Empirical Animal Law examines the animal protection movement through the lens of social science, testing the assumptions that have guided legal reform, criminal enforcement, litigation strategy, protest, and public messaging. Rather than prescribing a single agenda, the book asks a foundational question: Which animal law strategies measurably reduce suffering, and which rest on untested intuition? Across original empirical studies and interdisciplinary review, the authors investigate whether incremental welfare reforms pave the way for structural change; how cognitive biases shape moral concerns for animals used for food; whether the movement’s punitive turn reproduces the inequities of the broader criminal legal system; and whether litigation losses, protest tactics, and moral framing advance or undermine public support. The findings complicate conventional wisdom. Incremental reforms may catalyze further change; carceral strategies carry social costs without clear evidence of animal benefit; and persuasive success depends less on legal outcomes than on how facts are framed and moralized for diverse audiences. The book argues that animal law’s credibility and effectiveness depend on becoming empirically self-correcting – routinely measuring impact, revising strategies, and integrating insights from psychology, criminology, and social movement theory. It offers a framework for evidence-based advocacy aimed at durable, system-level change for animals.