Sunday, March 07, 2010
Antoine Goetschel and potential clients
Switzerland is big on animal rights, so much so that voters today cast their ballots on whether the government should provide lawyers to animals that have been abused. Backers of the measure, which received 144,000 signatures to get on the ballot, say cruelty to animals will drop if cats, dogs, even fish are given access to legal representation.
Antoine Goetschel, the official animal lawyer for the canton of Zurich, is currently the only attorney in Switzerland who has handled cases for animals. In one notorious case he filed a complaint against a fisherman who took too long to reel in a pike. Most of Goetschel’s 150+ clients a year are abused dogs.
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Opponents of the proposed new law argue enough is enough, saying the country already has strict laws protecting animals.
Early results indicated that the measure would be defeated.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Swiss Ask Whether Animals Need Lawyers (by Imogen Foulkes, BBC News)
Swiss May Give Animals Free Lawyers (by Robert Mackey, New York Times)
Scales of Justice: In Zurich, Even Fish Have a Lawyer (by Deborah Ball, Wall Street Journal)
Lawyer Lends His Voice to the Animals (by Isobel Leybold, Swissinfo)
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