Chris Green and Rebecca Garverman join us this week to talk about a case that managed to catch the attention not only of the public at large but of a number of lawyers and, after a great deal of hard work, resulted in a historic victory. You may have heard about the plight of the Tule elk at Point Reyes National Seashore. These extraordinary animals, native to California, are lucky enough, or at least apparently so, to reside in a staggeringly beautiful national park. In spite of this, for years, they have been dying because their access to forage and, most importantly, water has been blocked by, of all unimaginable things, an 8-foot fence put there so that dairy farms could continue to use the land and the water instead. This is an amazing story involving so much hard work by so many people that, mirabile dictu, produced a phenomenal result: the removal of the fence and phase-out of most cattle and dairy operations from the park.

Key Discussion Points:

• Point Reyes National Seashore’s native Tule elk population faced mass deaths when trapped behind fence protecting dairy farms
• Harvard Animal Law & Policy Clinic challenged National Park Service’s failure to protect elk dying from lack of water access
• Legal battle combined with media attention led to historic December 2023 victory: removal of 8-foot fence at Point Reyes
•  January 2024 settlement phases out most dairy operations, with Nature Conservancy’s $30 million buyout protecting 16,000 acres for wildlife
• Victory allows California’s Tule elk to roam freely at Point Reyes National Seashore for the first time since 1978

ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Chris Green, Executive Director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and Fellow with the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, is a leading authority in animal law and policy. After founding ALDF’s Legislative Affairs Program, he served as inaugural Executive Director of Harvard Law School’s Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program. His achievements include defeating Ag-Gag legislation, implementing wildlife protection policies, and advancing non-lethal animal encounter training for law enforcement. A Harvard Law graduate and recipient of the American Bar Association’s Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Animal Law, Green regularly testifies on animal protection legislation and is frequently quoted in major media outlets.

Rebecca Garverman is a Massachusetts-licensed, Boston-based Staff Attorney. She works for the NhRP exploring new legal rights for nonhuman animals. Previously, Rebecca served as a Staff Attorney for Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Clinic and worked in private practice as a corporate attorney at Goodwin Procter. Rebecca is also a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Animal Law Practice Group. She holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Rebecca has presented oral arguments to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as well as the Western District of New York.

Interview transcript available on our website.

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