The first of three free, virtual events to take place Friday, Feb. 5.
SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt. (Feb. 3, 2021) - The Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law School (VLS) will host the first of three events in its Current Issues in Animal Law Lecture Series on Friday, Feb. 5.
The series, which is free and open to the public, will be livestreamed from 1 to 2 p.m. at vermontlaw.edu/live. The second and third events in the series will be livestreamed at the same time on March 12 and April 9.
"Animal law and environmental law are synergistic," said Jenny Rushlow, director of VLS’s Environmental Law Center. "The humane and compassionate treatment of animals is deserving of legal protection for its own sake, and legal tools for addressing cruelty to animals are coincident with legal protections for natural resources and the environmental and public health of human communities. Through this informative series we aim to explore legal solutions to the integrated challenges of animal and environmental protection."
The Feb. 5 event is titled "Environmental, Public Health, and Other Societal Harms of Extreme Farmed Animal Confinement" and will feature The Humane Society of America's Laura Fox JD/MELP'13 as the keynote speaker.
In her talk, Fox will review recent victories and setbacks in farmed animal law, examine the integrally connected interests of humans and animals, and suggest possible ways to advance those mutual interests. Fox will also elaborate on her work protecting farm animals from the industrialized practices of factory farms, including by reducing extreme confinement practices and challenging their myriad environmental, public health, and societal harms.
The March 12 event’s topic is “Animal Law and Environmental Law: Parallels and Synergies,” and will feature guest speaker Randall Abate of Monmouth University. On April 9, Steven Wise of the Nonhuman Rights Project will present “The Struggle to Gain Legal Rights for Nonhuman Animals.”
For additional information or to view the lecture series, visit vermontlaw.edu/live.