The Bundestag petition launched by ten animal welfare organizations opposing a standalone “Animal Experimentation Act” was successfully concluded yesterday with a record number of signatures. Within six weeks, 81,528 people signed the petition—well more than twice the number required for the Petitions Committee to consider the matter. The petition opposes the federal government’s plans to remove regulations on animal testing from the Animal Welfare Act and consolidate them into a standalone law. This threatens to drastically weaken the already inadequate protection status of millions of animals in German laboratories. According to the organizers, this is the most successful Bundestag petition ever in the field of animal welfare.
“We thank everyone who shared the petition, signed it, and gave the animals a voice. Citizens have made it clear how important the protection of all animals is to them - including, and especially, animals in laboratories,” the coalition explains. “The federal government is now called upon to take the will of the people seriously and abandon its plan. Instead of subjecting millions of animals to even more suffering, it must finally begin phasing out animal testing!”
MASSIVE CUTBACKS IN ANIMAL WELFARE
Removing the regulations on animal testing from the Animal Welfare Act would eliminate essential ethical and legal safeguards against inflicting pain, suffering, and harm, as well as against killing surplus animals for economic reasons. Animal welfare organizations also fear a weakening of the approval process for animal testing—while they could be deprived of the opportunity to have the legality of approvals reviewed in court. The federal government’s plans thus also contradict the constitutional mandate of the state objective of animal welfare as well as the prohibition against deterioration: Once an animal welfare standard has been achieved, it must not be lowered again.
EU AIMS FOR ANIMAL-FREE SCIENCE
The high level of participation in the petition is extraordinary: In 2025, only 10 out of approximately 12,400 petitions exceeded the 30,000-signature threshold. The petition’s success also reflects an international trend: “Many EU countries are currently taking important steps toward innovative, animal-free science,” according to the animal welfare organizations. “Meanwhile, the German government is on the verge of taking a step backward - entirely in line with the animal testing lobby.” Despite an infringement proceeding by the European Union, EU regulations on animal testing have still not been adequately transposed into German law. Among other things, there is a lack of appropriate prioritization and financial support for animal-free research and testing methods, an upper limit on the pain and suffering that may be inflicted on animals, and the recognition of fear as a dimension of distress.
Note to editors: The Bundestag petition was launched by
Doctors Against Animal Testing e.V.,
Federation Against Animal Abuse e.V.,
Federal Association of People for Animal Rights e.V.,
German Legal Society for Animal Welfare Law e.V.,
German Animal Welfare Federation (Deutscher Tierschutzbund e.V.),
mensch fair tier e.V.,
People for Animal Rights Baden-Württemberg e.V.,
PETA Germany e.V.,
Political Working Group for Animal Rights in Europe e.V.,
Team Tierschutz gGmbH
