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Forced to decide whether their country of Switzerland should create a national system to provide state-funded lawyers to represent animals in court, the Swiss people voted, and the outcome was a resounding no. “The measure was rejected by around 70 percent of voters,” reports BBC News.

Currently, Zurich is the only Swiss canton (an administrative district similar to a county in the United States) to have a government-subsidized animal lawyer. Antoine Goetschel represents dogs, cats, guinea pigs, farm animals, and even fish who have been abused, reports the (U.K.) Telegraph.

“People accused of animal cruelty very often hire lawyers to defend themselves,” Goetschel tells the Telegraph. “Why shouldn’t someone speak for the animal as well? It’s about fairness and defending a minority.”

The referendum was required to be held after “activists from the Swiss Animal Protection (SAP) collected more than the 100,000 signatures required to force a national ballot,” reports the Telegraph. But the animal activists were in the minority. The majority of voters in 26 cantons in Switzerland voted against the measure. Goetschel wasn’t surprised. “Animal welfare has been a big topic in Switzerland in the last few years and perhaps this has been too much for some Swiss,” the Zurich animal lawyer told the Telegraph.

Switzerland has some of the world’s strictest animal protection laws, reports the Telegraph. “It recently changed its constitution to protect the ‘dignity’ of plant life and made a law last year establishing rights for creatures such as goldfish and canaries,” states the Telegraph. “Pigs, budgies and other social creatures cannot be kept alone; horses and cows must be regularly exercised outside their stalls and dog owners are required to take a training course to learn how to properly care for their pets.”

What do you think? Is the notion of state-funded lawyers for animals just too bizarre? Or is it a great idea?

 

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