The authorities found animal welfare violations in around a third of the inspected livestock farms in Brandenburg last year. This was the government’s response to a small request from the Greens in the state parliament. The leader of the parliamentary group, Benjamin Raschke, called for more control staff in the district veterinary offices at the weekend so that farms with intensive animal husbandry can be monitored more closely.
The response from the Ministry of Justice on animal welfare in farms shows that the complaint rate for controls in Brandenburg last year was around 36 percent. A total of 1265 of the 8163 production sites were checked. It affects, among other things, pig production, laying hens, calves, cattle and sheep, but also ducks and geese. Violations were found in 454 of the companies inspected last year. In 2021, 975 of 8,087 production sites were inspected, and the authorities found violations in 346 of them.
From 2018 to 2021, the public prosecutor’s office dealt with a total of 1,267 investigations into violations of the Animal Welfare Act (paragraph 17). It involves the suspicion that an animal is being inflicted with significant pain or suffering, either repeatedly or out of cruelty. It was therefore about 1520 suspects. The proceedings against around 72 percent of them were discontinued between 2018 and 2022. There were 87 final judgments. These were almost exclusively fines, two of which were suspended prison sentences.
The Greens parliamentary group leader and spokesman for animal welfare, Raschke, criticized: “It is frightening that there are complaints in about a third of all inspected companies. What is more worrying, however, is that many violations go undetected as long as only a few establishments are inspected each year.” This situation is unacceptable. “We need significantly more controls and, above all, more staff in the veterinary offices of the districts.” (dpa)
