Marcelo’s law lectures are lively and comedic. “If you’re laughing, you’re listening,” says Marcelo, who aims to make lectures as enjoyable as possible. If students are engaged, it helps to get through “the underlying message, which is usually an astonishingly and crushingly boring one.”
Marcelo grew up in the Wellington area with four brothers and lots of cats. However, “from an ethical perspective I don’t have any pets any longer,” Marcelo adds, who is now an expert in animals and their relationship with the law.
Marcelo was a student at Otago himself. His five years spent at Otago were “a fantastic time” and “some of the happier times of my life.” “It feels like it all went by in an absolute blur… Dunedin doesn’t seem to change that much, so [his experience] was probably very similar to the experiences of many students now.”
He originally decided to study law because of an interest in politics and arguing. “I wasn’t too sure of what I was expecting, but I loved it from day one.” He also completed a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy, politics, and economics.
Marcelo came to lecturing through “serendipity… I was studying in Toronto, and the faculty needed some teaching staff.” He soon landed a permanent teaching position at the University of Toronto. “Much like LAWS 101, once I started doing it I realized it was definitely the career for me.”
He returned to Otago as a lecturer in 2012. “I knew if I went back to Dunedin, it would be an easy fit for me and in a place that I enjoyed a great deal.” He formed some strong connections as a student, and “very much liked the faculty and its approach to law.”
Upon joining the faculty, Marcelo developed the paper LAWS 432, Animals and the Law. Marcelo says law schools look at legal relationships in areas like contracts, torts, and government. However, “more often than not, law schools don’t necessarily look at the relationship that we have with animals from a legal perspective.”
It is important that lawyers do look at this relationship. “Lots of people have lots of different relationships of varying qualities with animals… The law governs basically all relationships that we have… and has an impact on animals.” Marcelo developed the paper “to teach others about that relationship and potentially question it as well.”
How does New Zealand measure up in animal welfare legislation? “On paper, [New Zealand] is easily the most progressive jurisdiction in the world, with regards to our animal welfare legislation.” The World Animal Protections index, which ranks countries on animal welfare legislation, gives New Zealand “an A ranking alongside only a few other countries.” However, the legislation “says a lot, but doesn’t do a lot… It is very poorly enforced. It has a whole heap of loopholes that are intentional.”
On a personal level, Marcelo no longer owns any pets. “I have an issue with the concept of animals as being property… The legal requirements for the ownership of a car are far more routinely enforced and far stricter than what is required for an animal… Animals are sentient beings with the ability to have thoughts, feelings, and feel pain.” However, he clarifies he does not see all pet owners as unethical.
As an Otago graduate, Marcelo has valuable advice for current students.
“I see people, for example, in Health Science working themselves absolutely ragged” and “the other spectrum as well, people who don’t… enjoy the pursuit of learning.” University is “defined by creating and enjoying a lot of social relationships brought together by the common pursuit of learning… Don’t take them for granted because they will come to an end all too quickly.