Welcome to the Animal Law podcast, which is, of course, as you probably know, part of the Our Henhouse channel of podcasts.

And please remember to subscribe and hit like.

And today it's my pleasure to welcome back Christopher Berry, who is now, he wasn't before,

but he is now the executive director

for the Non-human Rights Project,

where he is responsible for overseeing action

to secure legal rights for animals

through litigation, legislation, education, and other efforts.

And I'm sure you've all heard of the Non-Human Rights Project,

and it's just very exciting to have Christopher here in this new job

prior to working at NHRP. He helped manage litigation at the Animal Legal Defense Fund,

where he specialized in private civil enforcement of animal protection laws and related issues

such as standing, justiciability, and procedure. I'm so excited to have you here. Welcome, Christopher.

Thanks for having me. Also excited to be here. Thanks for the lovely introduction.

One of the reasons I'm excited to have you here is that, you know, I feel like we've been talking

about, like, big environmental issues and talked about alligator alcatraz last week and and this week we're going to be talking

about an issue that is far more personal and yet i think is and i'm sure you'll be able to do this

put in context is is so important and one of the reasons i feel that way is because when i when i've

taught animal law i almost always i mean my first class is introductory, but my second class will always be on the relationship between tort law and animals and companion animals.

And everybody in the class, whether it's the student who knows absolutely nothing about animal law or the one

who's really, you know, that's why they came to law school, they're all shocked. I mean, it is,

I think it is the issue that really brings home to people more than anything how crazy the law is

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