Animal Law Podcast #55: A Case of Roadside Misery

Explicit content warning

12/25/19 • 43 min

On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Jessica Blome and Amanda Howell about the second chapter in the legal effort to close down Cricket Hollow Zoo, a sad roadside “attraction” where animals have been languishing in terrible conditions for years. I last spoke to Jessica on Episode 10 about some Endangered Species Act litigation that managed to free the animals covered by that law, but hundreds of animal remained, left to suffer merely because their species was not at risk. This time Jessica, along with the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Amanda Howell, went back for the rest, suing on behalf of some deeply concerned citizens under Iowa Nuisance Law and basing their claim that this horrific facility was a public nuisance because it was in violation of the Iowa Anti-Cruelty statute. This is a fascinating case, with a (mostly) satisfying ending. But it also highlights some of the extraordinary gaps in current law “protecting” animals and the extraordinary lengths that must be gone to in order to get them out of obviously abusive situations.

Jessica Blome is a senior associate at Greenfire Law where she primarily practices in the areas of environmental, animal, open government, and land use law. She represents clients in citizen suit enforcement, climate change, and strategic impact litigation. Her practice includes litigating and advising under the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, RCRA, CERCLA, NEPA, CEQA, Administrative Procedure Act, Animal Welfare Act, Endangered Species Act, FOIA, California Public Records Act, and Brown Act. Before Greenfire Law, Jessica worked as an Assistant Attorney General in the Missouri Attorney General’s Agriculture & Environment Division, Senior Staff Attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and Deputy Director of the San Francisco Ethics Commission. She earned her law degree from the University of Iowa and has a B.A. in Organizational Communication, with Minors in Journalism and Ethics, from the University of Northern Iowa. Jessica is passionate about public lands access, wilderness protection, and outdoor recreation. She spends her weekends in the wild spaces in and around the Bay Area.

As a staff attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund Amanda Howell uses her background in strategic impact litigation to help us win big for animals. Prior to joining ALDF, Amanda’s career was focused on improving the food system and curbing the harmful practices of multinational corporations. She is dedicated to using her skills to combat iniquity and believes that changing how we view and treat animals will simultaneously improve life for all sentient beings and positively impact individual health, public health, and our environment. Amanda graduated from Northwestern University with a triple major in Political Science, International Studies, and Spanish. She received her law degree from Boston University, where she was the managing editor for the American Journal of Law and Medicine.

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Previous Episode

Animal Law Podcast #54: The Case of the Psychologically Unprotected Primates

On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Professor Katherine Meyer, Director of the Animal Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School, along with two of her students, Boanne Wassink and Brett Richey. The three of them speak with me about the very first case filed by the Animal Law and Policy Clinic, New England Anti-Vivisection Society v Perdue, which involves a petition for rulemaking filed with the USDA way back in 2014 trying to get the agency to rewrite rules interpreting the requirements in the Animal Welfare Act requiring psychological enrichment for primates. We discuss the lack of enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, the importance of considering the psychological well-being of primates, and how this case is affected by standards put forth by the National Institutes of Health for chimpanzees used in research. They also talk about the work that the Animal Law and Policy Clinic is doing and what it hopes to accomplish, including, such as in cases like this one, improved enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act.

Katherine Meyer was a founding partner of the public interest law firm, Meyer Glitzenstein & Eubanks, which the Washingtonian Magazine hailed as “the most effective public interest law firm in Washington, D.C.” She has extensive federal and state court litigation experience, and is known for finding innovative ways to advance her clients’ interests. Professor Meyer has extensive experience litigating cases under the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Animal Welfare Act, Freedom of Information Act, and other environmental and open government laws, and has also successfully litigated many cases to protect the wild horses in the West.

Brett Richey, Harvard Law School ‘21, is a native of Pasadena, California. Brett graduated magma cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 2018, where she majored in Public Policy Studies and minored in Corporate Strategy. During Brett’s senior year at Vanderbilt, she wrote an undergraduate thesis analyzing the relationship between early childhood court involvement and future juvenile delinquency. Since coming to Harvard, Brett has become very interested in animal law, and particularly hopes to advocate for the wellbeing of captive animals kept in research labs and exhibitions. After graduating from law school, Brett plans to be a trial attorney in Washington, DC, and someday hopes to run for elected office. Outside of class, Brett enjoys supporting the Boston Red Sox, visiting local craft breweries, traveling to new countries, and winning escape rooms with her friends.

Boanne Wassink, now a third-year student at Harvard Law School, graduated from Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, where she majored in mathematics and physics. After planning for many years to be a research mathematician and earning her Master’s in Mathematics at the University of Iowa, Boanne made a career change to enroll in law school. During her 1L year at Harvard, Boanne discovered the field of animal law and quickly became involved through courses; research assistantships; the Animal Law Society, of which she is Vice President; and now the Animal Law & Policy Clinic. Along the way she decided to devote her career to helping animals through the legal system. After graduating this May, Boanne will clerk for two years at the Staff Clerk’s Office of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. After that, she hopes to return to her native Iowa and join the fight against factory farming. When she’s not at school, Boanne spends her time relaxing with her husband, playing with their two young children, and telling their daughter bedtime stories about lawyers helping animals.

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Next Episode

Animal Law Podcast #56: The Case Of the Speedy Slaughterhouse

On this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, I speak with Cristina Kladis and Professor Delcianna Winders of the Lewis and Clark Law School Animal Law Litigation Clinic about the very first case filed by the clinic, Farm Sanctuary v USDA. This very important lawsuit seeks to invalidate the agency’s new rules eliminating line speed limits for pig slaughter, thereby putting pigs, workers and the environment at even greater risk from the horrors perpetrated in these slaughterhouses. If that were not enough, these rules also delegate much of the responsibility for oversight of the slaughter process from USDA inspectors to untrained slaughterhouse workers. Then, in addition to this groundbreaking lawsuit, we discuss the formation of this brand new clinic, which is devoted to litigation regarding farmed animals.

Cristina Kladis is a third-year law student at Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, where she lives with her dog, Nyx. She came to law school with a plan to specialize in environmental and animal law, hoping to fight factory farming and other forms of environmental injustice. In addition to environmental and animal law, Cristina is interested in prisoners’ rights and free speech protections for protestors and media. After graduating from law school, she will be a litigation fellow at the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

Delcianna J. Winders is a clinical professor of law and the director of the Animal Law Litigation Clinic at Lewis & Clark Law School, the world’s only law school clinic dedicated to farmed animal advocacy. Her scholarship has appeared in numerous law reviews, and she has also published extensively in the popular media. Prior to joining the Lewis & Clark faculty, Professor Winders was vice president and deputy general counsel for the PETA Foundation, the first academic fellow of the Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program, and a visiting scholar at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. She has also taught animal law at Tulane University School of Law and Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. She frequently gives talks on animal law subjects, has been interviewed by major national and international news outlets, and was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine as one of “Six Women Who Dare.” Winders received her BA in Legal Studies with highest honors from the University California at Santa Cruz, and her JD from NYU School of Law. Following law school, she clerked for the Hon. Martha Craig Daughtrey on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

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