Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program Year in Review 2019-2020

Animal Law & Policy Program | Harvard Law School | Year in Review 2019–2020
Jayasimha Nuggehalli – Visiting Fellow
Through the Alliance, food businesses can purchase cage-free Impact Incentives
and participate in Impact Partnerships, which help them advance their cage-free egg
commitments, accelerate the production of cage-free eggs, and provide financial incentives
to farmers who meet heightened animal welfare standards.
The idea of Incentives has been around for years, modeled after other established credit
trading platforms such as RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) and RTRS
(Roundtable for Responsible Soy). We now are applying the technology and learnings to
other commodities, including cage-free eggs.
Judge Gale Rasin – Visiting Fellow
Judge Gale Rasin – Visiting Fellow
My project at the Animal Law & Policy Program was to study the issue of animal
hoarding and consider how to best handle animal hoarding cases in the criminal justice
system. My focus was on “rescue hoarders,” those individuals who believe that they are
saviors of animals, but ultimately victimize animals through extreme neglect. Through
the Harvard Law School Library I obtained the available books about animal cruelty and
neglect as well as articles in a range of professional journals, from veterinary journals to
law review articles. I also interviewed a range of professionals, several in the Boston area,
including prosecutors, defense attorneys, mental health professionals, and animal shelter
care providers. I met with the staff of the Massachusetts SPCA, which investigates animal
hoarding cases. The insights I gained from these interviews were critical in informing my
findings.
I wrote an article intended to be a manual for trial judges, which focused on the mental
health issues involved in animal hoarding cases in the criminal justice system. I used a case
I handled as the presiding judge in the Mental Health Court in the Circuit Court for Baltimore
City as an example. There I found a defendant incompetent to stand trial because he
suffered from a fixed delusional disorder that caused him to be convinced that he was saving
animals, rather than neglecting them. My monograph is entitled “The Man Who Married His
Pigeon,” based upon an actual instance of a California lawyer who hoarded pigeons. I will
use the content of the monograph in appearances (now virtual) in front of various groups
such as the ABA Animal Law Section and the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
Grants & Awards
• One of America’s Top Ten Animal Defenders for 2020, Animal Legal Defense Fund.
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