On July 5, the Federal Council will discuss the amendment to the Animal Welfare Act passed by the Federal Cabinet. The German Animal Welfare Federation is calling on the members of the Bundesrat to only vote in favor of amendments that enable improvements in the interests of all animals. Both the Bundesrat's Agriculture Committee, which is the lead committee, and the Environment and Culture Committees, which also advised the Bundesrat, had formulated numerous proposed amendments to the draft, which was weak from an animal welfare perspective, on almost 100 pages. The Animal Welfare Act, which does not require approval, will then go to the Bundestag for further consultation.
"We welcome the fact that the Bundesrat committees are calling for a fundamental ban on both year-round and seasonal tethering of cattle in their recommendations and also want to see the transitional period for the end of year-round tethering shortened to five years," says Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation. This means that there is a chance that a promise made in the coalition agreement of the traffic light coalition will still be kept. The call for a ban on the transportation of live cattle, sheep and goats to countries outside the EU is also a positive step. The recommendation to ban the amputation of the tail of dogs used for hunting would implement a long-standing demand of the German Animal Welfare Association. According to Schröder, the demand for a general ban on keeping social animals alone on a permanent basis would also be a positive step, especially when keeping pets, but also wild animals in zoos and circuses. "However, it remains incomprehensible why the Federal Government and the Federal Council continue to refuse a comprehensive ban on wild animals in circuses."
The points that, from an animal welfare perspective, also require the urgent approval of the Bundesrat include the mandatory identification and registration of dogs and cats directly in the law, video surveillance for smaller slaughterhouses, a ban on the trade, import and placement of animals with torture breeding characteristics, a ban on the sale of animals in public places, a secure identity check when trading animals online and restrictions on mowing in all green spaces.
In the recommendations, however, the German Animal Welfare Federation misses more far-reaching regulations with regard to interventions such as amputations on farm animals and the tethering of birds of prey. A nationwide castration requirement for outdoor cats and an urgently needed correct implementation of the requirements of the EU Animal Experiments Directive are also missing and must be included in the further parliamentary process in the Bundestag. "If all the improvements demanded by the Agriculture Committee were adopted, the new Animal Welfare Act would still be a long way from meeting the national objective of animal welfare, but it would be a step in the right direction," concluded Schröder.
Note to editors:
With its current campaign "Now more animal protection!", the German Animal Welfare Federation 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
