Swiss animal groups fight "dog mafia"
The organisations Swiss Animal Protection (SAP) and Four Paws have collected 11,000 signatures as part of a campaign to fight the illegal dog trade in Switzerland.
At a news conference on Friday, Julika Fitzi, a dog specialist at SAP said the illegal dog trade is flourishing.
Usually these animals come from mass breeding in eastern European countries, where they are bred in the “worst possible conditions”, she added.
Fitzi, also a vet, said the Swiss could order such dogs over the internet in just one mouse click.
Four Paws said in a statement that Switzerland was "flooded" with dogs imported from abroad. The number of animals imported had increased massively in the past year and now stood at around 15,000. Nine out of ten of these dogs came from eastern Europe.
In May, the Swiss government drafted a law prohibiting illegal sales of dogs, which is in consultation until August.
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