Swiss man Martin Bühlmann admits to eating cats

According to the pensioner from Lucerne, cat meat is 'delicate and easily digestible'

'If you cause stress to an animal that's probably not a good thing' (Getty Images)

A Swiss pensioner has admitted to a peculiar culinary preference - cooking and eating cats.

Martin Bühlmann, a 72-year-old former hunter and amateur cook, said he liked to eat the food his grandmother would have prepared, also including pig's ear, tripe, calf's brain, lungs, heart, fox and badger.

And speaking to a Swiss radio documentary called Das Tier und wir (The animal and us), the Lucerne resident said he grew up in a large, poor family and that his mother would often cook cat meat for dinner when he was a child.

He said feline meat was "very delicate and easily digestible, it tastes better than rabbits".

"I find such dishes as cat meat more ethical than dishes such seafood or sushi, which is shipped from overseas," he added.

Switzerland is one of the few countries in Europe that still allows people to kill cats or dogs for consumption, according to Blick.

Mr Bühlmann insists he no longer eats cats but said he felt it was not different to killing and eating a chicken.

He insisted he killed the animals humanely, using a gun.

"If farmers had surplus cats, they would often called me to help," he said.

He called the increasing humanisation of pets "ridiculous", and said even feral cats should be eaten.

"They just do not belong in the forest, so you should shoot them there," he said.

But even he drew the line at eating dogs - saying he could not bear to eat something that reminded him of his beloved late pet canine, Julian.