Swiss parliament rejects national microchipping scheme for cats

Over 10,000 cats go missing in Switzerland every year. Keystone-SDA

Switzerland should not introduce a nationwide mandatory microchip scheme for cats. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives rejected such an idea by 108 votes to 80.

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More than 10,000 cats go missing every year. Lost cats often have to spend many months in an animal shelter, while their owners desperately search for them, explained Green parliamentarian Meret Schneider, who filed the microchip motion.

She highlighted the problem of abandoned cats once they are no longer “small and cute”. These cats start to roam and reproduce, or remain in shelters. This problem could easily be solved, said Schneider. Unlike dog owners, cat owners are not required to register their pets or fit them with a microchip, even though cats are just as much pets as dogs.

Schneider argues that there are several advantages to this practice. Cat owners could be contacted immediately if their pet were found, and local authorities could better manage the problem of stray cats.

And it would relieve the workload of the organisations responsible for animal protection and for combating intensive breeding and the cat trade. Schneider believes the cost of registration would encourage future cat owners to think more carefully before buying a cat.

Sylvain Freymond, a parliamentarian from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, described the microchipping as a “pointless coercive measure” that did not address “concrete” problems. He pointed out that many cats born in the wild do not belong to anyone. The cost of tagging them would be borne by the authorities. In his view, tagging cats was not a priority, especially at a time when the federal government is already facing huge expenses.

A national database already exists

The Federal Council, which supported the proposal, was disappointed with the result. The additional costs would not be excessive as there is already a national database for the voluntary registration of cats, explained Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider. She also noted that the costs associated with damage caused by stray cats would be reduced.

The minister cited other advantages. The measure would provide an overview of the cat situation in Switzerland, in terms of numbers, origins, breeds and density by region.

It would also enable better control of cats, in terms of their impact on biodiversity as well as epizootics and zoonoses. The minister estimated that there are currently around 225,000 cats that are not controlled. Under the measure, cats would have to visit a vet at least once in their life to be chipped.

Translated from French by DeepL/sb

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