The Swiss Parliament has banned the live shredding of chicks in a move heralded as a victory for animal welfare.

However, scratching the surface of this story shows that the move is little more than symbolic.

According to reports, the practice of shredding chicks is no longer used in the country, and the vote is a formal ban, rather than indicative of major change.

Killing chicks

Around three million male chicks are gassed to death annually in Switzerland, say reports, and they will continue to be killed with CO2 gas.

Politicians noted that absurdity of killing newborn animals, with the House of Representatives committee, saying: “This tendency to rear species only for the production of eggs or for meat turns animals into mere objects. It has led to absurd practices such as the shredding of living male chicks.”

Yet the killing of the animals hasn’t been banned; only one method of slaughter.

‘Awful practice’

According to The Vegan Society, the only way to stop chicks from suffering, is to boycott animal products. Spokesperson Dominika Piasecka told Plant Based News: “Gassing and shredding someone to death both sound like the most horrendous ways to die, and by buying and consuming eggs customers are directly contributing to this awful practice.

“It happens across the egg industry, regardless of the eggs being marketed as cage-free, organic or so-called ‘humane’. Veganism rejects the notion of animals being seen as commodities and animal products being seen as food. The problem is not per se with how animals are treated but the fact that they are used at all.

“As vegan advocates, we need to change the way people think about eating animal products and we can only do this by rejecting all animal products, from any source, in any form.”