Publications: Animal Welfare
Agriculture & the ADA: Service Animals
Micah Brown, Research Fellow, National Agricultural Law Center
Elizabeth Rumley, Senior Staff Attorney, National Agricultural Law Center
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”) prohibits discrimination based on disability. The ADA is applicable very broadly, and can affect many types of agricultural operations. Title I protections apply to employers, including agricultural employers, who have 15 or more employees. It requires ADA compliance for the benefit of employees with disabilities. Further, any business with a public facing component, where the public is invited to visit the operation or business itself, would fall under Title III as a place of public accommodation subject to those requirements. Different ADA rules apply to a customer bringing their service animal into a store (Title III) than govern a service animal accompanying an employee to their job (Title I). This fact sheet will address service animal requirements under both Titles, along with providing some best practice suggestions for business owners. View this article. Posted 7/24/2019
The Veterinary Feed Directive Rules for Veterinarians: A Practical Guide for the Practicing Veterinarian
Lance Roasa, DVM, MS, JD
The transition of commonly used antibiotics away from production based -label claims to Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) status is one of the largest regulatory changes to food animal veterinary practice in decades. This purpose of this document, prepared as a project of the National Agricultural and Food Law Consortium, is to aggregate information, aid veterinarians and their practices in making the transition, and provide practical solutions to questions created by the new VFD rules. Download this article. Posted 4/14/17
Legal Issues in Animal Agriculture: Regulating Living Space
Elizabeth Rumley Staff Attorney, National Agricultural Law Center
This presentation, most recently updated in May 2012, has been given in a number of forums, including as a National Agricultural Law Center webinar. It focuses on the emerging legal and policy issues dealing with farm animal confinement, with a special emphasis on the statutory evolution behind them. The presentation is designed to be useful to anyone — attorneys, lobbyists, federal and state policymakers, extension personnel, producers, and others — with an interest in a definitive understanding of food animal confinement laws in the United States. Download this presentation.
Legal Issues in Animal Agriculture: Medication, Identification and Accommodation – PowerPoint Presentation
Elizabeth R. Rumley Staff Attorney National Agricultural Law Center
This presentation, most recently updated in September 2010, was given at a number of CLEs in Minnesota, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. It focuses on three emerging legal issues in the field of animal agriculture and discusses the history of the topics, their current status, and some possible future implications of the decisions that are being made. Topics covered in this presentation include the use of antimicrobials (including antibiotics) in livestock, a discussion of animal identification systems, and an overview of the farm animal confinement statutes that are becoming more prevalent in the United States. Download this presentation. Posted November 11, 2010.
States’ Farm Animal Confinement Statutes
Elizabeth Springsteen Staff Attorney National Agricultural Law Center
Whether through typical legislative channels or as a result of a ballot initiative, several states have enacted laws that are concerned with farm animal welfare. While the majority of these laws require that farm animals be given a certain amount of space, others reserve the right to make those rules either to the state legislature or to a board put into place to address those issues. As a result of the wide variety of statutes, the statutory language contained in each differs greatly. States’ Farm Animal Confinement Statutes provides the statutory text of each state’s laws, along with the date on which it becomes effective. The primary aim of this compilation is to provide the researcher with easy and free access to a state’s statutory language by simply clicking on the state’s image in the map below. Download this compilation. Posted: December 2, 2009
States’ Animal Cruelty Statutes
Elizabeth R. Springsteen Research Associate National Agricultural Law Center
Each state in the United States has enacted statutes to punish individuals who engage in cruelty to animals. While there are many similar characteristics, the actual codified provisions vary drastically from state to state. Familiarity with these statutes is essential to anyone who interacts with animals–from recreational hunting to raising livestock, from owning a pet to living alongside wild animals. States’ Animal Cruelty Statutes provides the statutory text of each state’s animal cruelty statutes, along with the date of its possible expiration. The primary aim of this compilation is to provide the researcher with easy and free access to a state’s statutory language by simply clicking on the state’s image in the map provided. Download this article. Posted: May 2, 2008.
Animal Cruelty Statutes – A State-By-State Analysis
Elizabeth R. Springsteen Research Associate National Agricultural Law Center
This article is a companion publication to States’ Animal Cruelty Statutes and presents a state-by-state survey of classifications and penalties for acts of animal cruelty. Because each state differs in its definition of “cruelty,” it is not meant to characterize specific acts as belonging to a certain category and thus meriting a specific punishment in the listed state. Instead, it is a reflection of how the individual states criminalize and punish different levels of animal-abusive criminal behavior. Download this article. Posted: May 2, 2008.