{"id":23741,"date":"2024-09-23T13:52:59","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T11:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/de\/?post_type=3questions&p=40776"},"modified":"2024-09-30T15:01:07","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T13:01:07","slug":"ariane-desiree-kari-on-the-state-of-animal-welfare-in-germany","status":"publish","type":"3questions","link":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/press-and-media\/newsroom\/three-questions\/ariane-desiree-kari-on-the-state-of-animal-welfare-in-germany\/","title":{"rendered":"Ariane D\u00e9sir\u00e9e Kari on the state of animal welfare in Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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    How would you assess the current state of animal welfare in Germany?<\/h2>\n
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    At first glance, Germany appears to be quite advanced in terms of animal welfare. We have an Animal Welfare Act that fully protects farm animals, unlike in some other countries. Additionally, animal welfare is a constitutional right here, enshrined in the Basic Law.<\/p>\n

    However, upon closer look it becomes clear that the Animal Welfare Act urgently needs to be revised. This is evident, for example, from the fact that farm animals continue to be significantly modified through amputations to fit housing systems, due to numerous exceptions to the amputation ban in the law.<\/p>\n

    There is also a lack of legally binding, animal welfare-compliant minimum requirements for the housing, stunning, and slaughtering of farm animals. For instance, pigs often spend their lives on hard, uncomfortable fully slatted concrete floors, where they cannot properly separate their toilet area from their sleeping area and are provided with little to no enrichment materials. Yet, cleanliness in the stable and rooting and wallowing are extremely important for these clean and intelligent animals.<\/p>\n

    Moreover, day-long and even week-long animal transports within and from Germany are still common practice. During these transports, animals suffer from insufficient access to food, water, movement, and medical care. They are also often exported to third countries with virtually no animal welfare standards, where they are frequently slaughtered while fully conscious. But numerous grievances exist not only in agricultural animal husbandry. Looking at household pets, we struggle with an exploding stray cat population, overcrowded animal shelters, and the illegal trade in pets.<\/p>\n

    Thus, a realistic look shows that animals in Germany are far from well-off. Therefore, the current revision of the Animal Welfare Act is so important.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/li>\n

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    Looking at the planned amendment of the Animal Welfare Act: The proposed phasing out of tethering after a transition period of ten years is currently a concern for many small-scale farms, particularly in southern Germany. How do you assess the phasing out of tethering and the associated challenges for dairy farms?<\/h2>\n
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    Of course, I see that the end of the tethering poses enormous challenges, especially for smaller farms in southern Germany. Those who only have a relatively small number of cattle find it difficult to invest a lot of money in conversions. Therefore, in my discussions with decision-makers, I advocate for extensive state support for conversions, particularly for these very small farms. I am also very concerned much in favour of having a legally anchored inspection and approval system for husbandry systems to ensure planning as well as legal certainty for animal keepers. On the other hand, it must be clearly stated: Tethering already violates current animal welfare law. This has been confirmed by numerous recent administrative court rulings. Both year-round and seasonal tethering during the winter months not only severely restrict the cattle\u2019s need to move around. Both forms of husbandry also make a variety of natural social, resting, exploratory, and self-care behaviours impossible. They reduce the animals\u2019 lives to eating, drinking, defecating, urinating, standing, and lying down \u2013 on a space as large as a pool table! It is evident that this can in no way be equated with even remotely humane animal husbandry.<\/p>\n

    Incidentally, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) confirmed this last year in an expert report and recommended phasing out this form of husbandry. Moreover, the Bavarian Farmer\u2019s Association labelled tethering as an \u201coutdated model\u201d back in 2017 \u2013 seven years ago.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/li>\n

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    The REWE Group is committed to numerous initiatives for enhancing animal welfare. For instance, we were the first food retailer to switch the entire range of our own-brand shell eggs in all housing forms to eggs \u201cwithout chick culling.\u201d What role do you attribute to food retailers in animal welfare?<\/h2>\n
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    The food retail sector plays a crucial role in the societal shift towards greater animal welfare. One example is the broiler chicken initiative launched by animal welfare organizations. Here, food retailers, among others, voluntarily commit to raising animal welfare standards for broiler chickens beyond the legally required minimum. This is particularly significant given that over 600 million broiler chickens are fattened and slaughtered in Germany each year. Yet, the minimum standards in poultry farming are very inadequate.<\/p>\n

    Furthermore, such a commitment to greater animal welfare also makes economic sense for retailers. The per capita consumption of meat and cow\u2019s milk in Germany has been declining for years. According to numerous surveys, a significant reason for this is that people are both reducing and becoming more conscious for their consumption of animal products. I am very pleased when this change in consumer behaviour is seen by food retailers as an incentive to give more importance to the protection of our animal companions in their corporate policies. In my opinion, there is enormous \u2013 often still untapped \u2013 potential here.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/li>\n <\/ul>\n\n

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    \n \"ariane-kari\"\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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    About:<\/h2>

    \n Ariane D\u00e9sir\u00e9e Kari <\/p>\n\n

    is the Federal Government Commissioner for Animal Welfare.<\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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    Read more<\/h2>\n \n <\/div>\n
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      Press release<\/p>\n

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      19 January 2026<\/p>\n

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      27 November 2025<\/p>\n

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    • \n
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      Guideline<\/p>\n

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      25 September 2025<\/p>\n

      Guideline on fish and seafood<\/h3> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/button>\n<\/div>\n <\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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      Join the discussion on<\/h2>\n

      Our LinkedIn feed has all the latest information from the REWE Group and the sector, with the most important developments from the worlds of retail, e-commerce, food, CSR and policy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n \n To LinkedIn feed <\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
      \n
      <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Ariane D\u00e9sir\u00e9e Kari is the first Animal Welfare Commissioner of the Federal Government. In our \u201cThree Questions\u2026\u201d series, she gives her perspective on the upcoming amendment of the Animal Welfare Act and looks at the necessary measures for the advancement of animal welfare. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23693,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","nl_adhoc_sent":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"focus_theme":[142],"class_list":["post-23741","3questions","type-3questions","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-policy","focus_theme-undefined"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/3questions\/23741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/3questions"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/3questions"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/3questions\/23741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23746,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/3questions\/23741\/revisions\/23746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23741"},{"taxonomy":"focus_theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/focus_theme?post=23741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}