The German Animal Welfare Federation, its state animal welfare association in Hessen and the Limburg Animal Welfare Federation are dismayed by the result of yesterday's referendum in Limburg: the majority voted in favor of not repealing the Limburg city councillors' decision to kill the city's pigeons. In the run-up to the vote, the association, together with animal rights activist and content creator Malte Zierden, had campaigned for an alternative, animal-friendly city pigeon concept with supervised pigeon lofts.
"We would like to thank all animal lovers in Limburg who voted 'yes'. In the end, however, these votes were not enough to overturn the anti-animal welfare killing decision. We are dismayed and disappointed," commented Ute Heberer, Chairwoman of the State Animal Welfare Federation of Hessen. Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation, adds: "The majority of Limburgers have sealed the death sentence for the pigeons with their vote. Instead of showing compassion and respect for the feral pets, existing prejudices were even propagated by the Limburg city factions CDU, FDP and SPD in the run-up to the referendum in order to promote the killing. Now the pigeons are threatened with a cruel, manual neck-breaking." Schröder makes it clear: "As soon as the first pigeon is killed in Limburg, we will press criminal charges against those responsible."
In the view of the German Animal Welfare Federation, the planned killing of urban pigeons is a violation of the Animal Welfare Act. The Stuttgart Administrative Court had already ruled in 2021 that authorities may not grant permission to kill pigeons if milder alternatives are available. The conclusion of the legal dispute at the time applies to all vertebrates: killing may only be considered as a last resort and only in justified exceptional cases if specific health risks have been identified and alternatives have been comprehensively clarified. For urban pigeons, there is now sufficient evidence that the animals do not pose an increased health risk.
