Four decades for the animals

Antoine F. Goetschel works as an international adviser in the field of animal welfare law and animal ethics. He is available to governments, organisations, universities, and the media as speaker, expert, and professional point of contact.

He has handled numerous animal welfare criminal proceedings and knows the legal pitfalls of such proceedings. His experience ranges from the animal in private law and constitutional law, through the animal in administrative and criminal law, to the animal in ethics and society.

His work encompasses, among other things, the analysis of the legal status of the animal, the development of reform proposals, and participation in legislative projects at national, international, and global level.

He works as a guest lecturer and, among other engagements, delivered a four-week series of lectures in Australia in 2013. In numerous national and international radio, magazine, and television interviews, he shares his knowledge and concerns with the public — see also in the press.

For legal advice on individual animal welfare cases, he refers to the legal advice service he built up at the Foundation Animal in Law under +41 (0)43 443 06 43, info@tierimrecht.org. He does not, as a rule, conduct proceedings against veterinary offices, as he prefers to support rather than hinder their work for animal health and animal welfare.

For several years, he has dedicated himself to building up animal-friendly financial investments, so that in future financial investments can also be made for the benefit of farm, laboratory, companion, wild, and sport animals.

Antoine F. Goetschel sees himself as a mediator between universities, animal welfare organisations, legislators, and the media, in order to anchor animal welfare at the legal and ethical level.

His orientation is, alongside the legal-academic level, also of a practical legal nature. While the task of universities often lies in theoretical or scientific investigations, the role of animal welfare organisations is frequently limited to uncovering grievances. Viable solutions require cooperation between science, administration, organisations, the media, and implementation at the legislative level.

At the heart of his work stands the conviction that the relationship of the human being to the animal is of fundamental significance for society's self-understanding. A responsible shaping of this relationship is not only a question of animal welfare, but also an expression of ethical integrity.

Independence is important to him. He has consciously detached himself from organisations in order to preserve intellectual freedom in thought and action, and advocates independently for the interests of animals.

The protection of the animal rests on two fundamental pillars: animal ethics and animal welfare law. Ethics provides the normative foundations; law translates these into binding rules.

Consistent legislation depends on clear ethical concepts. Without a sound justification, the call for better protection remains abstract. Only ethical engagement makes it possible to assign the animal a coherent and comprehensible position in law. It is easy to plead in general terms for protecting animals and keeping them in species-appropriate conditions. But as soon as it comes to the finer details, an ethical foundation is indispensable.

A central insight of modern legal development is the concept of the dignity of the animal. This understanding reaches beyond protection from suffering and pain. It recognises the animal as a being with its own integrity and its own worth.

This gives rise to legal and ethical questions that reach far beyond livestock keeping and slaughter. They equally concern the keeping of companion animals, the therapeutic use of animals, and care and affection.

Antoine F. Goetschel has advocated for the dignity of the creature to be constitutionally anchored in Switzerland and for the legal status of the animal to be further developed.

With the inclusion of the dignity of the creature in the Federal Constitution in 1992, Switzerland took on an international pioneering role. Since then, further states have developed comparable approaches and pursue similar goals.

GAL is an independent and globally pioneering authority for the health and protection of animals in law. The association was established in 2016 by Antoine F. Goetschel in Zurich.

The global approach of GAL encompasses the idea of "One Health" for a healthy planet on which healthy humans and animals can live in harmony with each other. Animal health is understood as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.

GAL focuses on realistic, sustainable, and far-reaching steps to move forward and strives to act in a practical and useful way. In cooperation with national and international institutions, GAL supports the respective legislators in the next steps for developing key measures that help to improve the legal protection and welfare of all categories of animals — companion, farm, laboratory, sport, or wild animals.

The work of GAL rests on four pillars: prevention, legislation, law enforcement, and information/education.

Law plays an important, but not the sole, role in this. Targeted cooperation with veterinary medicine is one of the aims. As set out in his widely noted essay on animal welfare as a basis for the health of animal and human, he establishes the necessity of a UN Convention for One Health and Animal Welfare UNCAHP (UN Convention on Animal Health and Protection).

The tax-exempt Global Animal Law GAL Association is based at Theaterstrasse 2, 8400 Winterthur, and can be reached at afg@globalanimallaw.org.

The Faculty of Law conferred the dignity of a Doctor iuris honoris causa on Dr Antoine F. Goetschel, Zurich, on 3 December 2022.

In the laudatio, he was honoured with the following words:

"To Antoine F. Goetschel, a creative pioneer and active trailblazer of animal rights and animal welfare law in Switzerland; who has, over a long period and with success, advocated for the extension of the Federal Constitution by the 'dignity of the creature' (also for animals); who has contributed very substantially to the incorporation of the 'basic articles on animals' into federal law; who, through his numerous writings and his practical work — for example as 'Animal Lawyer' in the Canton of Zurich — has enriched the academic engagement with animal law; who, through his tireless building work, gave the animal in law a voice at an early stage."

Against this background, Antoine F. Goetschel today increasingly makes his many years of experience available to international interest groups. His commitment is directed at the substantive and structural further development of the legal status of the animal in constitution, legislation, and enforcement.

An overview of current and past lectures as well as teaching activities can be found in the press. For enquiries, you are welcome to reach me electronically.