Members who inspire. Wildlife Welfare

• Author: Amanda Robert
• Pages: 60-62

ABA Insider edited by

LEE RAWLES

lee.rawles@americanbar.org

Members Who Inspire is an ABA Journal series prof‌iling exceptional ABA members. If you know members who do unique and

important work, you can nominate them for this series by emailing inspire@abajournal.com.

MEMBERS WHO INSPIRE

Wildlife

Welfare

Could animal rights laws prevent

the next pandemic? Rajesh Reddy

has a plan

BY AMANDA ROBERT

In March 2020, Rajesh Reddy

helped organize an ABA webinar

featuring David Favre, a law pro-

fessor in Michigan who has long

advocated for an international treaty

that ensures the welfare and protection

of animals.

Afterward, Reddy and a few of his

colleagues from the International Law

Section’s International Animal Law

Committee and the Tort Trial and Insur-

ance Practice Section’s Animal Law

Committee stayed online to talk with

Favre about the burgeoning COVID-19

pandemic and how it intensied the

need for a treaty.

“We had this crystal-clear vision of

how we got to this point,” says Reddy,

the chair of the TIPS Animal Law Com-

mittee’s International Issues Subcom-

mittee. “Our treatment of animals is

how we got here.

“You can be vigilant in how you

work to prevent zoonotic diseases and

spillovers from different species, but

that doesn’t help you if your neighbors

aren’t following the same rules and

protocols.”

Reddy volunteered to co-author a

resolution and report based on their

idea that better and consistent treat-

Rajesh Reddy hopes his animal rights

work can have a global impact.

Photo courtesy of Rajesh Reddy

ABA JOURNAL | JUNE–JULY 2021

60

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