More than 80% of all laying hens in Switzerland spend all their lives inside and never range in the open, according to critics of factory farming.
Keystone/Sven Kaestner
Voters will have the final say on a people’s initiative aimed at outlawing large-scale livestock production in Switzerland.
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الناخبون السويسريون يصوتون للحسم في حظر الإنتاج الحيواني على نطاق واسع
Campaigners on Tuesday submitted more than 100,000 signatures for their proposal forcing a nationwide ballot on the issue.
They argue that intensive animal farming is cruel and contributes to climate change, as well as hunger and water scarcity.
“Switzerland imports 1.2 million tonnes of animal feed every year to produce the necessary quantity of animal products,” said Vera Weber, president of the Franz Weber environmental foundation.
The allianceExternal link also criticised the conditions animals are held in intensive livestock farming.
“Fifty percent of all piglets raised in Switzerland are slaughtered without ever seeing the sky,” Meret Schneider of the animal rights think-tank Sentience Politics told the Swiss news agency, Keystone-SDA.
Parliament is due to discuss the initiative before the government sets a date for a nationwide vote on the issue.
The proposal is the latest in a series on Swiss agriculture. Last year, voters rejected an initiative to encourage farmers not to systematically de-horn their cows and goats.
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