Reconvilier is a small town in Switzerland with a population of about 2,540, three hundred of which are dogs.

But according to a local official, there may not be any dogs left alive if people don’t pay their taxes.

Seems there is a 1904 law that states, if people don’t pay the town’s $50 dog tax, the town may be able to seize and kill their dogs.

The town is now in dire economic straits and most dog owners have failed to pay their “dog owner” tax, so the town is threatening to act upon this very old law.

“This isn’t about a mass execution of dogs,” said Pierre-Alain Nemitz, a local official in Reconvilier. ”It’s meant to put pressure on people who don’t cooperate.”

But what the town officials received in return was angry warnings from the town’s people that if the officials touched their dogs, they would receive the same treatment as the dogs.

No word on the town officials next move, but I believe they may be watching their backs.