Marius, a male giraffe, lies dead before being dissected. Photo: AP

In 1587, a gang of weevils were taken to Court. They were accused of damaging a vineyard. The trial would have been conducted with full ceremony: evidence presented and witnesses called on both sides. We can assume, as was customary in medieval trials involving animals, that the weevils also received a legal aid lawyer to act in their defence. After a few days the hearing came to a close and the weevils were acquitted. The Judge found that they were exercising their natural right to eat.

The case of the weevils was by no means unique. Animals were often on trial in medieval Europe. Dogs, rats, cats, flies and caterpillars amongst many more, were tried for offences ranging from murder to obscenity. They were always appointed a barrister or lawyer at public cost to act in their defence, and the Court often came down in their favour. A donkey was acquitted on a charge of buggery with a man and was instead found to have herself been a victim of violence. And a squadron of rats, accused of ‘feloniously eating up and wantonly destroying’ the barley were excused when they failed to appear in Court in 16th Century France on the grounds that, moving from village to village, they probably never received the summons. And if they did, they were too afraid to appear as their mortal enemies, the cats would be there. The Judge dropped all charges against them.

I came across these wonderful cases, described by Nicholas Humphrey, on the same day that another article on the shark cull in Western Australia appeared in my facebook feed, along with images of Marius the Danish giraffe.

The carcass of Marius, a male giraffe, is eaten by lions after he was put down in Copenhagen Zoo. Photo: AP

In the case of the sharks W.A Premier, Colin Barnett, responded to allegations that the state’s tourist industry may be compromised by shark attacks by instituting a catch and kill policy. Great white sharks, tiger sharks and bull sharks over three metres would be the target. To execute t he program he received an exemption from environmental protection legislation from Greg Hunt, the aptly named Environment Minister. As I write, Western Australia’s most popular beaches have baited drums placed around their perimeter and Communities and Surf Life Saving WA say that at least 36 sharks, many under 3 metres, have already been caught and killed.


As for Marius, let me tell you of his final day. He awoke last week as a healthy two year old giraffe in Copenhagen zoo. He ate his favourite dish of rye bread for breakfast and was then led into a room by a vet carrying a bolt gun where he was shot dead, skinned, chopped, dissected and fed to lions in front of a crowd including children. Why? Because he was now of breeding age and sadly his genetic make-up didn’t fit into the zoo’s breeding plans. The zoo wanted to prevent in-breeding and they also thought that displaying a butchered giraffe would contribute to scientific knowledge.

As I read these stories I wondered how a medieval court would react. Surely the sharks are exercising their natural right to eat and Marius should have a natural right to breed. In fact, the case launched on Marius’ behalf may also want to ask why he was denied his freedom of movement. And beyond this there is the question of legal representation: who is speaking for voiceless animals? If medieval courts could publicly fund animals’ defence lawyers, then how barbaric do we moderns look in contrast?

People protest outside Copenhagen Zoo. Photo: AP

Unlike our medieval forebears, we rarely place animals within the realm of justice. Animal rights tends to be discussed in an individualistic way – it’s seen as a personal choice expressed in vegetarianism or twitter hategasms over issues like Marius rather than a legal or political project. When the state becomes involved it is usually framed in terms of consumer rights (for instance battery farming) rather than from the perspective of the rights of the animals themselves.

But for those of us who think that sharks have a better right to free enjoyment of the ocean and its bounty than us land-lubbers, or who believe that animals should not be incarcerated in zoos (except for the purposes of conservation) then how might we ask the state to intervene to protect animals rather than legitimate their exploitation? The 20,000 signatures to save Marius didn’t work, and nor did the 6,000 person protest against the shark cull. So what legal arguments could we make? How do we make the ‘rights’ in ‘animal rights’ more meaningful?

In Australia, as academic David Glasgow argues, there is no constitutional power over animals. Animal welfare is governed by a series of very weak state laws. Each state prohibits cruelty against animals but with massive exceptions. Pain can be caused to animals if it is considered reasonable or necessary (mulesing and castration) and animal cruelty legislation does not apply to farming, transport, sales or killings. And then there’s the lack of an effective body to enforce these laws. Primary Industries and the RSPCA are invested with the powers to stop cruelty but Primary Industries is interested in the economic side of animal production and the RSPCA lacks power and resources. Finally, there are very few penalties for breaches of the law – in South Australia the most a company can be charged is $1,250.

Surfers, scientists and conservationists join members of the general public in gathering at Manly beach to denounce the Western Australian Government's new policy to catch and kill sharks. Photo: Damian Shaw

Ultimately this problem is that we are not thinking of animals in terms of rights but in terms of either exploitation or welfare. We need to start from the foundation that they are not our property to breed, kill, study or incarcerate, but are sentient beings with a range of emotional and intellectual capabilities. We need to learn to share the world with them, rather than subject them to our tyranny. They should come within our frame of justice. Maybe then our outrage would go beyond cute animals like Marius being killed and extend to the creature most of us ate for dinner last night.