Swiss lawmakers are upholding their constitution’s pledge for “animal dignity” by banning the boiling live lobsters “because they feel pain.”
Short of state-enforced vegetarianism, Switzerland has passed a law that will regulate not only the handling of lobsters, but also the importation of foie gras and the correct number of hamsters a person should keep in their home.
While the lobster rules only apply to restaurants, there’s no doubt that the home is the next target. Other animals kept at home are now subject to new rules: cats must have “daily visual contact” with other cats, and hamsters must be kept in pairs.
The left-wing Social Democratic Party have authored a new law, set to take effect in March that will ban restaurant chefs from boiling live lobsters, instead requiring them to “render them unconscious” first. Lobsters will be electrocuted or stunned, and then stabbed with a knife, before
