离婚里如何决定宠物的抚养权

Courts in Alaska now treat pets more like children in Divorce proceedings, should the UK legal system be doing the same?

阿拉斯加的法院在离婚诉讼中对宠物的处理方法与对待孩子相似，英国的法律体系也需要这么做吗？

A rarely talked about aspect of divorce is what happens to the couples who spent many years together and jointly invested in their future - be it homes, children or finances - they may also have shared the care for a pet.

在离婚中往往很少谈论到关于宠物这方面的问题。一对夫妇用很多年共同投资他们的未来，包括房子、孩子还有资产，可能也包括他们共同照顾的宠物。

Under English law, pets are considered property just like cars, handbags and furniture so their welfare is not considered in the same way as for children - even though for many people they are an integral part of the family.

在英国的法律中，宠物只会像车、手提袋或者家具那样被照料，所以他们不会用考虑孩子那样的方式考虑宠物——即使他们是很多家庭不可分割的一部分。

But things are starting to change: last month Alaska enacted a law which will treat pets more like children, the state said courts now will “take into consideration the well-being of the animal” when deciding which party the pets go to.

但是事情已开始转变：上个月阿拉斯加颁布了法律规定宠物将更像小孩一样被对待，规定表明法庭将“考虑宠物的幸福”来决定哪一方带走宠物。

Their default option is to assign joint custody of the pets, like the preferred option for children.

默认的选择是指定双方共同监管宠物，像对待孩子时的最优选择一样。

Divorce lawyer Ayesha Vardag, who has represented several high-profile and wealthy clients at her family law firm Vardags, says pets can often be a source of huge emotional value and consequently conflict during divorce proceedings.

离婚律师艾莎•瓦达格在她的家庭律师事务所受理了数位富裕又有名气客户的诉讼，她说宠物往往会成为情感价值争夺和离婚诉讼冲突的来源。

“It becomes something very deep-seated and they [the parties] hang their emotions onto it,” she told The Independent. “Part of their mental state is that it is the end of their love, marriage and family life and the pets, which were such an integral part of it, acquire such a huge emotional significance.”

“它变得十分根深蒂固，而且他们（当事人）会将情感寄托在上面，”她接受《独立报》采访时说，“他们一部分精神状态是源于这是他们爱情、婚姻、家庭生活和宠物的结束，是他们生活本不可或缺的一部分，因此获得巨大的情感意义。”

A post on Reddit last year revealed a woman’s turmoil about leaving her husband partly because they shared two cats. “We have two cats that are literally the two things that I love most in the world,” she wrote. “One of them is more ‘attached’ to him and one of them is more ‘my’ cat. I would never want to separate him from ‘his’ cat because I know it’s best for both of them if they remain together but I love that stupid cat so god damn much, the thought of leaving him behind is extremely painful and distressing.”

去年在Reddit网站上有篇关于一个女人因为他们共同养的两只猫而离开她的丈夫的帖子。“我们有两只猫，他们是我在世界上最喜欢的不可或缺的两件事情。”她写道，“一只更“附加”于他，一只更倾向于“我”。我永远不想将他从他的猫中分离出来因为我知道如果它们继续在一起对它们来说是最好的选择，但我太喜欢这只蠢猫了，离开他的背后是极其痛苦的。”