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Switzerland could become the first country to finally ban factory farming after the Swiss cast their votes later this week.

Source: SWI swissinfo.ch – English/YouTube

The Swiss voters will vote on whether or not to ban factory farming and deem it as unconstitutional and end imports of intensively farmed meat. According to recently polling in the country, 52 percent of voters oppose the ban while 47 percent Support it.

Switzerland’s constitution already protects the “welfare and dignity of animals”, but if passed, the constitution would be modified to include an animal’s right to “not to be intensively farmed.”

Now in Switzerland, the law says that farmers can keep “27,000 chickens in one barn and their room to move is about the size of an A4 sheet of paper,” Silvano Lieger said in 2018 after proposing the vote. Lieger is the managing director of the animal protection group Sentience Politics.

“Pigs are kept in barns too, up to 1,500 per farm, with 10 pigs sharing the space of an average parking spot. It is not possible to treat animals in a dignified way in those conditions,” Lieger said.

If this measure is passed, it would mean farms would have to have fewer animals to meet standards. Although the number of Swiss farms is declining, farm size is increasing, which is leading to lower welfare of animals in the country. If the ban is approved, farmers would only be able to have 4,000 laying hens and 500 meat chickens. Updated pig standards would also drop pork production in the country by 50 percent.

This could be a huge win for animals across Switzerland and hopefully influence other countries to follow their lead!

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Read more about the horrors of factory farming below:

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