View source for Delcianna Winders

{{Author
|Name override=No
|Sort as=Winders, Delcianna
|Roles=Professor of Law; Activist
|Section=Observatory
|Areas=Animals 
|Source=Earth Food Life Project
|Biography=[https://www.vermontlaw.edu/faculty/winders-delcianna Delcianna Winders] is an associate professor of law and the director of the [https://www.vermontlaw.edu/academics/centers-and-programs/animal-law-policy-institute Animal Law and Policy Institute] at [https://www.vermontlaw.edu/ Vermont Law and Graduate School].
|Photo=Delcianna Winders VLS headshot 5.jpg
|Homepage=https://www.vermontlaw.edu/faculty/winders-delcianna
|Tabs=Full Bio, Commentary, Multimedia
|About=[https://www.vermontlaw.edu/faculty/winders-delcianna Delcianna (Delci) Winders] is Associate Professor of Law and Director of the [https://www.vermontlaw.edu/academics/centers-and-programs/animal-law-policy-institute Animal Law and Policy Institute] at Vermont Law and Graduate School, which trains tomorrow’s animal advocacy leaders, serves as a resource hub, and centers animals in the fight for environmental protection. She has practiced, taught, and published in animal law for many years in a variety of settings. Captive wildlife—and captive elephants in particular—is one of her core areas of expertise. You can follow her on [https://bsky.app/profile/delcianna.bsky.social Bluesky], [https://www.instagram.com/profwinders/ Instagram], [https://www.linkedin.com/in/delcianna-winders-3a601211/ LinkedIn], and [https://x.com/DelciannaW X].
|Commentary={{Commentary
|Commentary title=Animal Welfare Act: Enforcement
|Commentary select=External link
|Commentary link=https://lawcommons.lclark.edu/alr/vol25/iss2/9/
|Commentary coauthors=Varu Chilakamarri
|Commentary source=Animal Law Review
|Commentary year=2019
|Commentary month=March
|Commentary description=Delcianna Winders discusses the Animal Welfare Act and how the United States Department of Agriculture enforces it. She also provides a critique of the USDA’s enforcement of the AWA, with particular attention to its heavy reliance on warnings and discounted penalties, which in many cases fail to deter regulated entities from violating the AWA. Varu Chilakamarri discusses how animal welfare issues are incorporated into the work of the Department of Justice (DOJ). She provides an overview of the AWA, noting the specific sections that provide for federal court review. Chilakamarri also discusses some of the programmatic steps the DOJ has taken within the past few years to make animal welfare a larger priority.
}}{{Commentary
|Commentary title=Oregon Horse Named Justice Suing Abusive Owner For ʻPain and Sufferingʼ They Caused
|Commentary select=External link
|Commentary link=https://people.com/pets/oregon-horse-suing-owner/
|Commentary coauthors=Kelli Bender
|Commentary source=People
|Commentary year=2018
|Commentary month=May
|Commentary description=In the first lawsuit brought by a horse, Justice the horse is represented by the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Delcianna Winters originated the legal theory underpinning the lawsuit.
}}{{Commentary
|Commentary title=Blackout Blackout
|Commentary subtitle=The Latest in the USDA’s Ongoing Attempts to Stymie Transparency
|Commentary select=External link
|Commentary link=https://www.salon.com/2017/05/29/blackout-blackout-the-latest-in-the-usdas-ongoing-attempts-to-stymie-transparency/
|Commentary source=Salon
|Commentary year=2017
|Commentary month=May
|Commentary description=In the early 2000s, Congress amended the Freedom of Information Act to require agencies to proactively post frequently requested records online. Pursuant to this amendment, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service began posting records online related to its enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), the country’s most significant animal protection law. 

Then, in a [[/www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/02/trump-administration-blacks-out-animal-welfare-information
|much]]-[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/02/03/the-usda-abruptly-removes-animal-welfare-information-from-its-website/?utm_term=.448f0a01b97c publicized] move in 2017, and in contravention of the FIOA, the agency abruptly took all of these records down from its website.
}}{{Commentary
|Commentary title=Combining Reflexive Law and False Advertising Law to Standardize “Cruelty-Free” Labeling of Cosmetics
|Commentary select=External link
|Commentary link=https://nyulawreview.org/issues/volume-81-number-1/combining-reflexive-law-and-false-advertising-law-to-standardize-cruelty-free-labeling-of-cosmetics/
|Commentary source=New York University Law Review
|Commentary year=2006
|Commentary month=April
|Commentary description=“Cruelty-free” labeling claims are presently unregulated, resulting in market failure. Consumers make purchasing decisions with incomplete and misleading information and are therefore unable to encourage manufacturers to follow consumer preferences and alter their animal testing practices. Building on scholarship in reflexive law, this Note outlines a strategy for remedying the proliferation of misleading “cruelty-free” claims through standardization. Winders argues that standardization can most effectively and efficiently be achieved through a voluntary, third-party certification program that sets a labeling standard and then monitors labeling claims, buttressed by traditional false advertising law.
}}
|Multimedia={{Multimedia
|Multimedia title=“Animal Welfare Act: Oversight of Exhibition” by Professor Delcianna Winders
|Multimedia link=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qki6EI2m0Lw
|Multimedia type=Video
|Multimedia tag=Feature
|Multimedia year=2024
|Multimedia month=April
|Multimedia description=The Animal Welfare Act covers animals used for exhibition—zoos, circuses, marine parks, movies, even social media. But the act’s standards are outdated and inadequate. Primates are kept in solitary confinement. Bears are confined in concrete pits, their babies taken away for cub-petting operations. As a result, state and local laws, as well as other federal laws, particularly the Endangered Species Act, are important auxiliary tools for those concerned about animals exploited for entertainment. This presentation details how the AWA governs animal exhibition, and the tools deployed by advocates to make up for the act’s shortcomings.
}}{{Multimedia
|Multimedia title=“Overview of the Animal Welfare Act” by Professor Delcianna Winders
|Multimedia link=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao4ygtoH2fk
|Multimedia type=Video
|Multimedia tag=Feature
|Multimedia year=2023
|Multimedia month=June
|Multimedia description=This overview of the Animal Welfare Act, the primary federal U.S. animal protection statute, provides a history of the law, discusses which animals it does—and does not—cover, explains how the law is implemented, critiques enforcement, addresses the importance of transparency, and proposes recommendations aimed at fulfilling the mandate that Congress put in place more than a half century ago: ensuring the humane care and treatment of animals.
}}{{Multimedia
|Multimedia title=Delcianna Winders: Justice for Animals
|Multimedia link=https://www.speciesunite.com/podcast/delcianna-winders
|Multimedia type=Audio
|Multimedia tag=Interview
|Multimedia year=2019
|Multimedia month=June
|Multimedia description=Delcianna Winders is an animal law attorney, scholar, and professor. At the Lewis and Clark Law School for Animal Studies she leads the newly formed animal law litigation clinic focused on the legal protections and rights of farmed animals. This is the nation’s first-ever clinic focused exclusively on animal law litigation, and with its creation, Lewis & Clark Law School became the first law school in the world to host two separate clinics devoted to animal law.
}}
|Owners=Delcianna Winders
|Is published=Yes
|Date published=2025-04-15
|Published by=Rey
|Notification contact=Reynard Loki }}