Sunday, March 19, 2006

This weekend at AAFL, we begin a series ("Better Know a Link"?) that will highlight sites and organizations included in the Friendly Links section along the right side of the page.

We start with the first link in the list, the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), which just happens to also be linked by SuperVegan today, highlighting a new report released by the ALDF that ranks all fifty states and the District of Columbia for the general comprehensiveness and relative strength of their respective animal protection laws. This is worth checking out in and of itself. But the organization is important for so much more.

ALDF started in 1979 as Attorneys for Animal Rights, founded by Joyce Tischler and a band of working lawyers with a shared dream that the U.S. legal system might someday protect the lives and interests of animals. Two years later, AAR successfully sued to stop the U.S. Navy from killing more than 5,000 feral burros at a Naval Weapons Testing Center in California. This success allowed the rechristened Animal Legal Defense Fund to open a small office in San Francisco. Thus began a history of legal actions on behalf of animals, pioneering the field of animal law or, as they say, "pushing the U.S. legal system to end the abuse and cruelty that result from animals' classification as property."

Over the years, the ALDF's activities have brought attention to the plight of veal calves, spawned numerous student chapters on college campuses around the U.S., and played a hand in improving animal cruelty laws in states around the union, among other successes. Recently the ALDF has given direct assistance to lawyers working animal law cases throughout the U.S., and has shifted the primary focus of the organization toward building the field of animal law.

The ALDF has a transparent approach to its funding and campaigns. For instance, their 2004 Year-End report is available on their site as a PDF and includes a financial statement so you can see how donations are spent. The site also features an online store, including such useful items as a CD-ROM compendium called "Animal Protection Laws of the United States of America," which looks like an incredible reference, and only costs $15.

The site also allows you to check on the status of current cases. Pretty impressive overall, and I have merely hit the highlights. I hope you'll check it out more comprehensively and support their work.

Categories: Animal Legal Defense Fund | ALDF