The trade and breeding of pets will also be subject to stricter rules, and violations will carry heavier fines. For example, killing an animal without a ‘reasonable cause’ upon repeat offense will be punishable by five years in prison instead of three. Fines for attempts to abuse or kill an animal will be raised from 25,000 euros to a maximum of 50,000 euros.
The animal protection organization ‘Four Paws’ criticized the plans for having ‘numerous shortcomings and gaps’ and a weakening of key projects such as the ban on tethered animals. The consumer organization Foodwatch accused BMEL Minister Cem Özdemir of yielding to the farming lobby.
Certain common practices in animal husbandry will indeed be banned or must meet new requirements. However, in most cases there will be no total ban but exceptions will still be allowed. For German animal rights activists, this is not sufficient.
In the future, tail docking of lambs will be prohibited, but for piglets this will be allowed in individual cases under specific guidelines.
As a general rule, animals should not be kept tethered. For small dairy farmers in southern Germany, a ‘combination husbandry’ system will remain possible. Year-round tethering of dairy cows in barns will be banned only after ten years at the latest.
Originally, only a transition period of five years was planned. BMEL Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) spoke of a compromise to combine greater animal protection with nature and species conservation on alpine and mountain pastures.