Sunday, February 21, 2010

Swiss to appoint lawyers for animals?

They may not be meowing, barking or mooing their way through depositions anytime soon, but if Switzerland's animal-rights activists get their way, domestic creatures may be given the constitutional right to be represented by (human) lawyers in court.

Swiss voters will go to the polls March 7 to decide whether each of the country's 26 cantons (similar to states) should be obligated to appoint a special attorney to represent pets and farm animals in court in cases of alleged abuse. The initiative is just one of many put before the electorate every year in Switzerland's unique brand of direct democracy, in which anyone can bring an issue up for a vote provided he or she has enough signatures on a petition. More...

Don't miss:

  1. Why did the Swiss vote to ban minarets on mosques?
  2. Should Americans engage in direct democracy like the Swiss?
  3. Swiss vote on radical heroin rules...
  4. The horrifying spectacle of cruelty to animals...
  5. In Switzerland, plants have a right to live with dignity...
  6. Animal rights militants fire-bomb Novartis chairman's home...

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