The cabinet bill for the 2025 federal budget, which is due to be adopted tomorrow, shows that the current federal government is not planning to include a consumption foundation for animal shelters in the last federal budget of this legislative period and is therefore not complying with the coalition agreement. Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation, comments:
"We will support animal shelters through a consumption foundation - that's what the coalition agreement says. But the federal government is breaking its promises and leaving animal shelters in the lurch.
The announced funds from a consumer foundation are urgently needed if practical animal welfare is to survive on the ground. Animal shelters must be optimized in terms of energy efficiency, also in order to curb the immense increase in energy costs. Quarantine and infirmaries must be expanded so that animals in need can continue to receive adequate care and treatment. The authorities, which hand over their own compulsory tasks such as the care of found animals to the animal shelters, consistently refuse to reimburse them for their costs. There are therefore no financial reserves for necessary investments in infrastructure, energy measures, veterinary requirements or occupational health and safety. This is why the Consumption Foundation is needed!
Animal shelters in Germany are at the limits of their financial resources and have long been unable to take in all the animals that are no longer wanted by their owners. Half of the animal shelters are full or even overcrowded. Only 18 percent still have any capacity at all. Admission freezes have to be imposed time and again. Anger, despair and hopelessness prevail.
It is now up to the SPD, Green and FDP parliamentary groups to set up the foundation as part of the budget negotiations and thus fulfill the coalition agreement. Together with our 16 state animal welfare federations and over 760 affiliated local animal welfare federations with 550 animal shelters, we are calling on the parliamentary groups to keep their word in parliament."
