With his call for a ban on the private keeping of exotic animals, Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir meets with complete incomprehension from some researchers and animal keepers. “That’s pure populism,” accuses him, for example, of the amphibian expert Axel Kwet.
Özdemir wants to ban the private keeping of species that need to be protected. “With his required positive list, he wants animal and species protection, but he achieves the opposite,” said the managing director of the German Society for Herpetology and Terrarium Science.
The Green politician and other European countries have been pushing for a long time to have certain privately owned animal species banned via a positive list. From their point of view, any animal that is not on this list should no longer be kept privately in the EU. Countries like France, Belgium and the Netherlands already have such a regulation, others are working on it.
“Some people get animals that I don’t think have any place in private households”
Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir
“Some people get animals that, in my opinion, have no place in private households,” Özdemir recently told the “Südwest Presse” (Ulm). “Why does someone need exotic animals that are difficult to keep, such as snakes or a chameleon, at home? I never understood that.” They caused problems for animal shelters in particular.
Amphibian expert Kwet cannot understand this and, instead of a broad ban, calls for a kind of graded driver’s license for owners of certain animal species. Stuttgart’s zoo director Thomas Kölpin goes one step further: positive lists also apply to those who are good with animals, he said.
It is helpful to have a mandatory certificate of competence when purchasing an animal. “That also applies to dogs and cats,” said Kölpin. “Because tarantulas and corn snakes are easier to keep than many dogs and cats.” A “driver’s license” also prevents spontaneous purchases or fashion attitudes.
Animal welfare organizations, on the other hand, complain that private keeping often does not meet the special requirements of exotic animals. From their point of view, a positive list should primarily include domesticated animal species that have been bred over numerous generations and genetically adapted to life with humans.
The German Animal Welfare Association asked Özdemir not to wait for other EU countries, but to go ahead at national level. (dpa)
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