The claim was that around 240,000 people in Switzerland, about 3 percent of the population, quietly eat cat and dog meat. A Hungarian news portal that wrote about it later called the figure out of thin air. Our original write-up came to the same view: nobody has shown any evidence, so the story is almost certainly false.
How the story started
According to our archived article, the rumor began with a Swiss animal rights group called SOS Chats Noiraigue, which appealed to the national government about the alleged habit of eating cat and dog meat as a traditional holiday dinner. The claim then received heavy media coverage, and our article lists outlets such as the London Times, the Washington Post, the BBC and Newsweek among those that carried it.
Why it does not hold up
- A practice that large would leave photographs, documents or witnesses, and none have been produced.
- Our write-up says a couple of Swiss government authorities refuted the claim.
- Very few people might do it at all, and the article suggests it could be a rare old custom or a matter of necessity rather than a national habit.
Why hoaxes like this spread
A shocking number, a respectable source and a cause people care about travel fast together. That is the same recipe as The Bonsai Kittens Hoax, another story built on the horror of harm to cats.
