Swiss refuse cattle airlift

Switzerland rejected a generous offer of political asylum for 230,000 cows sentenced to the knacker's yard on the pretext that their herds harboured BSE.

The World Hindu Organisation had taken pity on the sacred beasts, offering them safe conduct to Nepal. All they asked of the Swiss was the cost of the air tickets. The Swiss were not unsympathetic to the Hindu solution. But in the end they baulked at the bill; air fares alone would have amounted to SFr320m (pounds 168m). Imre Karacs - Bonn