Future Lawyers Unite Knowledge and Stand Up for Animal Rights

For animal rights in Croatia, students from the Faculty of Law in Zagreb have been fighting for six months. A group of students from PFZG dedicated to the protection and promotion of animal rights was formed in November last year, thanks to the idea of student Iris Ban-Krošelj, which was wholeheartedly supported by the Faculty Dean.

– The Dean of PFZG is extremely proud of the idea, very accommodating, and regularly provides us with a hall where we hold meetings every two weeks – says Iris, adding that the Faculty also invited them to participate in the design of an elective course on animal rights. In their work so far, the fifteen-member Group has become familiar with this area of law and, although they are not graduated lawyers, their engagement contributes to its respect.

Citizen Assistance

– We do everything that the law allows us, just like all other citizens. Our fortune is that we have each other and that we know the law, which is why institutions cannot outsmart or ignore us. Reports of neglect and abuse of animals are addressed ex officio. Before that, it is important to gather eyewitness statements and photographs, then write a thorough report and alert institutions to the importance of professional conduct. We also encourage various associations and cities to have a proper attitude towards animals – explains the initiator of the Group’s establishment, from whom we learn that citizens enthusiastically help them in collecting materials on specific cases of violations of animal rights.

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– In Croatia, there is no association that deals with this; we are the first to engage in this way. Of course, citizens report cases, but institutions ignore them. In a business sense, what we are doing here will not take off for a long time. In Austria, for example, there is an ombudsman for animal rights; there, it is both a hobby and a business. That is precisely why some colleagues want to go abroad and build a career there. We work ‘pro bono’ and are happiest when we help animals – she recounted.

Teamwork

To do the job as best as they can, future lawyers work as a team. – We are divided into groups, so we handle multiple cases at once, and older colleagues collaborate with younger ones, thus avoiding possible mistakes or oversights. We read ‘resolved’ cases together before sending them; no one works on their own – says Iris, praising the responsibility and diligence of her colleagues, as well as the professors’ willingness to give them advice. Engaging in what seems to be a narrow area of law, these students regularly apply laws on administrative procedures, veterinary medicine, and communal economy, and study various regulations, statutes, and city decisions alongside the Animal Protection Act. The laws are not bad, but the problem is that they are not enforced, or if they are enforced, it takes a long time.

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– In the case of the Tip-Tip shelter, our report to the Ministry was passed from person to person for three full weeks, which is unacceptable in a situation where living beings are suffering and are in danger – believes Iris, noting that citizens’ awareness of the inhumanity of keeping dogs on chains would improve with the consistent application of the law that provides for the seizure of the animal and a fine of 10,000 to 15,000 kuna.