Farmers in Switzerland routinely EATING cats and dogs with their meals

Practice still common among farmers in areas of Switzerland

The most popular type of dog is a breed related to the Rotweiler

Commercial sale of dog meat is banned in the country, eating is not

It is a practice more usually associated with Far Eastern countries such as China and Vietnam.

But a report by a newspaper in Switzerland has revealed that dog and cat meat is still part of meals in the Alpine nation.

The Tages Anzeiger said farmers in the Appenzell and St. Gallen areas in particular slaughter the creatures to eat themselves or to pass on to friends.

Canine snack: Eating dog meat is still common practice in some areas of Switzerland, a newspaper in the country has found

The favourite type of meat comes from a dog that is related to the beefy Rottweiler.

‘There’s nothing odd about it’, a farmer told the paper. ‘Meat is meat. Construction workers in particular like eating it.’

Another farmer told how he raised animals and then called in a butcher friend to kill them when they were ripe for slaughter. Still one more described how he either shot the creatures, usually adored as pets throughout Europe, or bludgeoned them to death.

According to the report, people ate the meat as ‘mostbröckli’ - usually a form of beef or ham that is marinated, but this one made from dog or cat.

‘No-one knows what it is when you prepare it in this fashion,’ a farmer added.

Dog's dinner: Although human consumption of dog meat is mostly associated with Asian countries such as China, pictured, Swiss farmers confessed to breeding dogs for their meat

While not taking place on a commercial scale, the practice horrifies animal rights activists in Switzerland where the eating of such creatures is not forbidden by law, as it is in nearby Germany.

In Switzerland the person who wants to kill a cat or a dog will only be prosecuted if the killing is itself cruel.

DOGGY DINING

Dog meat is eaten in a number of countries across the globe, but the practice is mostly associated with Asian nations.

It is most common in China, South Korea and Vietnam where earing dog is believed to bring good fortune

Koreans even have a special 'meat dog' breed called Nureongi which is bred for human consumption and very rarely kept as a pets.

And the flesh cannot be sold commercially, even though some communities have pressed in the past for it to be sold on market days alongside the usual fare of beef, pork and lamb.

The newspaper added; ‘The surveyed farmers spoke about their special preference only through the assurance of anonymity. All feared a hostile reaction from animal welfare activists and animal lovers.

‘Animal welfare organisations and farmers assess the consumption differently, but it is particularly popular in the Rhine Valley.



'One farmer said he had stopped eating it purely because it is “frowned upon” by society. He sees this as the hypocrisy of a society “that can get otherwise not enough meat.”’

There are no official figures about how many of these animals end up on the plates of the Swiss.

The country also has a small but thriving trade in cat pelts for coats and bedspreads. The Swiss parliament rejected changing the laws to protect dogs and cats for human consumption back in 1993.

Edith Zellweger of the Salez animal welfare group said; ‘How unscrupulous can a society be that man eats his best friend?’

She was behind the drive 20 years ago to get the law changed and will press for fresh legislation again.