August 30 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Animal Law Webinar Herding Cats: Legal Issues Involving Cats in Your Communities
The legal and practical management of cats has experienced significant development and advancement at the local level in recent years. City and county governments have the power to make important changes with respect to the treatment of cats in their communities – changes that will provide great benefit to both the human and animal populations, and lead to long-term solutions to current concerns. This session will describe the contemporary situations that local governments face with respect to cats, and provide scientific data and legal support for programs that represent the only real potential for success when dealing with these issues.
Speaker: Ledy VanKavage & Bruce Wagman
Ledy VanKavage is the Senior Legislative Attorney for Best Friends Animal Society located in Kanab, Utah and a member of the ISBA’s animal law section. Before coming to Best Friends Ledy was the Senior Director of Legislation and Legal Training for the ASPCA. She has helped spearhead the passage of over 50 humane state bills during her lobbying tenure and is also a past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Animal Law Committee. Ledy is the recipient of the ABA’s Excellence in Animal Law award for 2014, the 2018 Wallace Award from the Wallace the Pitbull Foundation, and Excellence in a State Campaign award from the Women in Government Relation’s Association. She is a co-author of the USDOJ publication, “The Problem of Dog Related Incidents and Encounters” and is an instructor for the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. She has been interviewed on MSNBC, NPR, the Chicago Tribune, Time Magazine and the New York Times.
Bruce Wagman is an attorney with the San Francisco office of the law firm of Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila, and he is the lead counsel for the San Francisco SPCA’s Shelter PALS Program, which is the country’s first and only legal aid organization dedicated exclusively to the needs of animal shelters and the animals they serve. He has an exclusive animal law practice, and since 1992, he has been using his legal degree to protect and save animals and assist those who care for them; his clients include both individual pet owners, and the largest international animal welfare groups. His practice covers all aspects of animal welfare, including farm animals and wildlife, and the use of animals in biomedical research and entertainment, but he has adopted over 30 pets over the past 40 years, and so his dedication to dogs and cats holds a special place for him, both personally and professionally.”