While There is Much Room for Improvement, Out Legal System is Still the Best

At Least We Are Not the Swiss

Your Never Going To Believe This!
Sometimes in life you read a newspaper article or hear a story reported on television and your immediate reaction is “There is absolutely no way that can be true.” Or, “Are you out of your mind expecting me to believe that?” For example, let’s say that you are reading the Wall Street Journal and you read about a fisherman in Switzerland who was brought to court on animal cruelty charges by the “official” animal lawyer for the town (canton) of Zurich. The offense committed by the fisherman? Taking ten minutes to land a 22 pound pike.
No, this is not an “April Fools” joke and I am not making this up. Apparently “animal rights” is a very serious subject in Switzerland, and a lawyer by the name of Antoine Goetschel (who really is the appointed animal rights lawyer, kind of like a public defender for animals) thought that taking ten minutes to land a fish amounted to cruelty because the fish was caused to “suffer unnecessarily” and the fish’s “dignity” was damaged. How did the case come to the attention of attorney Goetschel? Animal rights activists loudly (and effectively) protested after a picture of the four foot fish and angler was published in a local newspaper. The good news is that the case was thrown out of court, although on a technicality as the charge was brought in the wrong jurisdiction. This case wasn’t Mr. Goeschel’s first representing his flippered friends. He represented two fish on a case in 2008, after the fish had been placed in a tank on a TV game show where the contestants had to try and catch the fish by hand, where he successfully argued that the game show violated a Swiss law requiring that animals be treated with dignity.
Just how crazy is the legal system when it comes to this nutty stuff? Under Swiss law, scientists must consider the dignity of animals and plants before embarking on scientific experiments. That’s right- before trying to make a better popping corn, the researcher must ask how the experiment will affect the dignity of the ear of corn. If they don’t, they can be hauled into court. Want to buy a bird, goat or yak in Switzerland? You better make that two, because the law says that it is animal cruelty punishable by up to three years in jail for “socially isolating” certain species. Forget flushing a sick aquarium fish down the toilet in Switzerland- the law says you must first kill the fish with a sharp blow to the head, or immerse them in a mixture of clove oil dissolved in alcohol.
The good news is that the majority of the Swiss people are still sane. On March 7, 2010, the Swiss people rejected a proposed new law that would have required the appointment of an animal rights lawyer like Mr. Goetschel for every town in the country. The bad news is that 30% of the Swiss people are indeed nuts, because the vote of the proposed law was only defeated by a 70%-30% margin.
So the next time you hear people complain about the legal system and lawyers in this country, remember it could be worse- at least were not the Swiss!

Bookmark and Share

Free Book

An Insider's Guide to Avoiding Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Injury Case

Read More

The Ultimate Guide to Protecting Your Family From Irresponsible Drivers in New York

Read More

Talk To Me

Please fill out the form and we will be in touch with you shortly.

Name:

Phone:

Email:

Tell us more:


Law Offices of Scott D. Cannon
28 Main Street
Geneseo, New York 14454
Phone: (585) 243-9330
Toll Free: (800) 343-6918

Get Directions

©2010 Cannon Law Office, All Rights Reserved, Reproduced with Permission
Attorney website design by Foster Web Marketing, the best attorney website design solution on the Web offering search engine optimization for attorneys, lawyer website design, video for attorneys, and more.
Get SEO Tips from The Attorney Internet Marketing Blog

Served By: A