In view of World Animal Protection Day on October 4, the German Animal Welfare Federation protested today in front of the Chancellery in Berlin to draw attention to the dramatic situation of animal shelters. The umbrella organization of animal shelters was supported by representatives of several state animal protection associations and animal welfare organizations. The German Animal Welfare Federation is celebrating this year's World Animal Protection Day under the motto "Committed to the state goal of animal protection!".
"Animal welfare has been a national objective in the German Basic Law for 20 years. All federal levels - federal, state and local - are committed to this goal. They are all aware of the dramatic situation of animal shelters, but have failed to act despite countless appeals and warnings for years. The animal shelters are being used to make up for political failures, animal welfare activists are being degraded to petitioners and the animals in need are being left in the lurch," criticized Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation, and made it clear: "State goals are not negotiated according to cash flow or party political interests!". He demanded that the Federal Chancellor and the "traffic light" coalition implement the coalition agreement: "Promises must be kept, the consumption foundation for animal shelters must come immediately!"
HANDING OVER THE DEMANDS TO SILVIA BENDER AND DR. ARIANE KARI
In Berlin, Schröder presented Silvia Bender, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and Dr. Ariane Kari, Federal Commissioner for Animal Welfare, with two resolutions containing the animal welfare policy demands. The German Animal Welfare Federation, its 16 state animal welfare associations and the more than 740 affiliated local animal welfare associations with around 550 animal shelters are calling on the political decision-makers at federal, state and local level to live up to their responsibilities and finally take action. Inadequate legal framework conditions, rising animal numbers due to ill-considered purchases and exploding feed, energy and veterinary costs have pushed animal shelters to their limits.
In the opinion of the German Animal Welfare Federation, the necessary measures to relieve the burden on animal shelters include a pet protection ordinance which, among other things, stipulates a certificate of competence for pet owners and the castration of outdoor cats, as well as a positive list which clarifies which animal species may be kept in private hands at all. The trade in animals via the internet must be stopped. The consumer foundation for animal shelters promised in the coalition agreement must be generously endowed and launched without delay in order to implement urgent renovations and expansions, for example of infirmaries and quarantine stations.
The federation is also calling for the costs of the tasks undertaken by animal shelters for the public sector - such as the care of found animals or confiscated animals - to be reimbursed in full. An appeal is made to the federal states to revise the dangerous dog ordinances and laws, which - depending on the federal state - prejudge different breeds as dangerous and thus make it difficult or impossible to place them in animal shelters. According to the animal welfare campaigners, dangerousness should be based on the individual animal rather than the breed.
CAMPAIGN "MORE ANIMAL PROTECTION NOW!"
With the current campaign, the German Animal Welfare Federation is calling for the implementation of the animal welfare policy announcements from the federal government's coalition agreement and shows which promises have already been addressed and where nothing has been done so far: www.jetzt-mehr-tierschutz.de
