The Germans not only are a nation of 80 million “football coaches” but also one of more than 23 million “animal-welfare campaigners”.

In order to supply their pets’ wants with regard to feed, plaything and other requirements, the German citizens spent more than 3.3 billion Euros in 2007. Turnover in the trade specialised in domestic-animals feed even increased by 0.4 percent, going up to EUR 2.47 billion! Cat food was sold best with an overall EUR 1.2 billion being invested in it. As for accessory etc., an increase of 1.3 percent was noted (up to EUR 859 million).
Altogether, 23 million domestic animals are being held in Germany; among them, there are 7.9 million cats, 5.3 million dogs and 3.4 million aviary birds.

In the supermarkets, three times as much space is needed meanwhile for placing pet supplies as is needed for babies’ demand. In view of the huge amounts spent by the people for their beloved quadrupeds’ welfare, you’d think the animals’ luckiness might be of quite some value to the Germans. In terms of these figures, you might also reason that there were about 23 000 000 potential animal-welfare campaigners in Germany. That would be more than a quarter of all German citizens. Compared with such quantities, the number of 79 000 German pig keep-ers looks rather smallish; and the pig keepers are often scolded by diverse so-called animal rights groups.

Professor Poresky from Kansas / USA states that (domestic-) animal keepers performed better as human beings than those do who do not hold a pet. That, however, needs a more differenti-ated look to be taken at. If you discuss with a cat owner about the songbirds hatching in his garden, you will soon find out about how far animal protection goes, as a matter of fact. Only recently, the State Advisory Board on Animal Welfare handed in a complaint at the Baden-Wurttemberg Ministry of Food and Rural Areas about considerable “deficits being observed in domestic animal keeping”. Very often, small and low-priced rodents, birds or peregrine animals such as reptiles are being purchased without prior consideration and are not being held appropriate to the species. Both veterinarians and owners of animal shelters often file complaints about observing “animal housing contrarious to animal welfare and about bad care” with regard to domestic animals.

According to a most recent scandal reported about regarding cattle owned by the German So-ciety for Nature Conservation (NABU), 12 heads of cattle so far have perished in mud in three different East Frisian nature protection areas as a result of misinterpreted love of animals. This clearly shows that so-called “animal-welfare campaigners” do not necessarily have the expertise which is needed if it’s about adequate animal husbandry. It remains a sensitive thing to do anyway to try and find out what makes them be qualified for the job. Love of the animal alone certainly is not enough. It is not for nothing that there is an apprenticeship as animal keeper during which the apprentice needs to sit exams by the passing of which he then may definitely substantiate the expertise he gained in animal protection. At all this, the NGO’s political importance and relevance, respectively, still appears to be questionable.

All-too often farmers are the butt of diverse self-styled animal-welfare campaigners’ offence. For instance, let’s talk about the latest discussions about anaesthesia-free piglet castration which were initiated by the humane society. The farmers were scolded as animal tormentors, and thus an emotional quarrel was picked in the public without real insight having been avail-able with regard to alternatives. The ISN has opened up to this social process of discussing a long time ago yet, however not on an emotional but on a factual level. We are actively coop-erating in the EU PigCas project, are playing our part in it and are holding lectures (as we last did in Nordwijk / Netherlands). The pig keepers are discussing about the animals’ comfort in pig farming within the “ISN Committee for Animal Welfare”.

Farmers of course are the livestock owners who do the job in a better way, and animal protec-tion is a matter concerning the whole society. It certainly does not only start with productive livestock and then end again at Rover and Pussy’s front doors.

Photo: Friedrich Hake, piglet's breeder und pig fattener from Hameln / Lower Saxony and ISN Board Member