Animal Welfare Act

What does the Animal Welfare Act contain?

§ 1 states the purpose: to protect the life and wellbeing of animals as fellow creatures, based on human responsibility towards them. This is followed by sections on animal husbandry, killing of animals, procedures on animals, animal experiments, animal welfare officers, and breeding, keeping, and trade. § 11 makes certain activities subject to a permit, such as the commercial breeding or keeping of vertebrates. § 16a empowers the authority to issue orders and to remove animals. § 17 makes it a criminal offence to kill a vertebrate without reasonable cause or to cause it significant pain out of callousness. Since 2002, Article 20a of the Basic Law expressly names the protection of animals as a state objective.

Is an amendment pending?

Yes, but it is not yet in force. The Federal Government has submitted a draft for a Fifth Act Amending the Animal Welfare Act, Bundestag printed paper 21/6809. The Bundestag debated it in its first reading on 9 July 2026 and referred it to the committees, with the Committee for Agriculture, Food, and Home Affairs as the lead committee. The core issue is animal welfare in slaughter, including video surveillance in certain areas of slaughter facilities. Until the procedure is concluded, the Act applies in its current version.

What does this mean for graduates from EU countries?

Animal welfare and ethology is one of the 20 examination subjects of the Veterinary Examination under § 29 of the TAppV. Those who have studied in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, or Croatia are familiar with the European requirements, such as those on the protection of animals at the time of killing, but in Germany they encounter a significantly more extensive national regulatory framework. For recognition of the degree this is irrelevant; it proceeds under § 4(1a) of the Federal Veterinary Surgeons Act. Those who want to enter the official veterinary service cannot avoid animal welfare law.

Limits of the Act

Much of the specific detail is not in the Act itself but in regulations such as the Animal Welfare and Farm Animals Regulation or the Animal Welfare and Slaughter Regulation. The indeterminate legal concept of "reasonable cause" regularly occupies the courts. Whether something is permissible in a specific case is assessed by the competent authority.