Radical animal rights groups step up activities

Pork is the most popular in Switzerland but meat consumption has decreased slightly in recent years. Keystone/Georgios Kefalas

​​​​​​​Militant animal rights activities are on the increase in Switzerland but only a minority want to close slaughterhouses.

The Federal Intelligence Service has registered a growing number of violent incidents in 2018 compared with the previous five years, according to a report in the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper group.

The report does not give detailed figures but points out that militants are particularly active in the French-speaking part of the country.

It also mentions a major incident in the German-speaking part of Switzerland last November when more than 100 animal rights activists blocked a slaughterhouse of the leading Bell food group for a day.

The protest prompted calls by the meat processing industry for tougher sanctions against militants.

However, a recent opinion poll commissioned by an animal rights group, Tier im Fokus, found only 17% of respondents supporting a closure of all slaughterhouses in Switzerland.

But three out of four respondents came out against intensive livestock breeding, according to the Tages-Anzeiger.