The Law, Ethics & Animals Program (LEAP) at Yale Law School was developed to protect animals and to create positive legal changes benefiting both animals and the planet. LEAP celebrated five years since it began its ambitious and successful program.
Faculty Director Doug Kysar highlighted the essential work the group’s scholars and students have already done, stating, “Over the last five years, we’ve seen firsthand the value of leveraging the talent, expertise, convening power, and resources of Yale University students and faculty to help protect animals and our shared planet.“
To signify the interdependency between animals and the environment, the program name will be changed to the “Law, Environment, and Animals Program.”
LEAP has taken on a broad range of animal welfare issues since its inception.
A significant focus of the program has been industrial farming, which is responsible for tremendous animal suffering and environmental impacts. LEAP started the Climate Change & Animal Agriculture Litigation Initiative to help fight industrial farming in the courtroom, studying how industrial farming companies can be held legally accountable for the damage that animal agriculture wreaks on the environment.
Recently, LEAP’s Legal Director Daina Bray and former LEAP Student Fellow Thomas Poston, theorized in their research that more lawsuits will be coming against the biggest companies associated with concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), stating that these prominent companies are “responsible for nearly one-third of all anthropogenic methane emissions.”
They point out recent significant cases in Denmark and New Zealand, along with New York’s Attorney General suing major meat company JBS this year, to present some insight into how litigating against animal agriculture in the future can prove successful.
Another endeavor of LEAP has been the Yale Bird-Friendly Building Initiative, established in 2022 with the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and the Yale Office of Sustainability. The initiative works to find ways to reduce the number of birds flying into windows, both on campus and beyond. With one million birds dying in the United States annually from crashing into buildings, this work is vital to protecting them.
Lady Freethinker commends the Law, Environment, and Animals Program on its 5th anniversary and applauds all those involved with the program for using their knowledge and expertise in law and policy to improve and transform the lives of animals. We eagerly anticipate LEAP’s future accomplishments and the positive impact it will have on our world.
