South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem caused controversy by including in her book the story of shooting her hunting dog, Cricket, for behavior such as disrupting a hunt and biting her.

A New York state Supreme Court judge has allowed the Yom Kippur ritual of kapparot to proceed by ruling that there is insufficient evidence to prove it is a public nuisance.

The Israeli Agriculture minister has ordered the closure of Israel's largest slaughterhouse in the Galilee following an exposé by Channel 2 showing severe animal abuses, including cutting the throats of conscious Australian cattle and other mistreatment.

Kapparot, a folk custom originating from the early medieval period, involves waving a chicken over one's head, symbolically transferring sins before its slaughter.