Antoine Goetschel finally carried things too far. In the past, he had enjoyed tremendous success as an animal rights attorney, suing citizens on behalf of the animals, including a recent case, in which he sued a local angler for torture because it took the fisherman ten minutes to reel in a Pike.
On March 7, voters in Switzerland voted against Goetschel’s initiative to extend legal representation for animals beyond dogs, fish, birds, and chickens. Even Goetschel admitted that his lawsuit, on behalf of the pike, may have created a voter backlash.
All of this reminded me of the question the psalmist asked:
3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor (Ps 8:3-5.)
While we Christians are certainly called to be stewards of this great earth, I do not see the elevation of animals to the level of humans in Scripture like I see in culture.
God’s Word, such as we see in Psalm eight, seems to emphasize over and over again how God’s crowning creation is the human being. Maybe we, in culture, should invest as much in protecting the human as we do the animal.
I agree you can take anything to an extreme - but God put in dogs an awesome ability to love and forgive -- so I personally (owner of 3) think we should do everything possible to protect our pets and care for them!
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