Wildlife

Swiss Cowbells Harming Alpine Herds

The iconic cowbells ringing around the necks of Swiss cows could become a thing of the past following a study that finds the bells destroy bovine hearing and affect feeding habits.

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich found the bells create a noise level of 100 to 113 decibels—basically equivalent to that of a chainsaw and far in excess of safety standards.

Agricultural scientist Julia Johns told Schweiz am Sonntag that thousands of Swiss cows may have been made deaf by the bells.

“We didn’t need long university research to tell us that the bells are not beneficial to cows,” says Lolita Morena from a Swiss animal protection group.

She told the Swiss site The Local: “Farmers will just have to spend a bit more time finding their cows in bad weather, like shepherds do. It’s difficult work ... but they chose it.”

Some propose using GPS tags to keep track of the livestock.