A6
BUSINESS & AGRICULTURE
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
OREGON COURT OF APPEALS
Animals lack the right to fi le lawsuits
By MATEUSZ
PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Joe Sims/Contributed Photo
Medusahead rye is the noxious weed targeted by the Wallowa
County Weed Board in September.
September’s noxious
weed is medusahead rye
Animal Legal Defense Fund/Contributed Photo
Justice, the horse that animal activists wanted to sue its former
owner for support, walks in a pasture in Washington County.
missal, said Christopher
Berry, the group’s manag-
ing attorney.
“It’s an unjust result to
say an animal cruelty vic-
tim can’t have their day in
court,” Berry said.
A three-judge appel-
late panel has unanimously
rejected the argument that
Kim Mosiman, the execu-
tive director of an animal
rescue nonprofi t, could seek
damages on the horse’s
behalf from Gwendolyn
Vercher, who surrendered
the animal in 2017.
Vercher was sentenced
to three years probation and
ordered to pay $4,000 in
fees, including restitution
for the veterinary treatment
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ENTERPRISE — As
part of the Wallowa County
Vegetation Department and
Weed Board’s ongoing edu-
cation eff orts, in conjunction
with Wallowa Resources, the
Chieftain features a noxious
weed each month that is on
the county’s list of noxious
and invasive weeds.
This month’s noxious
weed is medusahead rye.
What: Medusahead rye
is an annual grass and grows
6-24 inches tall with two to
three spikelets on each node
of the fl ower head. The awns
are straight when green, but
twist into a snake-like fash-
ion as they dry out. Flowering
occurs in May and June.
Where: Medusahead rye
grows predominantly on semi-
arid rangeland. In Wallowa
County, it’s typically found in
the Imnaha and Grande Ronde
canyonlands, as well as on the
Zumwalt Prairie.
Dangers: Medusahead rye
is a rapidly spreading annual,
requiring multiple manage-
ment stages for control. The
stiff awns on the plant may
cause injury to grazing ani-
mals by working into ears,
eyes, nose and tongue. Once
it dominates an area, the land
base becomes unable to sup-
port wildlife or livestock.
How you can help: If you
fi nd medusahead rye either
on your property or while
out and about, take note of
the location. You can contact
our Wallowa Canyonlands
Partnership Program Man-
ager Joe Sims at 541-426-
8053 ext.61.
RD
By JOE SIMS
For the Wallowa County
Chieftain
SALEM — The Oregon
Court of Appeals has ruled
that animals can’t fi le law-
suits, relieving farm advo-
cates who had worried
about potentially expansive
new litigation over live-
stock production.
The appellate court has
determined a horse lacks
the legal right to sue its for-
mer owner, who’d pleaded
guilty to neglecting the
animal.
The
Oregon
Farm
Bureau, Oregon Cattle-
men’s Association and Ore-
gon Dairy Farmers Associ-
ation feared the case could
set a precedent, exposing
meat and dairy producers to
lawsuits from activists.
“If you look at the mis-
sion of most of these
groups, that is the ultimate
goal: to stop the owner-
ship of animals,” said Mary
Anne Cooper, the Farm
Bureau’s vice president of
government aff airs.
The Animal
Legal
Defense Fund, which
sought to represent the
horse, is planning to peti-
tion the Oregon Supreme
Court to review the dis-
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of the horse’s malnourish-
ment, lice and infections,
but the animal still needs
specialized
medications
and care, according to court
documents.
In 2018, a judge in
Washington County dis-
missed a tort complaint
against Vercher ostensibly
fi led by Justice, the horse,
because a “non-human
animal” doesn’t have the
“legal qualifi cations nec-
essary for the assertion of
legal rights and duties in a
court of law.”
Mosiman, who now
cares for the horse, admit-
ted that Justice cannot inde-
pendently fi le a lawsuit but
argued that she could repre-
sent the animal’s interests
in court as a guardian.
However, the appeals
court said the situation
isn’t suffi ciently similar
to those in which a guard-
ian is appointed for a child
or a person with cognitive
disabilities.
An animal “inherently
lacks
self-determination
and the ability to express its
wishes in a manner that the
legal system would recog-
nize,” the ruling said.
Allowing
attorneys
to represent animals this
way would be “suscepti-
ble to abuse,” with the ani-
mal potentially serving as
a “pawn to be manipulated
on a chessboard larger than
his own case,” the appel-
late court said, citing legal
precedents.
Only human beings and
their legal entities can pur-
sue lawsuits while animals
“are neither natural nor arti-
fi cial persons,” the ruling
said.
Despite animal welfare
laws that recognize them
as “sentient beings capable
of experiencing pain, stress
and fear,” animals nonethe-
less remain a form of prop-
erty without “substantive
or procedural rights,” the
ruling said.
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& Skylight
Gallery
Church
Directory
Finding books is
our specialty
CLUES ACROSS
1. Minor in astronomy?
5. Chest muscle, for short
8. “Around the Horn” channel
12. Some gardening tools
13. Tapioca balls
14. Snooped
15. Only state with a
three-word capital
16. You ___ what you sow
17. App with stories and
reels, briefly
18. *”... and then something
funny happens”
21. Get closer
22. Merit
23. *Kosher restaurants
observe one
28. Matzo ball ___, aka
Jewish penicillin
31. Currently broadcasting
32. Un-even?
33. Funny Bombeck
34. Burnable music holders
35. Hollywood fame
39. McKellen who played
Magneto
40. “Next To Normal”
composer Tom
42. “___ to the Women on
Long Island” (Olivia
Gatwood poem)
43. Words on a
Wonderland cake
45. Person with future
prospects?
46. *Evidence of laundering
49. Katsudon grain
51. View as
52. Superpower that can
alter material existence ...
and a feature of the starred
clues’ answers
58. Ruth who played
Lady Macbeth
59. Lion’s bellow
60. “Sign me up!”
61. Barely defeated
62. Screws up
63. “Toodle-oo!”
64. Throw
65. Crossed (out)
66. Annual Austin festival,
for short
Joseph United
Methodist Church
Grace Lutheran
Church
3rd & Lake St. • Joseph
409 West Main - Enterprise
10 AM Worship
Online AND In Person
SUNDAY
SUNDAY
WORSHIP
WORSHIP
at 9am
For More Info
541-432-3102
JosephUMC.ORG
at 9am
Pastor
Beth Estock
Pastor Cherie
Dearth
Pastor John B. King Jr
phone (message): 541-426-4633
web: gracelutheranenterprise.com
Enterprise
Christian Church
St.
St. Patrick’s
Patrick’s
Episcopal
Church
Episcopal Church
85035 Joseph Hwy • (541) 426-3449
We have ‘In-person worship” @ 9:00 am
(Guidelines observed)
Sunday School at 10:30
Parking Lot Radio/Facebook @ 9:00
100 NE 3rd St, Enterprise
NE 3rd & Main St
541-426-3439
Worship Service
Sunday 9:30am
David Bruce
Pastor, Enterprise Christian Church
Lostine
Presbyterian Church
Summit Church
Discussion Group 9:30 AM
Worship Service 11:00 AM
at the Cloverleaf Hall in Enterprise
Childrens program during service
Blog: dancingforth.blogspot.com
CLUES DOWN
1. “Not a chance, dude”
2. Bread served with curry
3. Close tightly
4. “Foolish” singer
5. Art form that might be in free verse
6. Auction site
7. Accessory for Thor or Storm
8. Hospital trauma pro
9. “Yes, miss!” in Spanish
10. Animals in family photos
11. Confidentiality doc
13. Prickly plant
14. City where tourists often pretend
to hold up a tower
19. Raises
20. Fresh hairstyle
23. Places to tie up boats
24. Not from a big studio
25. Hidden bonuses in many
Marvel films
26. Oscar winner Sophia
27. Sum up
29. Savory taste
30. Individual frame in a
comic book
36. Marisa who plays Aunt May
37. “Without further ___ ...”
38. Device that’s “fed”
41. Prioritizes by severity
44. Places to apply deodorant
47. Bella’s vampire husband
48. “The Last Five ___”
(off-Broadway musical)
50. Dressed
52. Try again
53. Dino with a big head and
little arms
54. Days of ___
55. Big name in the theater biz?
56. Little quibbles
57. Chew (on)
58. Badminton court divider
107 E. Main • Enterprise • 541-426-3351
www.bookloftoregon.com
Sundays at 10 am
Pastor: David Pendleton
541.398.0597
Hwy 82, Lostine
www.summitchurchoregon.org
Stephen Kliewer, Minister
Cloverleaf Hall • 668 NW 1st St. • Enterprise, OR 97828
Wallowa
Assembly
of God
702 West Hwy 82
Wallowa, Oregon
541-886-8445
Sunday School • 9:am
Worship Service • 10:am
Pastor Tim Barton
Visit Us on
Seventh-Day Adventist
Church & School
Christ Covenant
Church
Pastor Terry Tollefson
Church Office: 541-263-0505
Family Prayer - 9:30 AM
Worship - 10:00 AM
723 College Street, Lostine
Enterprise Community
Congregational Church
Join us at the
BIG BROWN CHURCH
305 Wagner (near the Cemetery)
P.O. Box N. Enterprise, OR 97828
Church 541-426-3751
School 541-426-8339
Pastor David Ballard 503-810-9886
Sunday Worship 11:00 am
Bible Study:
Sundays, 9:30 am
Worship Hour
Interim Pastor Rev Dr. Craig Pesti-Strobel
10:30 a.m. - Noon
301 NE First St. • Enterprise, OR
Find us on Facebook! 541.426.3044