Jacques von Lunen, special reporter to The Oregonian wrote a column on this year’s Animal Law Conference at Lewis & Clark College which explored the links between animal law and other disciplines. Keynote speaker Nicholas Kristof, author of the new book “Half the Sky,” spoke on the connection between animal welfare and social justice.

A federal court on Monday effectively reversed a 2007 decision by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the population of grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park from its list of “threatened” species, a designation that had entitled the bears to special protections under the Endangered Species Act.

The Interior Department has ruled that wolves have sufficiently increased in numbers in the Western continental United States to allow some wolf hunting there.

Only nine law schools taught animal law in 2000, but today about 110 out of 180 do.

Melinda Merck has been investigating animal cruelty for nearly 20 years. After years of legal and veterinary practice, she is now the forensic vet of the ASPCA.

Tossing male chicks, which have little value because they can’t lay eggs or be raised quickly enough to be raised profitably for meat, into grinders is common industry practice.

The first legal wolf hunt in decades in the continental United States appeared likely to begin in Idaho on Tuesday after a federal judge did not immediately rule Monday on an effort by environmentalists to stop the hunt and return the animal to the endangered species list.

he International Fund for Animal Welfare, Humane Society International, and Defenders of Wildlife have
urged the United States to lead the way to end international commercial trade
in polar bears, including hides, trophies, rugs and other polar bear parts.