The owner of a dog was acquitted by the police court for speeding. She explained that she drove fast to drive her dog to the veterinary clinic. The judge agreed with him. The magistrate applied the new regulations of the civil code. Animals are no longer considered by law as mere objects.
Lorena Narciso is a dog lover. When one of her companions had a stroke, she took him to the veterinary emergency room while driving too fast. She got flashed. “I was really panicked because he had never done that. So I drove very quickly to get to the veterinary clinic because at the same time, when I rang there, they told me to come right away. So that didn’t reassure me at all and I drove without really looking at my speedometer. I was flashed at 80 km/h.”
Lorena then finds herself in court and brings the proof of the veterinary emergency. The judge decides to acquit him. He refers to recent changes in the civil code which now considers animals as living beings endowed with sensitivity. “Previously, animals were seen as mere objectsexplains Mevlut Turk, lawyer for Lorena, Charleroi Bar. In this judgment, the judge considers that a pet is a full member of the family.”
At the time when the dog was a simple piece of furniture, we did “what we wanted” with it
If now in the civil code, the concept of ownership remains, the notion of animal welfare is also defined. “At the time when the dog was a simple piece of furniture, we did “what we wanted” with it, says Franck Goffaux, director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (SPRA) in Charleroi. The person who wanted to throw his dog from the second floor had almost the right to do so. Today, fortunately, things have changed and evolved. Animals today take a considerable place in people’s lives.“
During seizures, for example, animals will no longer be automatically auctioned off to the highest bidder. As for Lorena, her dog did not survive the stroke. But she did everything to try to save him.