Animal Law

Roadkill-Scavenging Soon to Be Legal in Illinois

Good news, Illinoisans Illinoisians Illinoisites people of Illinois – it may soon be legal to retrieve the carcasses of certain unfortunate mammals commonly referred to as "roadkill" and retain them for personal use (presumably eating or skinning). HB 3178, passed…


Kansas City Ape Owners Must Pay for Rampage, Judge Rules

After a two-day trial featuring "contentious testimony" by 11 witnesses, a Kansas City judge has ruled that the owners of a chimpanzee that went apeshit last year must pay to fix the police car she damaged. As I mentioned at…


The Case of the Dangerous Dachshund

Plaintiff: Plaintiff enters the Penny Pinchers grocery store in West Point, Mississippi, on August 16, 2006. She says hello. She walks down the aisle. Suddenly, the bark of a savage dog rings out! Plaintiff flees, terrified, with the clicking of the…



New Jersey Township Passes Chicken-Sex Rule

In a meeting Monday night, the governing committee of Hopewell Township, New Jersey, finally passed chicken legislation it had been working on for no fewer than three years. Among other things, the measure requires the chickens to practice safe sex….



Man Loses Cockfight

This is what you might call "payback," although in California people tend to call it "karma." A California man attending a cockfight in Tulare County died on January 30 after one of the birds stabbed him in the leg. The birds apparently are…


If You Don’t Pay This Tax, We’ll Kill This Dog

The Associated Press reported last week that local officials in the Swiss village of Reconvilier, apparently tired of people not paying the $50 annual dog-ownership tax, have taken a reasonable, measured approach to enforcement by threatening to kill any dog whose owner…


Police-Cam Video of Kansas City Chimp Released

Okay, one more on yesterday's chimp rampage in Kansas City. The occasion (or excuse) for bringing it up again is that the video from the police car's camera has been released. Here's the cellphone video I was going on about…


Gorilla Update

After I posted the previous item on the gorilla said to be rampaging through Kansas City, the original article was updated (same link) and the ape in question is now reported to be a "large chimpanzee" (pan troglodytes) rather than a gorilla (gorilla…