Justia Animal / Dog Law Opinion Summaries

An investigator from the Ulster County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals found a dog named Mogley in distress in Kingston. The dog was unable to stand or walk properly and was later euthanized due to its deteriorated condition. The investigator filed a sworn accusatory instrument charging Christopher Farrell with failure to provide necessary sustenance to Mogley, citing the dog's chronic pain, flea infestation, and lack of veterinary care.Kingston City Court dismissed the charge, finding the accusatory instrument facially insufficient. The prosecution appealed, and Ulster County Court reversed the dismissal, reinstating the charge. The County Court held that the instrument contained sufficient factual allegations of animal cruelty and that the statute was not void for vagueness, as a person of ordinary intelligence could understand that denying necessary care to a suffering animal constitutes cruelty.The New York Court of Appeals reviewed the case and found the accusatory instrument facially insufficient. The court noted that the instrument lacked nonhearsay allegations to support the charge that Farrell deprived Mogley of necessary veterinary care. The court emphasized that the instrument did not provide sufficient details on how the investigator knew about Mogley's medical conditions or whether these conditions were visible. The court concluded that the remaining allegations, such as the flea infestation, were inadequate to establish the charge. Consequently, the Court of Appeals reversed the County Court's order and reinstated the City Court's dismissal of the accusatory instrument. View "People v Farrell" on Justia Law

The Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the courts below granting a motion to dismiss Nonhuman Rights Project's petition for writ of habeas corpus seeking to secure the transfer of Happy, an elephant residing at the Bronx Zoo, to an elephant sanctuary, holding that the lower courts properly granted the motion to dismiss the habeas petition.Petitioner Nonhuman Rights Project, a not-for-profit corporation, commenced this habeas proceeding on behalf of Happy, arguing that Happy was a cognitively complex and autonomous nonhuman animal that should be "recognized as a legal person with the right to bodily liberty protected by the common law" and immediately released from "unlawful imprisonment" at the Zoo. Supreme Court dismissed the petition. The Appellate Division affirmed, concluding that "the writ of habeas corpus is limited to human beings." The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that nonhuman animals are not persons with a common law right to liberty that may be secured through a writ of habeas corpus. View "Nonhuman Rights Project, Inc. v. Breheny" on Justia Law