Animals welfare will always be a topic of concern with cases of abuse against stray animals are reported on a daily basis. However, some countries are trying their best to make laws to put a stop to this cycle of abuse.
Leading the pack is Switzerland. Back in 2014, the mountainous country ranked highly on a global overview regarding animal rights.
Here are some of those laws.
1. Dog barking inhibitors are illegal.
Any device which automatically shocks or sprays a dog to restrict it from barking is illegal in Switzerland.
2. According to Swiss law, some animals are considered ‘social’.
They have categorised some animals as being ‘social’ and have set some laws based on that. For example, guinea pigs are to be kept only in pairs. Cats are also a part of this category where the law says that they have to have daily contact with a human being or visual contact with another cat.
3. Mistreatment of farm animals is a serious offence.
According to the law, farmers who mistreat their livestock will be at the receiving end of their cutting farming subsidies being cut by the government.
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4. Cow bells are illegal.
After thorough research, the Swiss government determined that bells cause great level of distress to cows and hence, were made illegal. Switzerland loves its cows, farmers were asked to replace the bells with other devices like GPS trackers.
5. It is illegal to use animals for lab testing.
The Swiss government is on the lookout to find alternative methods in place of using animals as subjects in lab testing. Under the law for labs that do use animals, an animal welfare officer has to be appointed to determine that the animals being used are not subjected to any sort of mistreatment.
6. Harming stray dogs in any way is punishable by law.
The Animal Welfare Act 2005 prohibits any human being from causing harm, suffering or any other sort of mistreatment towards stray dogs.
7. Battery cages are banned.
Poultry animals are also protected by the law in Switzerland as battery cages and debeaking are illegal. No farmer is allowed to store and breed hens in battery cages and need to be kept in a farm where all their needs are properly met.
8. Dogs need to registered and marked uniquely.
All dogs in Switzerland need to be uniquely marked in order to avoid falsification by implanting a GPS microchip. Dogs also need to come in contact with human beings every day and not kept in confined spaces.
The world should learn from Switzerland.