Swiss Voters Reject Lawyers for Animals

(AP)  The result was emphatic: Swiss voters don't think abused animals need to have their own lawyers.

It's a proposal that would never even come near a referendum in other countries, but the measure's defeat Sunday disappointed animal rights advocates, who say Switzerland's elaborate animal welfare laws aren't being enforced.

Opponents of the proposal, including key farmers' groups and the government, had argued that existing laws are sufficient and appointing special lawyers to act on behalf of animals would be unnecessarily expensive for taxpayers.

"The Swiss people have clearly said our animal protection laws are so good we don't need animal lawyers," Jakob Buechler, a lawmaker for the centrist Christian People's Party, told Swiss television SF1.

Official results showed that 70.5 per cent of voters cast their ballot against the proposal to extend nationwide a system that has been in place in Zurich since 1992. Some 29.5 per cent of voters backed the proposal, with turnout at just over 45 per cent.

According to the country's only animal lawyer, Antoine F. Goetschel, public prosecutors are often unsure about animal rights and shy away from pursuing cases even if there is clear evidence of abuse. He said the cost of Sunday's measure would have been less than 1 Swiss franc ($1) per person a year.

Tiana Angelina Moser, a lawmaker for the Green Liberal Party, said animal rights advocates would look for other ways to make sure laws against animal abuse are properly applied and those who hurt animals receive appropriate punishment.

"It's definitely disappointing, I thought it would have been a closer vote," said Moser. "I don't think it's a 'no' to animal protection, but a 'no' for this particular measure."

Switzerland tightened its laws two years ago and now has among the strictest rules anywhere when it comes to caring for pets and farm animals.

The country's 160-page animal protection law states exactly how much space owners must give Mongolian gerbils (233 square inches) and what water temperature is required for African clawed frogs (64-72ºF).

It stipulates that pigs, budgies, goldfish and other social animals cannot be kept alone. Horses and cows must have regular exercise outside their stalls and dog owners have to take a training course to learn how to properly look after their pets.

Like in other countries, the law also forbids killing animals in a cruel fashion or for fun.

Swiss daily Tribune de Geneve reported earlier this year that a woman who decapitated four chickens and left their heads on the doorstep of her love rival received a 90-day suspended sentence.

Goetschel said he represents about 150-200 animals annually in Zurich, while in other cantons (states), only a handful of cases go to court each year.

Most of his clients are dogs, cows and cats, Goetschel told The Associated Press in a recent interview. Many cases involve the serious abuse of animals, such as deliberate wounding, rape and neglect.

But in one high-profile case last month, Goetschel represented a dead pike after an animal protection group accused the angler who caught it of cruelty for taking 10 minutes to haul the fish in.

The angler was found not guilty.
By Associated Press Writer Frank Jordans

[book_of_wally]

This could have been a Monty Python skit.

Graham Chapman: And you are sir?
Micheal Palin: I am legal council for Muffin, the family cat.

[weewoods]

ROTFL, what will those wacky Swiss come up with next.

Jess
www.total-anonymity.us.tc

[TVO1CITW]

Are lawyers suffering from lack of business?

[aliciaaa]

What a pity it was rejected. Those that cannot speak for themselves deserve someone acting on their behalf.

[Rohanite]

"those" are animals. They can't speak for anyone else either.

[erb0087]

"Swiss Voters Reject Lawyers for Animals"

You can laugh at headlines like this, but the Animal Rights cause is gaining steam.

In Spain there is a growing grassroots movement to outlaw bullfighting, and actual bullfights in that country have been disrupted by protestors -- a phenomenon Ernest Hemingway could never have imagined.

Onychectomy (the surgical declawing of cats) is banned or severely restricyed by law in many nations around the world, including Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, and most of the nations of Europe.

It's a growing cause among the enlightened and educated parts of humanity.

[erb0087]

"In Spain there is a growing grassroots movement to outlaw bullfighting, and actual bullfights in that country have been disrupted by protestors -- a phenomenon Ernest Hemingway could never have imagined."
=============================================

No bull.

An actual anti-bullfighting protest in Spain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rshk0NunAY

[erb0087]

Sorry.

There is a scene or two of "topless women" in that video. (Nothing more offensive than in some great works of art.)

I didn't realize that when I posted it. Youtube generally alerts you about that.

[eglek]

Is CBS anti-animal? Many negative viewer's comments, including my own, on tonight's "60 Minutes" hour on the barbaric sport of bull fighting were deleted minutes after posting. Now this lame article which seems to ridicule animal rights. Shame on CBS!!!!!

[andacar]

If the animal rights groups had their way, they would become the thought police of the whole world. I can see them trying to write legislation to ban mouse traps, bug spray, any and all hunting, pet ownership, horseback riding, using farm animals, etc. As with so many other things, a good idea blossomed into a fanatical cadre that won't be satisfied till they rule the world. Lawyers for horses indeed.

[newsterl]

disappointed animal rights advocates, who say Switzerland's elaborate animal welfare laws aren't being enforced."

First, anyone with half a brain would distance themselves as far away as they can from these animal RIGHTS fanatics, these are the ones like Earth First, Peta and others who support and in many cases perpetrate firebombing and/or arson of university facilities, releasing domestic captive bred animals to "fend for themselves and be free" releasing scores of mink from one farm that had never lived in the wild, and most died as a result.
The push and back laws limiting dog owners to in some places ONE dog, or two, support and push for higher license fees, high fees and onerous permit processes on all breeders, forcing mandatory spay-neuter on people's pets and much more.
The ultimate goal is eliminating "pets" this way entirely. As Peta's founder once said to the media, and another official with HSUS said;

"let us neuter neuter neuter until our pathetic version of the cat CEASES TO EXIST"

"One generation and OUT, we dont have a problem with extinction"

Now their branch nuts in Switzerland are trying to make animal ownership unpopular and very expensive by pushing for mandated LAWYERS for animals paid for by the taxpayers. Now ownder it FAILED, what a stupid scam.

[smoknmirrors]

I've always liked the Swiss. They have those really cool knives, and the Alps with its stories of elephant crossings and rum carrying rescue dogs, and, of course, those awesome banks that tell the mightiest nations in the world to stuff it when they come asking for identification of depositors (or at least until lately.) So if they say they can take care of animals better without lawyers, I tend to defer to their judgment. That's especially true after hearing the dead pike anecdote. But I do have to ask, would a lawyer charge a shark anything? Or would representation be a matter of professional courtesy?

[random_radar]

A donkey and his lawyer appeared in court, but no one could tell one jacka$$ from the other...