Lawyer Peter V. Kunz is one of the best-known animal rights activists in Switzerland. He says: Individual animal fates such as those of Timmy, Punch or the Lonely Penguin unfortunately do not have a lasting impact on animal welfare.Image: watson/Nina Boots
interview
Peter V. Kunz is President of the Swiss Animal Protection Association. In an interview with Watson, he explains why we are interested in stranded humpback whales but not in neglected chickens.
April 9, 2026, 12:28 p.mApril 9, 2026, 12:28 p.m
For some time now, public interest has focused heavily on the individual fates of animals. We had the lone penguin waddling in the wrong direction; Then came Punch the monkey, who we watched as he tried to join his group. And for almost three weeks now, it has been Timmy, the whale, that hundreds of thousands have been feeling sorry for. Why do we care so much about animal fates?
Peter V. Kunz: Even as an animal rights activist, I am first and foremost a human being. The Lonely Penguin had tears in my eyes. When I see recordings of Timmy or Punch, it moves me like everyone else. Nevertheless, I have mixed feelings: As much as these individual fates move me, they are ultimately irrelevant to animal welfare in general. The animals that systematically suffer remain invisible.
Timmy’s odyssey through the Baltic Sea:
Video: watson/nina bürge
How much are you suffering with Timmy right now?
I feel extremely sorry for him. At the beginning, like so many people, I hoped that something could be done and Timmy could be saved. In the meantime I just hope that it will be over for him as soon as possible.
To person
Peter V. Kunz was actually a business lawyer. But then there was a divorce from his wife – and a fight over their three cats. Since then, Kunz has expanded his legal expertise to include animal law. In 2023 he presented the 800-page standard work “Animal Law in Switzerland”. Since March 2025 he has also been President of the Swiss Animal Protection STS. He is also managing director of the Institute for Business Law at the University of Bern, where he has been a full professor since 2005. Kunz’s ex-wife has since remarried.
Image: zvg
Does it help animal welfare if society shows solidarity with lonely penguins, abandoned monkeys and stranded whales?
This sounds brutal, but I’m happy for any situation that gives people reason to feel compassion for animals. If individual fates like this lead people to think more about animals and perhaps even stand up for them, that’s better than nothing. If stories like those of Timmy or Punch motivate one or two politicians to get involved in animal protection, which is still politically very insignificant, all the better. The problem is that such individual fates of animals rarely have a lasting effect.
“Timmy will die and most people won’t think about him the next time they stand at the meat counter in the supermarket.”
Peter V. Kunz
Are animal stories like those of Timmy or Punch simply a distraction from war, hunger and death in the world?
Yes, of course they are. But I don’t want to blame anyone for that, you can’t just focus on the negative all the time. Our relationship to animals mainly works through emotions. If Punch is accepted into the monkey group and even finds a girlfriend, as was recently reported, that won’t solve the world’s problems. But it offers distraction and positive feelings.
This is how Punch won our hearts:
Video: Watson/Lucas Zollinger
Timmy the whale. Punch the monkey. We give these animals names and thereby humanize them. Do you find that problematic?
To a certain extent, I have no problem with the anthropomorphization of animals. Our house cats also each have names. Even if we don’t let them eat from the table, they are family members to us. If that means we take them to the vet when they’re unwell or buy expensive cat food, I’m fine with that. What I find problematic, however, is that human compassion for animals is very selective. Farm animals and laboratory animals are the big losers. Most of the time no one is interested in them and their fate.
We can talk about poor Timmy for minutes at lunch while eating chicken nuggets.
Unfortunately, that is actually the case. But I’m the last person who wants to preach from above: I eat meat myself. For me, it’s not so much a question of how long the animal lived before it was slaughtered, but rather whether its life was worth living.
For years they have been calling for the inherently strong animal protection in Swiss law to be implemented more consistently and for animal abusers to be punished more severely. How annoying does it bother you when the public debate revolves around monkeys and humpback whales?
I’m actually annoyed. But more about the authorities and courts that have been concerned about animal protection for years. As long as they ignore applicable laws or only apply them very leniently, the best animal protection on paper is of no use. I find it understandable that people are interested in Timmy or Punch. A penguin that waddles in the wrong direction or a whale that sprays water fountains obviously has more effect on people’s minds than if I, as a professor, complain about the lack of implementation of animal law in Switzerland.
Nevertheless, the realization remains: certain animals are more important to us than others. How should animal law deal with this?
It starts with the fact that Switzerland’s animal protection law only protects four percent of all animals. It only applies to vertebrates.
“So if I cut a snail with a knife or rip out the arms of a spider, that may be inhumane and morally reprehensible. But in the legal sense it is not animal cruelty.”
Peter V. Kunz
I know that I won’t live to see this myself, but I would be in favor of granting certain animals legal personality. Animal experiments with severity level three, in which the test animal is tortured and killed, should also be banned. So there is already room for improvement in the law.
Animals like Timmy and Punch move around under the eyes of the world. Nobody asked them if they wanted that. Should they actually have a right to privacy like humans?
There are actually animal rights philosophers who study this question. When it comes to Timmy, I find it at least doubtful how his current dying process is being accompanied by the media. He can no longer be saved, we have all known that for several days. Still, all the cameras stay on him. I find this to be inhumane and indecent.
Video: watson/Emanuella Kälin