Boxes full of faeces and mouldy food Magazine raises serious accusations against Zurich animal hospital

The "Beobachter" accuses the Zurich Animal Hospital of unhygienic conditions and the outbreak of resistant germs. However, the clinic denies the accusations.

Zurich Animal Hospital is under fire. The reason for this are pictures and video material, statements by employees of the Zurich Animal Hospital and internal documents published by the "Beobachter".

The images show animals with unhealed wounds lying in their own excrement, moldy food, inadequate care and breaches of hygiene standards.

The circumstances are said to have led to the spread of so-called CPE bacteria. According to the Federal Office of Public Health, these germs can pose a potential threat to public health. Under certain conditions, they can lead to urinary tract infections, peritonitis or pneumonia in humans.

Every second animal carries CPE bacteria

According to the report, every second randomly sampled animal was a carrier of the germs. Four dogs and one cat are said to have been infected and one of the animals died. In an e-mail, the clinic management wrote that the situation was serious and that a possible closure of the clinic would be considered if the germ load could not be reduced.

Julika Fitzi from Swiss Animal Protection has watched the footage and expresses her concern. She explained that the conditions shown were contrary to animal welfare and could put animals under stress, which could lead to infections and blood poisoning. According to Fitzi, no animal would voluntarily lie in its own excrement.

Clinic rejects all accusations

In a statement, the University of Zurich explained that there had been no accumulation of cases of illness or death. The clinic is continuously monitoring the situation and has introduced cleaning and disinfection measures as well as training for staff.

The clinic also rejects the other allegations. Contamination in animals with diarrhea would be removed as quickly as possible. Short-term accumulations of dirty food bowls are unavoidable. The animal hospital suspects that the allegations are mainly based on the statements of a person on night duty, where staff are limited to the bare essentials.

This article was created with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). All content created by AI is verified by the editorial team.