Switzerland had a referendum on Sunday to see whether the nation wanted to follow the lead of the canton of Zurich and require each canton to employ an animal lawyer. Activists from Swiss Animal Protection managed to force a referendum by collecting more than the 100,000 signatures required to force a national ballot.

If the activists had got their way, each canton would have had to appoint a lawyer to act on behalf of animals at taxpayers’ expense. Sensibly, the Swiss cantons rejected the idea. Presumably thinking it a lesser cruelty than inflicting lawyers upon the poor defenceless creatures.