Swiss citizens will be called to a referendum on a ban on foie gras and fur imports after an animal welfare association collected the necessary number of signatures for a consultation, France Presse reported on Thursday, according to data. Agerpres.

This association, the “Swiss Animal Alliance”, collected 106,448 signatures against foie gras imports and 116,140 signatures against fur imports, exceeding the minimum legal threshold of 100,000 signatures to call a referendum.

The technique of force-feeding birds to fatten the liver is prohibited in Switzerland, but the import of products obtained using this technique is not prohibited either. With 200 tons of foie gras imported annually, “Switzerland is unfortunately one of the main importers of this product (…) Every year 400,000 ducks and 12,000 geese are killed just to satisfy demand in our country,” the association says. .

Referring to the proposal to ban the import of fur, the same association notes that about 1.5 million animals are slaughtered for the 350 tons of fur that Switzerland imports annually.

Switzerland’s parliament and the federal government in Bern rejected a ban on foie gras imports in September, with lawmakers warning the measure risked pushing shopping tourism to neighboring France at the expense of local trade.

In Switzerland, there is a system of direct democracy, in which citizens are often called to referenda on various and new topics.