Make It Illegal to Eat Cats and Dogs in Switzerland
By Alexandra BakerTarget: Swiss Parliament
Goal: Make the consumption of cat and dog meat illegal.
In many countries, including the United States, cats and dogs are animals that play an important role in many families. These animals are our pets and our friends. We care for them, play with them, and treat them as loyal friends. The sheer thought of hurting them may make you sick to your stomach, but this is not at all the case in Switzerland. Some farmers in Switzerland regularly torture, slaughter, and serve up dogs as meals for their families.
Journalists in Switzerland recently did some in-depth research on farmers who regularly consume dog meat. These farmers considered it completely commonplace and saw nothing wrong with eating dogs for dinner. “Meat is meat,” they say. The favorite type of dog meat is the Rottweiler, although they slaughter and cook up all different breeds. So, these poor animals are regularly tortured, either shot or slaughtered, and brought into the kitchen to prepare for dinner. While most people associate the practice of eating dogs and cats with third-world countries and the Middle East, the fact that it is practiced in a country as well-developed as Switzerland is simply appalling.
Switzerland also has a small trade in cat pelts for coats and bedspreads. Cats are treated just as brutally as dogs in this country, and animal rights activists must take action. In 1993, the Swiss parliament rejected changing the laws to protect dogs and cats against human consumption. When man is eating his best friend, it is time for change.
There are several alternative forms of meat that can be consumed, such as beef, chicken, and lamb. These food choices are questionable enough, and there is significant controversy surrounding the treatment and preparation of these animals. Adding our beloved canine and feline friends into the mix is recipe for disaster. Cats and dogs are animals that are easily domesticated and trained to obey the orders of humans. There is no need to contain them, let alone slaughter them.
By signing the petition below, you will help persuade the Swiss Parliament to enact legislation which will protect cats and dogs rather than continue letting them be slaughtered for human consumption.
PETITION LETTER
Dear Swiss Parliament,
The practice of slaughtering and eating dogs and cats is unethical and inhumane. It has become known that several farmers in Switzerland regularly slaughter dogs for consumption, as well as cats for the production of coats and bedspreads.
Not only is this practice cruel, torturous, and inhumane, but it is also unnecessary and selfish on the part of the humans involved. Several alternative forms of meat are readily available for consumption, and these provide the same, if not more, nutritional value as dogs and cats. Therefore, there is no need for people to slaughter dogs for human consumption. Furthermore, this practice is extremely cruel and causes significant pain to innocent dogs.
I am urging you to enact legislation in Switzerland which will protect these innocent animals and prevent further torture and slaughter of harmless dogs. Please make the consumption of cats and dogs illegal in Switzerland and stop this horrific practice.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
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51 Comments
I’ve signed this because it’s a step in the right direction but no animal deserves to be tortured and slaughtered just for the sake of a meal, there is no humane slaughter of any animal-go and see for yourself in any slaughterhouse in this country, there is nothing civilized about it believe me!
I know there are cultures where man’s best friend provides best meal. But Cats? Yak. I shall never look a Swiss in the face and not throw up. Can some one tell this nation food chain dictates that we only eat grass eating land animals with cloven hoves.
Silly way of looking at things – man’s best friend.
You are not an animal lover – you’re just a dog lover. NO animal deserves to be tortured. Not even cats.
Your comment is why cats are considered 2nd class, and abused in more and worse ways then dogs. You have your opinion, but if you love animals, fight for all animals.
Totally agree with you, I’m sick of these attitudes!!!
im a cat lover .. i don’t like cruelty to any animals. people do pick on cats more.
I am sorry if I offended you. I just could not work out how one skins a cat. But then there is a saying ” there are many a ways to skin a cat. Now I know where the proverb came from. May be they eat these wonderful animals because being land locked country perched up on top of mountains they have no fish to provide the variety.
well dare they?? how would they like skinned.? imagine the pain? im going to be sick
Evolved humans eat a plant based diet only. It’s happening bit by bit, forget the stupid food chain nonsense because that is just what it is.
But most of Europe eats horses, no cloven hooves!
Yes, it’s true that some horsemeat is eaten in many European countries, but it’s only widely popular in France, Belgium and Italy. Many of us in Europe are totally opposed to killing horses for meat, and particularly sickened by the hypocrisy of the horse-racing industry because many ex-racehorses end up in slaughterhouses.
Here in the UK there is currently a major scandal because horsemeat has been found in beefburgers sold by some supermarkets.
The Wikipedia article is excellent and up-to-date: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_meat
“Can some one tell this nation food chain dictates that we only eat grass eating land animals with cloven hoves.” is the same as
“There are several alternative forms of meat that can be consumed, such as beef, chicken, and lamb.”
That is just so wrong. Every animal is equal-they breathe, eat, and feel just like us. Saying that it’s ok to eat one species of animals but not others is contradictory. When you have a moment to reflect on your statement (and the petitioner on hers) please think about this – Put yourself in the cloven hoves of a grass eating land animal. Imagine yourself living in a cage for few years (if you are a female. males get slaughtered right away.), not having enough room to turn…just standing in one spot until your D day comes when you are forced to walk towards the gilotine by an idiot w/ a stun rod. Just to have the pain from the stun rod stop you start walking again until you step into a crate. The back barrier lowers, now there is no escape. You know the gilotine is right above your neck. One moment you hear a loud buzzer go off the next…well there isn’t a next moment since your head just got chopped off just because you were a grass eating animal with cloven hoves.
I wonder how they skin a cat?But then the Swiss are vry industrious people. All I can say that this must stop.
STOP WONDERING!!!
indeed
Shocking.
Shameful, horrific, unbelievable and unimagilable that this country behaves this way !
I checked out the so-called report and found out that it was published years ago. Since then the Swiss animal rights organization has made a petition to vote about this subject and it has been accepted by the citizens. Fines are ordered if people are caught to eat dog or cat meat.Swiss people love their pets – you can google how many households have them like in the USA and only a very little minority used to eat dogs and cats.
I love this site and participate all the time. But please, just bring actual facts for discussions or related petitions. Not when the problem has been solve already. Thank you.
I understand the anger, outrage and disgust when other countries eat what many others consider pets or domesticated animals. I couldnt imagine it. The problem I have is the total hypocrisy of those who continue to eat meat of chickens, turkeys, cows, pigs, lambs, etc. yet flip out at other cultures. The comment that the meat of chicken, cows and lamb is readily available so eating dogs and cats is unacceptable because they can be trained is ridiculous. ALL animals can be trained to do something. Even fleas in a jar learn after while not to jump too high or they will continue to hit them selves on the lid. Pigs are found to be smarter than dogs. Cows and chickens are very intelligent. If someone is starving and has to kill an animal to eat, thats one thing, but the blatant torture and then waste of BILLIONS and BILLIONS of animals every YEAR is absolutely disgusting. THAT is UNACCEPTABLE.
ABSOLUTELY TRUE, there is so much ignorance and apathy and humans are supposed to be intelligent. What a joke
Well said Tamsyn there is not enough info on that.
Although I signed the petition there should be more info about it and not just be rant and raved about the nasty Swiss without any true facts.
i always thougt that vietnamneeze/southkorean,people,tortured,eat,skilled,
dog,and cat.
but swizz,have they not goat enough,or cows.
the way in which it happeness,is ofcourse outoff al
propotion,of animal securerity.
i whiss the swiss government,to bann eating,killing,
torturing,the poor creatures.
has the swiss no law.
@ Alexandra Baker
Although I signed the petition, because no animal should be treated as disposable, lifeless and insentient objects, I really disagree with your reasoning.
You seem to think that it’s not okay to slaughter cats and dogs because they “are animals that are easily domesticated and trained to obey the orders of humans.” Does that really set them apart from beef, chicken, and lamb or have we actually become insensitive to all the horrors that the meat and dairy industry put billions of animals through every year for the sheer pleasure and selfishness of humans? They all suffer the same fear and pain.
I’m afraid that these farmers are more in touch with reality than you are because they are right, meat is meat, no matter where it came from.
What’s the difference with eating cows and pigs? I will not sign this one. If we allow for eating whatever other animal or even worse – killing only for the leather, why should dogs be privileged? The native americans have been eaten dogs AFAIK.
There is no difference. But these dogs and cats do not care about pigs being used as food, they all just want to live. At least we can try to save two species, isn’t that worth anything to you?
@ Misha Lauridsen I too was sceptical about this, but I Googled “eating dogs switzerland” and found many reports from December and early January that confirm it. An article in swissinfo.ch says, “Martina Karl [is] president of the Swiss animal rights group Mensch-Tier-Spirits-Helvetia . . . She puts the figure of Swiss dog- and cat-eaters at three per cent. Her organisation is collecting signatures calling for a ban on the practice.”
@ Gina C @ Aleksandar Kostadinov There’s a world of difference between eating cats and dogs, and eating farm animals. We form very close, individual bonds with dogs and cats in a way that would be impossible with other animals. Killing and eating them is the ultimate betrayal (and yes, I’m a vegetarian, so I don’t eat any other animals or fish!)
Well, said, Stuart C!
We don’t form bonds with other animals because people are always busy eating them, SPECIESISM. Love one eat another, it’s totally ridiculous. A bond can be formed with any animal. They are all sentient beings who feel joy, sadness, grief, pain and fear.
I entirely agree that farm animals are sentient beings who feel joy, sadness, pain, and very likely grief. In recent years science has made huge advances in our understanding of animals, and I thoroughly recommend ‘The Emotional Lives Of Animals’ by Mark Bekoff and ‘Second Nature’ by Jonathon Balcombe.
I think you’re also quite right that in our culture most people don’t get the opportunity to bond with farm animals because we simply aren’t able to spend long enough in their company. However, when I was a student I worked on several farms during the vacations and had a lot of contact with cattle, sheep and pigs.
It would certainly be possible to form some kind of bond with a cow or sheep if you were able to spend time with it and get to know it as an individual. However, I think this would be completely different, and much less strong, than the kind of bond people can form with cats, and especially with dogs. Dogs and humans have co-evolved for at least 15,000 years – and probably a lot longer – and developed the ability to form very close relationships. The best book I know on the subject is Mark Derr’s ‘How The Dog Became The Dog’.
Some might argue that pigs are the exception. I found a lot of information when I Googled, “pet pigs”, though a link from Wikipedia shows that in 2009 there were 300,000 Vietnamese Potbellied pigs in sanctuary’s in the USA. Here in the UK there are breeders advertising “Teacup Pigs” and “MicroPigs”, though it seems these were last year’s fashion and now the sanctuary’s are full.
My feeling is that even someone who has the space and dedication to keep a pet pig would be unlikely to form a bond with it that is as close as that we have with cats, and it would be impossible to be as close to a pig as to a dog.
Having been brought up I am aware that all animals bond with people and they trust humans better than humans trust each other. I feel sad how we break their trusts. Indeed young goats and lambs even buffalos make better pets than many of our usual pets. Still it is in our nature to eat meat as long as we do not know the animal. Do not we kill fellow humans of all ages in millions because we want their lands and their resources? Observe USA rulers and their allies.
Yes, I’ve seen lambs being bottle-fed and certainly they’re touchingly trusting, but surely a bond is for life, not just a few weeks?
all animals bond with humans, they also bond with other animals than thier kind. We had a buffalo who was so attaced to my father that she would run to him as soon she spoted him from distance making her buffalo sounds. My father would put has arms around her neck and give her affection. It would happen only if he was away for some period of time. Being brought up on a farm with mixed varity of domestic animals I saw goats mothering lambs and other way round. And baby goats and lams following us around and trusting us fully. I thing love is not limited to humans its universal. I even saw our dog hiro by the chicks while the moved around. One occasion sprang in the air and rescue a chick from the claws of a kite ( bird of pray. We never taught any thing to Hiro. Farm dogs learn themselves . They are never really taught
Correction. having been brought up ON A FARM.
Switzerland, of all places!!
I did sign this petition but perhaps I should not have — considering many of the comments on here. There are some very valid points— I agree there should be more info— apparently this is no longer going on—because action has already been taken—- we definitely should not jump to conclusions about an entire country!!! No animal should be tortured or abused—but it is not wrong to use animals for food–While I find this discusting, it is really no worse than morally than eating other animals– unless they were someones pet.
@ Janice Sprow It seems that the eating of dogs and cats is continuing in Switzerland, so I believe you were right to sign this petition – see my post at 1.04 pm.
I still have family in Switzerland and visit frequently. This petition is ancient history ~ the problem (if you can call it that) no longer exists. When it did, it only happened in remote villages. The majority of Swiss are not rich and meat is very scarce and expensive, so the farmers (who do not eat their milk cows) had to supplement their diets.
I’m a dog and cat lover How could anyone eat these animals
This is terrible I cant and I wont eat dog and cat
More than SHAME on a country like Switzerland supposedly 1st. world and rich country.
I ask for respect for animals that are to be companion and loved pets.
Please respect yourselves; humans do not need to eat meat and if talking of fashion we also do not need real fur to be on it or to be warm; there are very good fakes and synthetic that can make you even warmer.
LEAVE DOGS AND CATS LIVE IN PEACE NEAR THEIR HUMAN FAMILIES.
What next, roasted human babies on a grill? The mind of human beings are in large part SICK when it comes to feeling compassion for beings who cannot speak for themselves.
If switzerland wants to be remembered as kin to the chinese and koreans in their lack of compassion, they’ve got it.
STOP!! this is a disgrace.. would u human eat your own family? my cats and dog r my family. they feel pain and have feelings…don’t u cruel humans care.? take it not.. should b stopped right now. wish i could save them. if i had the power i would. its always the animals that suffer. not fair..!!
To all those that think it is necessary to insult Switzerland about the dog and cat eating business. True many years ago dogs and cats where eaten by farmers and occasionally still are. The ruling is that you are only permitted to kill and prepare for your own consumption and the animal has to be killed humanly. The big majority of Swiss don’t eat cat nor dog. And to all those vegans out there that don’t eat meat and won’t have anything to do with animal products like leather, wool etc. what are you actually feeding your pet with? Salad?
The articles I mentioned in my post on February 5 at 1:04 pm referred to several Swiss animal welfare campaigners who believed about 3% of the population eat dogs and/or cats. In a nation of eight million this would mean 240,000 people. Even if this is greatly exaggerated and the true figure is only one-tenth of that, it would mean 24,000 people, enough to consume a large number of cats and dogs.
I don’t know the position in other countries but in the UK where I live there are a number of suppliers selling vegetarian dog and cat food from quite a large number of manufacturers – see, for example, http://www.veggiepets.com.
So that means that a vegan actually mistreats their dog or cat? Because last time I looked the dog was actually a carnivore. By the way I have nothing against vegans or anybody else but it gets up my nose a bit when people constantly try to tell you to go meat free. They made their choice let somebody else make theirs.
Oh dear, I nearly put this at the end of my post, but cut it at the last minute because I thought it would make it too long.
“Before anyone jumps in and says dogs need meat because they’re carnivores, I’d point to a study published in Nature on 23rd January that found dogs have evolved genes for digesting starches that aren’t found in the wolves dogs evolved from. This gives strong scientific support to what many people have known all along. It’s described in an article here, which includes a link to the study: http://www.nature.com/news/dog-s-dinner-was-key-to-domestication-1.12280“
I agree the animals must have good food, plenty of space and room to move about the ground. But in the end we are all food for each other. s Shakespeare put it, ” We fatten the lamb in order to fatten ourselves in order to fatten the worm “. Again walkig through a land full of predadtory animals we can ecome food for one of those animals who may start eating us withiout first deadning our senses…chopping our heads off.
No longer will I think of this country as I did before. There are sick people everywhere. As I get older I understand now that mankind is not kind.
human kind is evil and I for one will be glad when we are wiped from existence
We kill,our own in worse ways than we kill animals. We blow them into pices by thousands in carpet bombing to begin with. We don’t even have mercy on women and children even if we have our own women and children. With advacement of education we have become preditory towards those who are weaker than us. We are shame on Creation.
I have always admired the Swiss. My admiration has turned to contempt.
I’m a full-blooded soppy emotional American. I have lived in Switzerland for almost 6 years. This cat and dog killing is abhorrent, especially in a country that is so wealthy and can demand 60$ a kilo (2 lbs) for Suisse meat or fish. The Suisse already embrace horse and rabbit…. but domesticated family animals??? Meat is so expensive that many eat sausages and sliced meats only. The national dishes are Cheese and Potatoes. But to advocate Animal welfare on one side and then Allow cat and dog killing… Is hypocritical and simply wrong. I understand that this ritual…. Or practice is most often in the deeper regions, but it makes me afraid to let my animals out. And really. Switzerland, if you as a country are so worried about animal welfare, how the F**k could you ever let this continue?
I will not sign this petition. How dare to the writer of this petition. I am Swiss and there is a very little handful of people still eating dogs and its for their own consumption they are not even allowed to give or sell the dog meat to anyone else, there are strict rules about that. (Google it to set your mind at rest.) I wonder as well where the torture of dogs comes into this.
As for dogs disappearing to be eaten, I don’t think so the farms have their own. As for Rottweilers I don’t thinks so they are to expensive. If it would be made illegal does anybody really thinks it would stop anything?
How about dog fighting its illegal, drugs its illegal etc. it hasn’t stopped anybody doing that. Having said all that no I don’t like dogs being eaten either.
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