Could Emerging Research on Snake Enrichment Influence Interpretation of the UK Animal Welfare Act?
By Bridget Craghill While snakes are often excluded from mainstream animal welfare discussions, new research is rapidly reshaping scientific and legal understandings of their needs. A new study suggests that housing conditions have significant neurological and...
The Case for a UK Ban on Male Chick Culling
by Jenny Canham Routine male chick culling in the UK Male chick culling is a routine practice in the UK egg industry. Every year, around 45 million male chicks are killed within just hours of being born. Because they are not female, and therefore cannot lay eggs, they...
A Legal Imagination Made Real: The Paula Sparks World Moot on International Law and Animal Rights
By Josephine Götze, LL.M. candidate Imagine a world in which humans respect and protect the fundamental rights of non-human animals, such as the right to life, the right not to be exploited, or the right to freedom of movement, not only because it is ethically right,...
“The trial of Bill Burn” – myth and facts
By Advocate Lior Harish The Iconic painting called "The trial of Bill Burn" (see below) is regarded by many (including the UK parliament) as portraying the first1 prosecution under the 'Act to prevent the cruel and improper...
RIGHTS OF NATURE AND NONHUMAN ANIMAL RIGHTS: CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN TOGETHER?
By David Lewis-Hall, Barrister The New Zealand Parliament has recently granted (1) legal personhood to a third natural entity, following Te Urewera (a forest) in 2014 (2) and Te Awa Tupua (the Whanganui River) in 2017. (3) Whilst this, along with other recent...
Puppy, Kuky and Sandro: Interspecies Justice Beyond the Friction of Mentalities
By Aldair Marins Violent interventionism, the theft of natural ethos and, consequently, the silencing of vital expressions have imposed a cruel fate on Puppy, Kuky and Sandro. For around three decades, these elephants were held in captivity, deprived of the exercise...
An obituary in honour of longstanding A-LAW Chairperson Paula Sparks
It is with great sadness – and an immense sense of loss – that we inform our friends and supporters that our wonderful Chairperson, Paula Sparks, passed away on the 30th of May 2025. Over the past 15 months, Paula’s daily life was increasingly affected by the symptoms...
More-than-Humanitarian Law
By Dr Dorien Braam During my doctoral research conducted in Jordan and Pakistan into the role of animals in forced migration and zoonoses - diseases transmissible between humans and animals - the devastation as a result of the loss of animals killed as a result of...
New Trends for 2025: UK Paves the Way for Cultivated Meat in Pet Food
By Lawrence Topley In July 2024, the UK became the first European country to approve lab grown meat. Now, on 7 February 2025, the cell cultivated product has hit the shelves at Pets At Home in the form of dog treats called ‘Chick Bites’ (BBC News, 2024). This news...
De-Extinction: Considerations on Returning Wolves to the United Kingdom
By: Erin Poppenga As recognised by many countries worldwide, ecosystems are deteriorating because of invasive and destructive human behaviour. Ecological conditions can decline when certain species have been extinct from an area for a long time. [1] The...