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This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
NSU Law Students Win Animal Law Writing Competition
NSU Law Students Win Animal Law Writing Competition
Two NSU Shepard Broad Law Center students were selected as winners of the second annual Florida State University Law Chapter of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund’s (FSU SALDF) Animal Law Writing Competition. The writing competition focuses on animal issues such as animal cruelty laws. Animal rights activists Heidi Mehaffey, first place, and Alison Jane Trejo, honorable mention, were named winners of the competition. Both students demonstrated such strong writing skills that the FSU SALDF decided to create an honorable mention for Alison Jane Trejo for her entry. The contestants will be honored at the first annual Southeastern Animal Law Symposium, hosted at FSU Law in Tallahassee, Fla. on November 7, 2014. The FSU SALDF’s Animal Law Writing competition is one of only two annual national writing contests in animal law in the U.S.
Mehaffey is currently attending NSU Law in the evening, and has been a teacher assistant at the University School for nine years. She is a member of the Moot Court Honor Society, Executive Justice for Academics, and the Environmental Law and Land Use Society. Previously, she worked for Robert N. Hartsell, P.A., Plantation, Fla., and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. Of her decision to focus on swine in her paper, “A Comparative Analysis of United States and European Farming Standards: How the USA Grossly Disregards the Quality of Life for Farm Pigs,” Mehaffey states, “I was inspired to focus my article on pigs because of my own little piglet, Theodore. He is intelligent, endearing, and a complex creature that loves to play his piano! Pigs are inquisitive and social animals that should be afforded the basic right to engage in natural behaviors. I truly believe that there needs to be a change in the way factory farm animals are treated, and appreciate the opportunity to have my article recognized by the Florida State University Student Animal Legal Defense Fund and Pets ad Litem.” Mehaffey plans to share her winnings with Rooterville, an animal rescue site run by passionate animal rights activists that houses over 130 rescued farm animals, including pot belly pigs, who have come from situations of abuse/neglect and abandonment.
Trejo is currently attending NSU Law in the evening, and is a Law Clerk at Matt Hellman, P.A. in Plantation, Fla. She chose to write her paper, “Killer Soup: The Brutality of Shark Finning and the Wildly Profitable Shark Fin Industry,” because “I have always been fascinated by these magnificent creatures. Sharks play a vital role at the top of the food chain by maintaining balance in the ocean, the most important ecosystem on the planet.” Trejo’s paper touches upon marine animal cruelty laws specifically as they relate to sharks.