The German Animal Welfare Federation and its state animal welfare associations are appealing to the Federal Council's Agriculture Committee to work towards urgently needed improvements to the Animal Welfare Act. At its meeting on June 17, the committee will discuss the draft amendment to the Animal Welfare Act.
"The Federal Government's draft bill addresses numerous important aspects of animal welfare without, however, regulating them with the necessary consistency. Together with our state animal welfare associations, we appeal to the committee members to work towards a consistent amendment of the Animal Welfare Act in the further process so that it actually lives up to its name," says Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation.
From the point of view of animal rights activists, the draft of the new Animal Welfare Act falls short of expectations. For example, the complete ban on tethering cattle announced in the coalition agreement has not been implemented. Although the Federal Council also spoke out in favor of an end to tethering back in 2016, the draft lacks the courage to make a consistent political decision that is urgently needed from an animal welfare perspective.
According to the draft, mandatory identification of registered dogs and cats is not enshrined in the law, but is merely to be regulated in the form of an authorization basis. The fundamentally very positive ban on some animal species in circuses would lose its force, as not all wild animals would be taken into account and an exemption regulation would also greatly weaken the ban. According to the German Animal Welfare Federation, the long transitional periods, such as 15 years for torture breeding and ten years for year-round tethering, are also disappointing and cannot be justified. The association also expressly criticizes the fact that some urgent animal welfare aspects are not even considered in the draft - such as the protection of street cats through a nationwide castration obligation and improvements in the area of animal testing or animal transport.
Note to editors:
With its current campaign "Now more animal protection!", the German Animal Welfare Association provides information on which announcements from the coalition agreement the coalition government has already tackled and where there are only empty promises so far: www.jetzt-mehr-tierschutz.de
