Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation, comments on two of the animal welfare-related motions that will be discussed at the Conference of Agriculture Ministers (AMK) in Heidelberg from September 24 to 26.
On agenda item 32 – “Transfer of the wolf from the Federal Nature Conservation Act to the Federal Hunting Act for species protection purposes”:
"The removal of wolves that repeatedly kill grazing animals or exhibit problematic behavior is already legally possible under the existing provisions of the Federal Nature Conservation Act. The planned transfer of the wolf to hunting law is not based on scientific findings, but on populist arguments and clientele politics. If, in addition, all legal issues relating to wolf management are to be regulated exclusively by hunting law in the future, this would literally be like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. It also remains completely unclear how the monitoring of the federal states, which has previously been carried out by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, is to be handled in the future. We call on the members of the AMK to reject this motion and to advocate for a fact-based solution."
Re: Item 38 – “National Action Plan to End Tail Docking in Pigs – Necessary Regulations for Enforcement”:
"The motion hits the nail on the head: when it comes to tail docking of piglets, not only piglet farms but also the owners of rearing and fattening pigs must be held accountable. Effective implementation of the ban on tail docking is only possible if all pig farms sustainably improve their management and housing conditions for the animals. The draft of a new animal welfare law, which has been sitting in a drawer since the last legislative period, would be a positive step forward in this regard – the motion rightly recognizes this. In view of the national goal of animal welfare, it is also the task of the current federal government to complete the amendment of the Animal Welfare Act."
