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Swiss animal welfare law: not as good as Swiss chocolate

From Kim Stallwood's Substack
April 2024

With the message, ‘Swiss animal welfare law: not as good as Swiss chocolate,’ the Swiss-based Foundation for the Animal in the Law (Tier im Recht) challenges Switzerland’s world-famous pro-animal reputation in a new campaign: The suffering of animals is systematically trivialised, animal welfare violations are tolerated for too long, and cruelty to animals is not punished severely enough.

chocolate Dog

Ask an animal rights activist, or an animal studies scholar or attorney, and most likely what will come to mind is Switzerland’s strict animal welfare laws and its constitutional guarantee of animal dignity. But the reality is that many animals continue to suffer and die in Switzerland every day.

With the message, ‘Swiss animal welfare law: not as good as Swiss chocolate,’ the Swiss-based Foundation for the Animal in the Law (Tier im Recht) challenges Switzerland’s world-famous pro-animal reputation in a new campaign.

The renowned creative agency, Ruf Lanz, produced four digitally created chocolate animals—a horse, chicken, dog, and rabbit shown in elegant packaging—to depict the suffering behind Switzerland’s legalized animal cruelty and lack of serious law enforcement.

chocolate Rabbit

TIR denounces that socially living animals are kept individually, that animals’ basic needs are systematically disregarded, that animal welfare violations are tolerated for too long, and that cruelty to animals is not punished severely enough.

Today’s animal welfare regulations only define minimum standards, compliance with which does not guarantee a species-appropriate or stress-free life for the animals concerned. But there is also an urgent need for action to enforce animal welfare legislation by the competent veterinary and police authorities, and public prosecutors and courts: The suffering of animals is systematically trivialised, animal welfare violations are tolerated for too long, and cruelty to animals is not punished severely enough.

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