麻酔なしの去勢やめて、ドイツで子ブタ原告の裁判

【ベルリンＡＦＰ＝時事】ドイツの連邦憲法裁判所で史上初めて、子ブタを原告とした裁判が行われている。雄の子ブタを麻酔なしで去勢する慣習を禁止するよう求め、動物愛護団体が起こした訴訟だ。（写真は資料写真）
　性成熟期に達した雄ブタの肉は、調理したり食べたりしたときに『雄臭』を発することが多い。雄の子ブタを生後数日で去勢するのは、豚肉の雄臭を防ぐために必要な処置だと養豚農家は主張している。
　ただ、欧州では痛みを伴う去勢手法への批判が高まっており、スウェーデン、ノルウェー、スイスでは既に禁止されている。
　ドイツ連邦議会も２０１３年に鎮痛処置なしの去勢を違法とする法案を可決したが、新法の適用には５年間の移行期間を設置。さらに昨年、移行期限を２０２１年まで延長した。
　法施行の遅れにしびれを切らした動物愛護団体「動物の倫理的扱いを求める人々の会（ＰＥＴＡ）」は１１月、生まれたばかりの子ブタたちを原告として、連邦憲法裁に訴訟を提起。ブタにも人間と同様に「権利」があり、麻酔なしの去勢という「残酷な行為」は権利侵害に当たると主張している。
　ＰＥＴＡ支持者で子ブタたちの代理人を務めるコルネリア・ツィーム弁護士は、「企業や協会などの法人は、人ではないが、法人格を有する。それならば動物にも法人格を認めるべきではないか」と法廷で論じた。
　ＰＥＴＡは、ドイツの法律では妥当な説明なしに動物を傷つけることはできないと主張している。焦点となるのは、ドイツでは「誰も」が──たとえブタであっても──基本的権利を侵害されたと感じたなら、連邦憲法裁に訴え出ることができるという解釈の是非だ。ただ、法律の専門家からは、動物には「生得の権利」はないとの指摘も出ている。
　同様の議論はフランスでも起こっている。ディディエ・ギヨーム農相は最近、鎮痛処置なしでの子ブタの去勢を２０２１年末までに禁止すべきだと述べている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/12/17-08:49）

Little piggies go to market, but in Germany they also go to court.
In a legal first, animal rights activists have asked Germany's top court to ban the practice of castrating young male pigs without anaesthetic -- with the piglets themselves listed as the plaintiffs.
The painful procedure has become increasingly controversial in Europe and has been banned in Sweden, Norway and Switzerland.
Farmers argue that the castration of piglets a few days after birth is necessary to prevent boar taint, the occasional occurrence of a foul smell when cooking pork from male pigs past puberty.
The German parliament outlawed castration without pain relief in 2013 but it offered farmers a five-year transition period to help them adapt to the change -- a timeline that was extended last year until 2021.
Outraged by the inaction, the PETA campaign group filed a lawsuit with Germany's Constitutional Court in November on behalf of the baby pigs.
The group wants judges to recognise that pigs have rights similar to human rights and that these are being violated by the cruel act of castration without pain relief.
Non-human entities like companies and associations have legal personhood. So why not animals too? said lawyer Cornelia Ziehm, who is supporting PETA in representing the piglets in court.
- 'Little chance of succeeding' -
PETA argues that under German law, animals cannot be harmed without reasonable explanation.
The castration of piglets -- with or without anaesthesia -- is in clear violation of this, giving Germany's male piglets only one option: to sue for the enforcement of their rights in court, the group said in a statement.
The crux of the case is their argument that in Germany everyone (jedermann) can file a constitutional complaint if they believe their basic rights have been violated -- even a pig.
But Jens Buelte, a law professor at Mannheim university, doubted whether the judges in Karlsruhe would see it the same way.
Animals do not have their own rights under German law, he said, giving PETA's lawsuit little chance of succeeding.
- Monkey selfie -
It is not the first time campaign groups have filed a case on behalf of animals.
PETA made global headlines in 2015 when it asked an American court to grant a macaque the copyright to a selfie it snapped on a wildlife photographer's camera.
The picture of the broadly grinning monkey went viral but the court eventually ruled that animals cannot bring copyright infringement suits.
PETA condemned the verdict, saying the monkey was discriminated against simply because he's a nonhuman animal.
However, in Argentina in 2016 a judge ordered Cecilia the chimpanzee to be released from Mendoza Zoo after agreeing with activists that she was entitled to basic rights and her solitary confinement was unlawful.
- Alternatives -
German farmers, who remove testicles from roughly 20 million piglets each year, have long resisted the push to end castration without anaesthesia.
They say there is a lack of workable alternatives to tackle boar taint, in an industry already struggling with fierce foreign competition.
Local anaesthesia and gene editing are not yet viable or too expensive, they say, and would raise the cost of pork in a country famous for its love of schnitzel and sausage.
The government agreed in late 2018 to give the farmers a final two-year extension before the ban takes effect -- a decision decried by the opposition Greens and far-left Die Linke, who argued it put the interests of the meat industry above animal protection.
Some German pork producers are pinning their hopes on a vaccine that requires just two injections to prevent boar taint -- already a popular alternative abroad.
A pilot project involving 100,000 German piglets is currently ongoing, though critics say the vaccines are costly too.
A similar debate is raging in France, where agriculture minister Didier Guillaume recently said castration of piglets without pain relief should be banned by the end of 2021.