Swiss cantons struggle to regulate rise in dog biting cases

Some 560,000 dogs now live in Switzerland, and the consequences – in terms of bitings – are increasingly being felt. Faced with the problem, the patchwork of cantonal regulations is clearly inadequate. Whether in canton Basel City, Lucerne or St Gallen, the number of dog bites rose sharply across Switzerland in 2023. In canton Zurich alone, reports of incidents involving dogs increased by a good quarter from 660 to 840 cases. What’s the cause? One simple factor is density: there are more and more dogs and more and more people, says Stefan Buholzer, deputy cantonal veterinarian in Zurich. In a country of nine million people, there are more than 560,000 dogs; as a result, there are more opportunities for conflict, particularly in outdoor leisure areas. However, the large number of dogs only partly explains the increase, says Lucerne cantonal vet Martin Brügger. There is also the fact that people are now quicker to go to the doctor or vet in the event of an incident. Another reason is ...