Dog slaughtering in Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries with special consideration of the Munich area]

In the 19th century professional dog slaughter and also the public sale of dog flesh arose. These slaughter and the sale was mainly practised by horse butchers. In Germany dogs had been mostly slaughtered in Sachsen, Schlesien, Anhalt and Bayern. From 1905 to 1940 the meat of 235.144 dogs was inspected. But the true number of slaughtered dogs was certainly larger. Yet in the fifties dogs were professionally slaughtered. After 1960 the slaughter dropped. Sporadically dog flesh was used as human food until 1985. The annual number of slaughtered dogs depended on economic factors like wages, prices of meat, availability of meat and dog tax. Dogs had been also slaughtered to produce dog fat for remedy. Slaughter of dogs has been already discussed in the 19th century. After 1930 it was called for abolishing the inspection order for dogs or for the prohibition of dog slaughter. After four bills of the years 1954, 1963 and 1985 the slaughter of dogs to produce human food was finally prohibited in 1986.