On this day in vegan history · December 3, 1978
Switzerland Votes to Protect Animals
Swiss citizens didn't wait for lawmakers or corporations to act: on December 3, 1978, they voted directly, by a landslide, to give animals a federal law of their own, one that would end battery cages fourteen years later.
The facts
- Referendum date
- December 3, 1978
- Result
- 1,339,252 votes for (81.7%), 300,045 against (18.3%)
- Turnout
- 43.3% of registered voters
- Battery cage ban took effect
- January 1, 1992, Switzerland was the first country to impose one
On December 3, 1978, Swiss voters went to the polls and approved a new federal animal protection law, the Tierschutzgesetz, by 81.7 percent, with turnout at 43.3 percent. The law set national standards for how farm animals, lab animals, and pets could be kept, transported, and killed, replacing a patchwork of cantonal rules that had left animal welfare largely up to local discretion. It took years for the law's full weight to land on the hen house: Switzerland banned battery cages effective January 1, 1992, becoming the first country in the world to do so. That same year, Swiss voters added a constitutional clause protecting what the country calls the dignity of the creature.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
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Switzerland banned battery cages from 1 January 1992; it was the first country to impose such a ban.
Wikipedia, describing the outcome of the 1978 animal protection law
Source: Wikipedia, Battery cage -
the dignity of the creature
the constitutional animal-protection provision Swiss voters added in 1992, as described on Wikipedia
Source: Wikipedia, Animal welfare and rights in Switzerland
Why it still matters
It's proof a wealthy country can outlaw a mainstream, profitable farming practice by popular vote and keep functioning fine afterward, a template much of the EU wouldn't catch up to on cages for another three decades.
Sources
This history is still being written.
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