MASK OFF: The USDA claims it’s not required to enforce the Animal Welfare Act in lawsuit
MASK OFF: The USDA claims it’s not required to enforce the Animal Welfare Act in lawsuit
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) filed a lawsuit against the USDA in September 2024, challenging its past decisions to license three Iowa dog breeders. The ASPCA claims hundreds of dogs have cycled through these breeders as part of a puppy-laundering scheme intended to conceal their role in supplying puppies to out-of-state retailers. In response, the USDA is arguing that the agency is not required to enforce the law — stating that none of the enforcement provisions of the Animal Welfare Act are mandatory, and that decisions on enforcement are entirely at the agency’s own discretion. […]
At the heart of the documentary film ‘The New Gold Standard’ is a deeply human story. Audiences meet a veterinarian who previously worked inside a primate research laboratory and a woman who adopted a former laboratory dog, offering rare firsthand perspectives on a world few people ever see. The film also visits animal sanctuaries in Wyoming and Oklahoma that care for dogs, cats, pigs, and primates that were from research labs. STEVEN LATHAM PRODUCTIONS: ‘The New Gold Standard’ is a new feature documentary that takes audiences inside some of the world’s leading research institutions to examine a scientific transformation already underway: […]
EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM: It’s not animal advocacy, it’s the billionaire service class
EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM: It’s not animal advocacy, it’s the billionaire service class
At some point around the inception of Effective Altruism and then Effective Animal Advocacy the animal movement transitioned from a sometimes well-meaning group of nonprofit animal welfare organizations, to what is essentially a billionaire service class that utilizes animal advocacy as a vehicle for spending philanthropy. Animal advocacy became less about what it is we owe other animals, than a vehicle to drive the careers of a few people, and those leaning into them. KEVIN WATKINSON: At some point around the inception of Effective Altruism and then Effective Animal Advocacy the animal movement transitioned from a sometimes wellmeaning group of nonprofit […]
