Legal Rights for Animals: Will Switzerland Remain Neutral?

by Stephanie Feldstein · 2010-02-07 12:00:00 UTC
Topics:

Next month, Swiss voters will decide whether domesticated animals should get lawyers. If a referendum passes, each district will appoint a public defender for animals. And not just companion animals; farm animals would have a right to legal representation, too.

Predictably, farmers and government officials are against the proposal, but animal activists collected enough signatures to get it on the ballot. The "No to the Useless Animal Lawyers' Initiative" (yes, that's actually the name of group) said, "Animal rights advocates are useless to animals. They can't prevent animal abuse because they only get involved after it has been perpetrated."

Is that how they feel about police officers? Child welfare and social services?

If they're opposed to the idea of consequences for animal abuse when outreach and education fail, that puts an entirely different spin on the debate. At that point, it's no longer about whether animals should have less, more, or the same legal standing as people; it's really about whether there should be any laws at all.

Yesterday, I wrote about the question of ownership vs. guardianship, and why it's not as simple as it may seem, or feel, to animal lovers. I don't have enough of the legal details to know whether the proposal in Switzerland provides any protections for good pet owners/guardians, if it takes a strong enough stance against the people who shouldn't be allowed near animals, and whether it distinguishes between the two. But if animals in Switzerland need their own lawyers to ensure that they get any justice at all, that they're not completely ignored by people like the No to the Useless Animal Lawyers' Initiative, then it would certainly get my vote.

Photo credit: robsettantasei

Stephanie Feldstein is a Change.org Editor who has been part of the animal welfare and rescue community for over a decade, and most recently worked for an environmental organization.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Legal Rights for Animals: The Debate
NEXT STORY:
Petitions Delivered Around the World for Release of Indonesian Circus Dolphins

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.