The UK Centre for Animal Law (A-LAW): Panel on The State of Animal Law: Policy, Courts, Academia
On 24th November 2025, A-LAW was delighted to host a panel discussion on the current status of animal law for our friends and members. We took this opportunity to step back from the day to day work to consider how the movement has evolved towards better law and...
‘More Than Baggage’: European Multispecies Families
The Interpretation of Article 17(2) of the Montreal Convention in Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España (C-218/24) Companion animals are in many instances at the heart of family life and are widely recognised as sentient and irreplaceable members of households. This reality...
2025 Annual Student Essay Competition Winners
Join us in extending congratulations to our winners of the 2025 Annual Student Essay Competition. In first place, Luke McLaughlin, second place, Julia Kadas, and in third place, Tilly Green. Luke is a second-year Solicitor Apprentice pursuing an LLB at The...
From Resource to Rightsholder: Towards Legal Personhood for Whales
By Marianthi Baklava Following He Whakaputanga Moana (the landmark Declaration for the Ocean signed by Polynesian Indigenous leaders in March 2024), momentum continues to build for recognising whales as legal persons. The initiative forms part of wider conservation...
Standards of Modern Zoo Practice for Great Britain – Recent Update
By Divya Selvaraj The Zoo Licensing Act (1981) defines zookeeping as the keeping of an animal "when it is elsewhere in the personal possession of the operator of the zoo, or of competent persons acting on his behalf".1 Read together with the Zoo Licensing Act 1981:...
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...