is pleased to announce the Third Annual Student Writing Competition. The deadline for submission is …
LLM in Agriculture and Food Law
The University of Arkansas, School of Law is now accepting applications for its Masters of Law (“LLM”) program in Agriculture and Food Law. If you are a 3L or an attorney who is interested in practicing agriculture law, I highly recommend the program. Through its scholarship program, there is an opportunity to work at the National Agriculture Law Center right …
A Handshake Just Won’t Cut It
Farmers and ranchers are constantly dealing with family, friends, and people that they have had a business relationship with for years and years. Because of these long-term relationships, it is easy for farmers and ranchers to trust the other party in this type of business transaction. It is not rare for farmers to make oral contracts with one another with …
Part IV: Debrief from NYFB Farm Animal Welfare Conference
The keynote speaker for the New York Farm Bureau farm animal welfare conference was David Martosko, the Director of Research for the Center for Consumer Freedom. I was extremely impressed by Martosko – he is a dynamic speaker who is understands the misrepresentations that animal groups make to the public. In particularly, Martosko criticized the Humane Society of the United …
Part III: Debrief from NYFB Farm Animal Welfare Conference
At the recent New York Farm Bureau (“NYFB”) Farm Animal Welfare Conference, Kay Johnson Smith from the Animal Agriculture Alliance was one of the keynote speakers. I was extremely impressed by her poise and presence. I love seeing such powerful, articulate women in the forefront of agriculture issues in Washington. The underlying theme of Ms. Smith’s talk was that those …
Part II: Debrief from NYFB Farm Animal Welfare Conference
At the New York Farm Bureau (“NYFB”) farm animal welfare conference, Mr. McNally and myself had the opportunity to address farm animal cruelty laws here in New York. I discussed the laws from a defense standpoint while Mr. McNally was knowledgeable from the prosecution side. My outline that was provided to conference attendees is available on JD Supra here. As …