Legal Victories | The Humane Society of the United States

Legal Victories

Successful litigation campaigns often take years to wind their way through the court system. Here are some of our success stories.

Cavel International, Inc. v. Madigan (Illinois horse slaughter)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the Illinois state law banning horse slaughter....more

Claddie Savage v. Steve Prator (Louisiana cockfighting)
In January 2006, the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld a Caddo Parish ordinance banning cockfighting, reversing two lower court decisions...more

Defenders of Wildlife, The HSUS, et al. v. Norton (Canada lynx)
The Fish and Wildlife Service has refused to protect imperiled Canada lynx under the Endangered Species Act....more

Defenders of Wildlife, The HSUS, et al. v. Norton (Wolf killing permits)
In fall 2005, a federal court threw out wolf killing permits in Wisconsin and Michigan that had been issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with no public comment...more

Defenders of Wildlife, The HSUS, et al. v. Norton (Wolves)
In February 2005, a federal court rejected the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to downlist the Gray wolf from endangered to threatened...more

Earth Island Institute, The HSUS, et al. v. Evans, et al. ("Dolphin safe" tuna)
What does a "dolphin-safe" label really mean? The U.S. Commerce Department sought to weaken labeling requirements....more

Empacadora, et al. v. Curry (Texas horse slaughter)
The HSUS asked the federal Court of Appeals to uphold a Texas law prohibiting horse slaughter for human food......more

In Re: The HSUS, et al. (Downed cattle)
The USDA implemented a temporary ban on processing cattle too sick to walk or stand on their own after the first discovery of mad cow disease in 2003, but a permanent ban is long overdue...more

In Re: The HSUS, et al. (Twenty-Eight Hour Law)
The Twenty-Eight Hour Law, the Act generally requires that for every 28-hour period of transport, animals be allowed rest, food, and water. Although 95 percent of all animals transported are shipped by truck, the USDA traditionally only applied the Act to transport by train...more

National Audubon Society v. Davis (Leghold Traps)
Proposition 4 was adopted by California voters in 1998 to protect pets and wildlife from cruel traps and poisons. The National Audubon Society and the National Trappers Association repeatedly challenged the law. But in January 2006, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco threw...more

New Mexico Gamefowl Assn., et al. v. State of New Mexico, et al.
Plaintiffs, including the New Mexico Gamefowl Association, filed suit to invalidate New Mexico's recently enacted cockfighting ban...more

Oregon Rural Citizens Against Subterfuge v. State of Oregon (Cougars)
Oregon voters have twice approved a ban on bear baiting and the use of dogs in hunting bears and cougars. Wildlife opponents challenged the ban as unconstitutional, but their case was dismissed by the court...more

Save the Manatee Club, The HSUS, et al. v. Ballard, et al.
After a series of cases, a coalition of animal protection, environmental, and public interest groups reached a settlement in July 2005 with the federal government to protect the endangered West Indian manatee...more

State of Oregon v. Clark Zane Couch (Oregon canned hunting)
The HSUS asked the Oregon Supreme Court to uphold the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission's authority vis a vis exotic species. ...more

The Cloud Foundation v. Bureau of Land Management (Wild horses)
In September 2005, the U.S. Department of Interior Board of Land Appeals issued an order allowing the Bureau of Land Management to use a fertility control vaccine on wild horses in the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range, located in Montana and Wyoming...more

The Fund for Animals, et al. v. Mainella (Pheasant hunting)
Non-native pheasants are stocked for hunting on the fragile Cape Cod National Seashore....more

The HSUS v. Gene Merriam, Commissioner, Minnesota DNR (Minnesota lynx trapping)
The fur industry kills federally protected species, such as the Canada lynx, with cruel traps. The HSUS asked the federal courts to stop them....more

The HSUS v. Kempthorne (Wisconsin wolf killing permit)
Despite a mandate to protect endangered wolves under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently issed a permit to Wisconsin for the overt killing of wolves for depredation control purposes...more

The HSUS v. Murphy (Seals)
Harbor seals at La Jolla's Casa Beach were being harassed and injured after San Diego removed protective barriers. After HSUS filed suit, the Diego City Council voted 7 to 1 to restore the barrier to protect the seals during their pupping season...more

The HSUS v. New York Department of Agriculture and Markets, et al. (Foie gras state records)
New York state court action challenging the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets refusal to disclose records concerning the production of foie gras. Court ordered that several withheld records must be disclosed to HSUS....more

The HSUS, et al. v. Department of Commerce et al. (Stellar Sea Lions)
Stellar sea lion populations in Alaska are declining, so the government had a plan to performing invasive procedures to help "save" them. Fortunately, the courts stepped in and blocked this misguided plan...more

The HSUS, et al. v. Gutierrez, et al. (Atlantic whales)
Populations of humpback whales, fin whales and North Atlantic right whales are threatened by fatal entanglements in commercial fishing gear...more

United Game Fowl Breeders Association v. U.S. (Cockfighting)
In summer of 2005, a federal court in Louisiana threw out a challenge filed by cockfighters to the 2002 Animal Welfare Act amendments that banned interstate transportation of game birds for animal fighting...more

Viva! International Voice for Animals, et al. v. Adidas Promotional Retail Operations, Inc., et. al. (California kangaroo imports)
In 1970, the California Legislature passed a statute prohibiting the importation and sale of certain designated wildlife parts and products, including kangaroo. Nevertheless, Adidas and other retailers continue to sell shoes made of kangaroo skin in California...more

Wildlife Conservation Fund of America v. Norton (Off-road hunting)
In February 2005, the federal court in Florida rejected a challenge by hunting and other consumptive use groups to the National Park Service's plan to restrict off-road vehicles in Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve...more