Swiss Village: Pay Pet Tax or We'll Kill Fido

Source: Associated Press

Jan. 11, 2011
Swiss Village: Pay Pet Tax or We'll Kill Fido
Reconvilier Officials Receive Death Threats After Announcing Effort to Reclaim Taxes Under 1904 Law

http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com.nyud.net:8090/images/2008/06/09/image4165007g.jpg

(AP) GENEVA - A Swiss village has found a drastic way to compel dog holders to pay their pet's annual tax: cough up, or the dog gets it.

Reconvilier - population 2,245 humans, 280 dogs - plans to put Fido on notice if its owner doesn't pay the annual $50 tax.

Local official Pierre-Alain Nemitz says the move is part of an effort to reclaim hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes.

He says a law from 1904 allows the village to kill dogs if its owner does not pay the canine charge.



Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/11/ap/strange/main7235207.shtml

I think centuries of neutrality will do that to a country that's been smack-dab in the middle of many warring factions. They seem to be equal parts crazily both right and left wing.

they love their dogs, for sure and the public would riot. But, it is a good way to get attention to the issue, I'm sure. I'd damn well be paying up.

they put belled collars on their cows and goats. They are nothing but glorified pets. Won't happen, but if it does, the rioting will make the Watts riots look like a Sunday walk in the park.

A life truism...there is no such thing as too many cow bells.

so they can hear where they are and find them as they wander around the mountainsides. They are livestock, raised for their milk and meat.

I was in a German canton that had the old fashion barns with the family home over them. Cattle stay in the barns under the homes esp in winter. They eat far less beef than we do here but eat more pork. In fact I was offered horse meat more often than beef and they were shocked when I suggested beef. They are raised more for milk, cheese, and butter. And as we know Switzerland is known for cheese and milk chocolate.

Yes I am aware the bell are to find them, but I grew up on a cattle ranch. Believe me, they treat their cattle like glorified pets. Even newborns had collars with bells. On the land that I was at, it was so small that it was impossible to 'lose' livestock. My hosts cracked up when I told them that their cows looked so....happy. I told them than if there was such a thing as re incarnation-I wanted to come back as a dairy cow in Switzerland.

The memory I will always cherish is the one where I would be woken by the sound of the cows and goats grazing under my open window. Mommy cow wore a medium size rounded bell, the calf wore a small rounded bell that rang like crazy when he nursed and the goats wore bells shaped like we traditionally think of as bells. They gave a tinkling sound. You could visualize them trying to eating as much grass on the other side of the fence by listening to the bell sounds.

generally go for veal or beef, since few of them are suitable as breeding bulls.

Mind you, I am not complaining in the least. I'm a veterinarian, not a vegetarian. I know the role of livestock, and support it. Of course, treating their milk cows like pets is fine with me! They respect them and treat them with kindness and appreciation, unlike our factory farms here.

But they are still livestock, and not pets.

...and what was it that used to be with those "Swiss Bank Accounts"?

The lame media needs to call out those that thought up this
garbage as idiots.