Some Farmers in Switzerland routinely EATING cats and dogs with their meals
When one thinks of people who raise and eat dogs and cats it is the Asian countries that comes to mind such as China, South Korea and Vietnam. Koreans even have a special 'meat dog' breed called Nureongi which is bred for human consumption and very rarely kept as a pets.
But surprisingly this deplorable custom is also found in western Europe in an otherwise very civilized country. Eating dog meat is still common practice in some areas of Switzerland, the Swiss newspaper, The Tages Anzeiger, has found. In fact the favorite type of meat comes from a dog that is related to the beefy Rottweiler. It is particularly popular in the Rhine Valley in Switzerland.
While eating dog meat does not take place on a commercial level, this practice horrifies animal rights activists in Switzerland because the eating of such creatures is not forbidden by law, as it is in nearby Germany. The dog meat cannot be sold commercially, although some farming communities have pressed in the past for it to be sold on market days alongside the usual fare of beef, pork and lamb.
Currently there are no official figures about how many of these animals end up on the plates of the Swiss. In addition to the consumption of dog meat, Switzerland also has a small but thriving trade in cat pelts for coats and bedspreads.
A farmer told the newspaper, "There’s nothing odd about it, meat is meat. Construction workers in particular like eating it." The newspaper also reported that people ate the meat as ‘mostbröckli’ - usually a form of beef or ham that is marinated, but this one is made from dog or cat. "No-one knows what it is when you prepare it in this fashion." added the farmer.
The surveyed farmers only spoke about their special preference through the assurance of anonymity by the newspaper. All feared a hostile reaction from animal welfare activists and animal lovers. One farmer said he had actually stopped eating it basically because it is “frowned upon” by society. He sees this as the hypocrisy of a society “that cannot otherwise get enough meat.”’
As recently as 1993, the Swiss parliament rejected changing the laws to protect dogs and cats for human consumption. The Federal Veterinary Office has described it as a ‘cultural matter.’ Also in Switzerland the person who wants to kill a cat or a dog will only be prosecuted if the killing is itself cruel.
Swiss animal welfare organizations of course assess the consumption of dog meat completely differently. Edith Zellweger of the Salez animal welfare group has said; ‘How unscrupulous can a society be that man eats his best friend?’ Twenty years ago, she was behind the drive to get the law changed and will press for fresh legislation again.
Can we sever humans? instead? like they said "meat is meat" ??
For God sake have'nt they got enough meat with all the cows
If they are willing to eat an friend, who has been co-evolving with us for longer than 10,000 years, I think they should also start eating the elderly, the weak, and the sick men women and children.
Just to be fair you know...
And this post is only somewhat ironic. I think that cannibalism is not a stretch at all for people who would eat a dog.
Bernese Mountain Dogs are gentle creatures - and used to be used for carting - these were the ones that used to be consumed, and possibly still are! This article has just been copied and pasted wherever I see it - it is unchanged from the one seen in the British Press so there is only one source for it - I would be interested to see other evidence. I do not deny that it happens - indeed, in Native American society, the dog was seen as a companion, hunter and source of food in hard times.
Those people are sick I think Dogs and Cats are family
It is gross. "Cani-balism" a cultural matter? So is cannibalism and the latter has the dual advantage of addressing both world overpopulation and food shortage...
I did not know that some Swiss eat dogs. Shame on them.
"Anonymous" two comment above writes "in Native American society, the dog was seen as a companion, hunter and source of food in hard times." - In all societies dogs (and rats and even people) have been eaten in times of famine. Famine is definitely not an excuse in Switzerland.
Speaking of Native American societies - the Lakota still practice puppy sacrifices by strangulation, and then the puppy is stewed and the stew, with puppy bits in it, is consumed by the people taking part in the ceremony. The idea is to dispatch the puppy as a message bearer to the Spirits. The message is usually an appeal for help in curing some seriously sick person. This is the one Lakota tradition I find disturbing. No society is perfect and the traditional Lakota one remains, despite that blot, the best I have experienced, including my native one, which is French.
The de-evolution of man...this is just he beginning!!
Personally I wouldn't want to eat cat or dog meat - meat gets a lot of it's flavour from whatever the animal feeds on and carnivore meat has a distinct flavour which I don't like.
But there is nothing uncivilised about this - it's just cultural perceptions: Plenty of people keep pet pigs - and eat pork; plenty of people keep pet birds - and eat poultry.
Meat is meat, and if you're prepared to condemn others for eating different kinds of meat than you, you shouldn't be eating meat AT ALL!
....And my personal opinion takes that statement one step further:
In my experience, gutting and cleaning an animal that's already dead comes far less readily to most [western, 'civilised'] people than the actual killing of an animal for meat, let alone so-called 'sport' [I live in an are where wealthy idiots flock to shoot pheasants bread purely for the purpose....and it's not even true sport, but just slaughter for it's own sake, participating either and / or to: 'Network with other moneyed shooters; show off; or plain blood lust - and it SICKENS me!];
How many who kill just for 'sport' would be prepared to clean - ie. GUT and BUTCHER their own kills....? ;
My personal opinion is that if you can't clean your own meat, you shouldn't eat meat AT ALL
Those people are sick I think Dogs and Cats are family..never eat a frind!!!!!
Dogs & cats were created by people to be workers and family member - not food.
Greetings!
Again, people "thinking" with emotion, and not logic. I've had many cats, and a dog, for pets, and they've been a wonderful part of my life. Although I've never considered eating a dog or cat (Which Grandmother told me was common during the Great Depression in the USA), I've never bestowed human qualities on them: they were animals, pure & simple.
If people in another country want to eat them, that's their business, not yours or mine! Westerners are seen as "peculiar" in some "Third World" Nations, for having Humanized animals: for having given them human emotions and behaviors that are simply not there. This is seen by some as "Bambi-itis", a 'disease' that humans get when they watch Disney Cartoons/Movies, and actually believe that forest animals sing songs and dance around a campfire, holding hands! It's absolutely embarrassing how ignorant people are regarding nature...
It is not my desire to offend, but to present the alternative view, that sometimes people do things differently than you, and that's OK. City people are GREATLY removed from the realities of Nature; many of these same people refuse to believe that We Humans come from this same Nature. So: before criticizing Hunting, Meat - Eating, etc., perhaps a moment of pause would be in order. Remember: Nature isn't You, but You are part of Nature. A Part.
Be Well!
M.T.Marfield, USA
We are all animals. My dog was not my “pet.” She was the love of my life. I'm also fond of many other mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and insects, though we don't hold hands and sing around the campfire.
Humans are now perhaps the world’s most invasive species, having displaced so many others that if we did not kill and eat some of them, they would die of starvation or disease. Animal sea life is on the decline due to over-fishing, or we raise them for food in toxic conditions, as we do some domesticated species of land animals.
Perhaps the best solution for those morally conflicted regarding meat-eating is to simply quit breeding, and to adopt a vegetarian/vegan diet if practicable. Human overpopulation is an important yet often-overlooked answer to environmental balance, arguably even greater than that of reversing human-induced climate change (itself considerably due to animal agriculture).
I'm donating my body to science when I die. But if you can handle the details, I'd be just as happy if you’d eat me.