Swiss ski resort bans Saint Bernard selfies

THE ski resort of Zermatt in Switzerland says pictures with the famous mountain rescue dogs amount to animal cruelty.

A photograph like this one, right, has long been a must-have souvenir in the Swiss ski resort of Zermatt.

But after allegations from a Swiss animal protection group that the former search and rescue dogs were being mistreated, the Valais resort has banned selfies with Saint Bernards. The Swiss Animal Protection Agency (SAP) said the dogs were kept “in miserable conditions”, made to stay outside to pose in the cold without adequate food or water for long periods and not taken for walks frequently enough.

Five of the Zermatt-based dogs were kept “in miserable conditions and against animal protection laws” in a dilapidated house, according to the SAP, which filed a formal complaint against a business offering tourists photos with Saint Bernards. The organisation has been investigating the treatment of the dogs since three years ago.

In response, the resort of Zermatt banned tourist pictures with the dogs. Zermatt’s mayor, Christoph Bürgin, told Swiss radio station Walliser Bote: “No Saint Bernard dogs will be used for photo shoots with tourists on the peaks of Gornergrat and Sunnegga.

The SAP has offered to house any mistreated Saint Bernards.

“The SAP will continue to do all it can to make sure these dogs, which at the moment are housed in a condemned building in miserable conditions, are kept in comfortable conditions that meet their needs.” Saint Bernards were originally bred in the Swiss Alps for mountain rescue, used to help find lost people after bad snowstorms using their superior sense of direction and resistance to the cold. – The Telegraph