Animal Rights Violations in Slaughterhouses: Investigating and Litigating Abuse

How can animal advocates use the law to challenge unlawful violence and systemic abuse against animals in slaughterhouses, especially where legal protections exist on paper, but enforcement fails in practice? In this session of ICARE’s Litigating and Legislating for Animal Rights seminar series, we will explore how investigations, legal complaints, strategic litigation, and regulatory pressure can be used to expose abuses in slaughterhouses and push for accountability. The conversation will focus on practical advocacy questions: how activists, whistleblowers and researchers document unlawful practices against farmed animals, how evidence can support legal action against perpetrators, how advocates navigate weak enforcement and institutional resistance, and what legal strategies may help produce consequences that go beyond symbolic compliance. Bringing together perspectives from Caroline Lanty (L214) and Sabina Bravo (Animal Law Focus), this seminar will examine how the law can serve as a tool for accountability and systemic change in one of the most violent and least transparent sites of animal exploitation.