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By Katrina Sharman
First published in Lawyer 2B, July 2006, Issue 02
In case you haven’t heard the news from the United States, animal law has emerged as a
cutting edge legal discipline, with courses now being taught at more than 60
law faculties including Harvard, Columbia and New York University.
Australian
law schools are set to follow suit, with the University of New South
Wales offering the first animal law course in
2004 and a host of law schools across the Asia Pacific region expected to
introduce courses over the next few years.
You might ask yourself why animals need lawyers. After all,
they can’t give instructions the way that other clients can and they certainly
can’t pay us. The treatment of animals is however, regulated by law. Everyday across
our continent, thousands of animals are legally killed, beaten, shot, tortured,
imprisoned, harmed and allowed to suffer in unthinkable ways. Last year an
astonishing 540 million animals were used for food or food production in Australia.
Millions of kangaroos and native species are on quota to be killed for
commercial purposes every year while countless other animals are used in research,
testing, education, sport and entertainment.
While the law grants some species greater protections than
others, all animals are classified by our legal system as property instead of sentient
beings. This leaves them marginalised, voiceless and desperately in need of
legal advocates who are willing to work to protect their lives and their most
fundamental interests.
Voiceless
is a non-profit organisation established in 2004 for animals in Australia.
Its mission is to promote respect and compassion for animals, increase
awareness of the conditions in which they live and take action to protect animals
from suffering. In addition to running a grants program and focussing on
education, Voiceless has a legal arm, which lobbies for greater protections for
animals. Last year Voiceless co-hosted Australia’s first national animal
law workshop. It also established ‘Voiceless Law Talk’, Australia’s only online think-tank
designed to facilitate discussion amongst lawyers, law students and academics
in the field of animal law.
Co-founder of Voiceless, Brian Sherman AM, who is President of the Australian Museum Trust and was
Chair and Joint Managing Director of the EquitiLink Group and a board member of
SOCOG, recently observed that:
“A generation ago the great environmental law debate began
into how we treat and alter our landscape. Now the world is beginning to wake
up to the next great challenge facing humanity – the care and protection of
animals. This is a chance for the lawyers of today to make a difference to
billions of beings and to demonstrate scholarship and leadership in this emerging
movement”.
For your chance to participate in this emerging legal area
and to find out how you can raise the profile of animal law in your law school,
please visit the Voiceless website at: http://www.voiceless.org.au or contact Voiceless’ legal
counsel, Katrina Sharman at ksharman@voiceless.org.au. Did you like this article? Share it!  |
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