Believe it or not, Germans enjoy sausages and other meat dishes so much that they each eat more than 1,000 animals in their lifetime.

A new study has found that on average individual Germans consume four cows, four calves, four sheep, 46 pigs, 37 ducks and 46 turkeys as well as 12 geese and 945 chickens in a year, the Daily Express reported.

In fact, the study by the German Vegetarian Association estimated that more than one billion animals, not including fish or sea creatures, were eaten in Germany every year, the report said.

The organisation wants Germans to have one meatless day a week which would save 157 million animal lives a year, according to spokesman Sebastian Zosch.

Raising plant products for food results in much less greenhouse gas emission than raising animals, the organisation said. Out of a population of around 83 million, between five and six million Germans are vegetarian.