Animal Law


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)…


“Aggressive Pizza-Stealing Dog” Makes Bail

Ruthlessly devoured helpless pie A dog that was arrested in Oregon yesterday after being accused of "breaking into" a family's vehicle and aggressively "devouring" their pepperoni pizza has been released, according to an updated report today. Officials in Marion County…



UPDATE: Manatee Rider Arrested

Florida sources report that the woman who was accused in October of manatee harassment (for riding one) has been arrested. At the time, officials had not yet decided whether to charge the manatee rider under the Florida law that makes it illegal…


UPDATE: Hemingway’s Six-Toed Cats Remain

As I mentioned in July 2007 (and again that November), a legal dispute was then raging as to whether the descendants of Ernest Hemingway's six-toed cat Snowball could stay on the grounds of the Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West. Snowball's…


Berkeley Boys Busted for Bird Beheading [Updated]

This: We are one of the most selective law schools in the nation. Of the more than 7,000 prospective J.D. students who apply annually, Berkeley Law enrolls about 270. In choosing our students, we don’t stop at brilliance. We drill…