This episode’s guest is Vanessa Shakib, an attorney with a priority in animal-activism, and a co-director of the non-profit Advancing Law for Animals.
Going toe-to-toe with federal agencies & combing through fine print, the reality of Vanessa’s quest for thorough animal-protection legislation is simultaneously frustrating and inspiring to listen to.
TLDR: A Perusal Around The Animal Farm
Vanessa traces out the roots where much of the corruption lies & festers within animal-regulation (i.e. within government agencies). She brings attention to obvious loopholes in animal welfare regulation and also helps the audience peer through the veil of government corruption attempting to shroud animal abuse.
Vanessa and Douglas also discuss her takes on weaknesses in established law, outdated cultural practices regarding animals, & how her animal-focused work led her to uncover a tangle of threads involving figures of authority conspiring against those they’re sworn to protect.
007 or Corruption Heaven: A Look At The Secret “Agent”
Vanessa simply, yet thoroughly, lays out where she personally trains her focus in the fight for animal rights. In lieu of going from corrupt company-to-company and applying pressure, she looks into the federal agencies that make the regulations that allow the abuse & mistreatment of animals.
She takes the time to shed light on the most glaring loopholes in animal-regulation. For example, how rats & mice aren’t represented in the most prominent law relating to lab-animal welfare and how testing labs are self-reporting their inspections.
Vanessa also details a lawsuit that is currently still pending against the NIH. This case regards a conscious non-enforcement in regulations that apply to animal lab experimentation, where the NIH opted out of making foreign labs uphold the animal-welfare standards set by Congress. On top of such an obvious act of disobedience, the NIH also moved to- unsuccessfully- dismiss Vanessa’s case against this lack of enforcement & oversight.
This blatant disregard of law & frivolous exploitation of power has the potential to lend itself towards a much broader dialogue for abuse of authority throughout federal agencies of all shades.
Protecting The Children: A Goat Unmasking Corruption
Biting more into the rotten core of connections and sway that corrupt officials hold, Vanessa delves out the tragic highlights of a case she handled with a goat named Cedar, and the 9 year old girl who wanted to raise him forever. Cedar and the child who loved him were separated at the hands of a government-funded fair and the– literally– unwarranted seizing of Cedar by those who used him for meat.
Despite the harm already caused to Cedar’s family through his unfair & unlawful seizure and subsequent murder, the attorney general of California attempted to countersue the family. Vanessa and her team defeated the countersuit, and dove into gaining what compensation they could for Cedar’s family, only to find a web of coverups raising a horde of unanswered questions.
Advancing Law For Animals: A Community Endeavor
Vanessa shares that her career didn’t initially start out in animal activism, but that her passions led her there. After 8 years in practicing consumer protection, she made the decision to leave her previous work behind, and started the non-profit Advancing Law for Animals.
More information about her non-profit can be found at: advancinglawforanimals.org
Vanessa’s personal work can be found at: vanessashakib.com
Both Vanessa and Advancing Law For Animals can also be found on major social platforms.
Current Animal Activism: Signing Off On The Right To Harm
As a parting note of caution for viewers, Vanessa gives an update on a provision currently in the works for a federal farm bill. This provision forfeits the power of the states to pass bills that further protect animal welfare.
She makes the point that animals are involved in countless layers of the lives of humans; thus, ensuring the existence of comprehensive & humane animal law goes hand-in-hand with creating a better society for us all.
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