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I've read that cat meat is eaten in Switzerland.

Stop eating cats and dogs say animal rights campaigners in Switzerland cites an animal rights activist saying that it's not legal to sell cat meat (presumably it's talking about uncooked meat), but it's legal to eat your own.

Are there restaurants in Switzerland where I could still eat cat meat? Examples appreciated.

hippietrail
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Golden Cuy
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    @MeNoTalk you upvoted http://travel.stackexchange.com/q/22137/324 . Also, there's a lot of other questions on this stack exchange about the eating of specific dishes, or meals involving particular meats - did you vote to close them? – Golden Cuy Nov 26 '14 at 21:10
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    It's definitively quite uncommon in Switzerland and you won't find it in any restaurant. Your best chance is probably when you try to get invited for dinner by a local farmer family in Appenzell. It's quite a open secret that they sometimes eat dogs, and very rarely probably also cats. Other than that, I see no options to get cat meat in Switzerland. – RoflcoptrException Nov 26 '14 at 22:29
  • So somewhere in the east of Switzerland? (-: – hippietrail Nov 27 '14 at 03:54
  • Alps, Edelweiss and... cat meat? What you apparently don't know about the Swiss: "Hundreds of thousands of Swiss eat cats and dogs, according to an animal rights group that has demanded the government make it illegal for man to bite dog." – hippietrail Nov 27 '14 at 05:49
  • I had to slightly correct my comment from above. Your best chance is probably Ticino. – RoflcoptrException Nov 27 '14 at 08:09
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    Being swiss, having lived here all my life and even growing up in a, especially compared to more populated countries, veeeery rural area, I haven't eaten either cat or dog. I also don't know anybody who eats either cat or dog. My grandmother used to tell stories of her childhood(!) about a group of neighbours who claimed to eat cat once in a while. I'm willing to bet it's a far more uncommon phenomenon than claimed in the articles posted here. – SBI Nov 27 '14 at 10:01
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    I am disturbed that this question is tagged [tag:pets]. You don't generally eat your pets! – Thomas Nov 27 '14 at 10:58
  • @Thomas that tag was added by HippieTrail. – Golden Cuy Nov 27 '14 at 11:05
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    @Thomas Well, maybe someone else's ;) – SBI Nov 27 '14 at 11:31
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    @Thomas: Perhaps you don't, but I doubt that would hold as a general rule. In Germany, it is both common to hold rabbits as pets and to eat rabbit meat. It is also becoming increasingly popular to keep pigs as pets. – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo Nov 27 '14 at 12:39
  • You can always go for Chatzezöngli, which translates to tongue of a cat... (http://www.coopathome.ch/b2c/start/%28carea=4AD5101ABD564590E10000000A030109&citem=3474606&xcm=coop_dev&cpgsize=24%29/.do)^^ – magu_ Nov 27 '14 at 13:20
  • @Thomas: Not even when they're in an aquarium? – O. R. Mapper Nov 27 '14 at 15:48
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    Do 3% of the Swiss eat dogs and cats? – 200_success Nov 27 '14 at 18:09

1 Answers1

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It's not legal to sell cat meat in Switzerland, neither raw nor cooked. The Swiss Regulation of the Confederate Department of Interior on food of animal origin, article 2 has a list of animals of which the meat can be sold or distributed as food. It is therefore unlikely that you will find a restaurant catering with cat meat. If there are any, they are at least unlikely to advertise it.

What is allowed in Switzerland, is to slaughter and consume both cat and dog meat in a private setting. I am however keen to believe that the legal situation is similar in most other European countries. Even if commercial dsitribution is prohibited, I doubt that there are laws or regulations in many countries actually prohibiting consuming cat and dog meat.

Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
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    Actually, there are. In Poland (and I suppose, in EU in general) killing animals on will is forbidden and treaten as animal cruelty. Animals can be killed in regulated ways, for example by vet or in slaughterhouse, and as there are no regulations for slaughter of dogs and cats, slaughtering them is illegal. There were show processes against traditional profession of dog grease producers. – Danubian Sailor Nov 27 '14 at 07:30
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    There are AFAIK no EU regulations on this subject and you must differentiate between slaughtering, consuming and commercial distribution of the meat. The German Wikipedia article on cat meat summarizes the legal situation in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In Germany and Switzerland, commercial distribution is prohibited. In Austria it is not allowed to slaughter cats and dogs for the purpose of obtaining food. Unless I miss something, this means that consuming cat meat is allowed in all three countries. – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo Nov 27 '14 at 09:05
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    Yeah, I suppose eating dead animals (for example, killed in road accidents) is generally allowed. If you can't kill and can't import, there's no other source to legally get the meat. I can't say for Germany, I know in Poland there was the process for killing dogs (not selling their meat). – Danubian Sailor Nov 27 '14 at 09:54
  • Just to add up on this answer. I was growing up in Luzern (one of the places named in the article) and I never heard of anybody eating cat/dog, except the normal urban legend stuff. But there are collecting signatures to prohibit it (http://www.soschats.org/) that's why there is some media attention lately. – magu_ Nov 27 '14 at 10:24
  • @magu_: Maybe it'll be interesting to put the articles and petition to some scrutiny on skeptics.SE? – hippietrail Nov 27 '14 at 11:58
  • @hippietrail Someone already had that idea and wrote a question over there. – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo Nov 27 '14 at 12:34
  • Do 3% of the Swiss eat dogs and cats? – hippietrail Nov 27 '14 at 12:40
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    @hippietrail, I also commented on it there. – magu_ Nov 27 '14 at 13:18
  • Do you happen to know whether couchsurfing-like arrangements with strangers (where you live inside someone else's flat and thus might arrange to take part in meals) count as a "private setting"? i.e. would it be legal to take part in a cat/dog meal like that, or would that be seen as an illegal attempt at circumventing the arbitrary laws that allow to commercially get cow and pig meat, but not cat and dog meat? Incomprehensible as those restrictions may seem, I think their exact boundary is relevant to travelers interested in the topic of this question and could be added to this +1 answer. – O. R. Mapper Nov 27 '14 at 15:36
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    @O.R.Mapper I don't know. In Germany, services like couch-surfing and especially short-time appartment rentals (e.g. through airbnb) are in a legal grey area and regularly subject to discussions wether or not they are to be considered to be commercial lodging services. Not so much to find out if they can offer cat stew, but to clarify if people offering such services are subject to all other regulations and tax duties, which normally apply to commercial lodging services. – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo Nov 27 '14 at 22:41