Lawsuit Alleges Duck Attack
KATU in Portland reports that a woman who says she was attacked by a duck at a trailer park has sued the duck's owner. Plaintiff alleges in part that said duck was a repeat offender. According to the complaint (which…
Animal Law
Insurers Demand $2 Million for Negligent Squirrel-Torching
You did what?
South Dakota v. Fifteen Impounded Cats
In this case—now also appearing on the Comical Case Names page—the Supreme Court of South Dakota grappled with legal issues arising from an officer's decision to impound fifteen cats he found roaming around a woman's car. South Dakota v. Fifteen…
Ape Map
This seems like it might be useful information to have: Even if you live in a blue state, though (and here "blue state" means there's no law against it), you shouldn't own one of our primate cousins. They are beautiful,…
USDA Requires Magician to Create “Disaster Plan” for His Rabbit
Popehat has a good post today about how it is entirely possible the U.S. is becoming a police state without guidance from a conspiracy of “black-mustache-twirling villains.” The road there could be paved mostly with good intentions and rationalizations, although…
Man’s Inhumanity to Manatees
They have enough problems without people jumping on them.
Has Justin Bieber Abandoned His Monkey? [Updated]
According to Rolling Stone, Justin Bieber's management company has told the shelter currently housing Mally, his 20-week-old capuchin monkey, that Bieber doesn't want the animal and that it should be placed in a zoo. Mally was quarantined by German customs…
Classifying a Killer Whale for Tax Purposes
That's the title of this short video (1:13) in which Professor Jeff Karlin of Golden Gate University explains that the IRS distinguishes between killer whales and great white sharks, although both are big giant swimming things that could potentially eat…
No Damages for Embarrassment of Owning Three-Legged Dog
Hard cases make bad law, as the saying goes, but sometimes they are also stupid. Brown v. Swindell, a 1967 case out of Louisiana, is one of those cases where all the parties deserve some criticism, though the real creeps…
Witness: “I Bite Him. Bad Man. He Tasty.”
According to officers at the West Midlands Police Station in the UK, the Crown Prosecution Service repeatedly insisted on getting a written statement from "Police Constable Peach" despite having repeatedly been told that "PC Peach" was actually PD (Police Dog)…