NAZI GERMANY AND ANIMAL RIGHTS
1933 Law on Animal Protection
(Signed into law, 11/24/1933)
See Also Nazi Germany and the Environment
Cruelty to Animals Measures for the Protection of Animals Experiments on Living Animals
Provisions for Punishment Conclusion
The government has resolved on the following law, which is hereby made known:
Section I
#1
(1) It is forbidden to unnecessarily torment or roughly mishandle an animal.
(2) One torments an animal when one repeatedly or continuously causes
appreciable pain or suffering; the torment is unnecessary in so far as it does
not serve any rational, justifiable purpose. One mishandles an animal when one
causes it appreciable pain; mishandling is rough when it corresponds to an
unfeeling state of mind.
Section II
Measures for the Protection of Animals
#2
It is forbidden:
1. to so neglect an animal in one's ownership, care or accommodation that it
thereby experiences appreciable pain or appreciable damage;
2. to use an animal unnecessarily for what clearly exceeds its powers or causes
it appreciable pain, or which it-in consequence of its condition-is obviously
not capable of;
3. to use and animal for demonstrations, film-making, spectacles, or other
public events to the extent that these events cause the animal appreciable pain
or appreciable damage to health;
4. to use a fragile, ill, overworked or old animal for which further life is a
torment for any other purpose than to cause or procure a rapid, painless death;
5. to put out one's domestic animal for the purpose of getting rid of it;
6. to set or test the power of dogs on cats, foxes, and other animals;
7. to shorten the ears or the tail of a dog over two weeks old. This is allowed
if it is done with anesthesia;
8. to shorten the tail of a horse. This is allowed if it is to remedy a defect
or illness of the tail and is done by a veterinarian and under anesthesia;
9. to perform a painful operation on an animal in an unprofessional manner or
without anesthesia, or if anesthesia in a particular case is impossible
according to veterinary standards;
10. to kill an animal on a farm for fur otherwise than with anesthesia or in a
way that is, in any case, painless;
11. to force-feed fowl;
12. to tear out or separate the thighs of living frogs.
#3
The importation of horses with shortened tails is forbidden. The minister of the Interior can make exceptions if special circumstances warrant it.
#4
The temporary use of hoofed animals as carriers in the mines is only permitted with the permission of the responsible authorities.
Section III
#5
It is forbidden to operate on or handle living animals in ways that may cause appreciable pain or damage for the purpose of experiments, to the extent the provisions of #6 through #8 do not mandate otherwise.
#6
(1) The minister of the Interior can at the proposal of the responsible
government or local authorities confer permission on certain scientifically led
institutes or laboratories to undertake scientific experiments on living
animals, when the director of the experiment has sufficient professional
education and reliability, sufficient facilities for the undertaking of animal
experiments are available, and guarantee for the care and maintenance of the
animals for experiment has been made.
(2) The minister of the Interior can delegate the granting of permission to
others among the highest officials of the government.
(3) Permission may be withdrawn without compensation at any time.
#7
In carrying out experiments on animals (#5), the following provisions are to be observed:
1. The experiments may only be carried out under the complete authority of
the scientific director or of a representative that has been specifically
appointed by the scientific director.
2. The experiments may only be
carried out by someone who has previously received scientific education or under
the direction of such a person, and when every pain is avoided in so far as that
is compatible with the goal of the experiment.
3. Experiments for research may only be undertaken when a specific result is
expected that has not been previously confirmed by science or if the
experiments help to answer previously unsolved problems.
4. The experiments are only to be undertaken under anesthesia, provided the
judgment of the scientific director does not categorically exclude this or if
the pain connected with the operation is outweighed by the damage to the
condition of the experimental animals as a result of anesthesia.
Nothing more severe than a difficult operation or painful but
unbloody experiment may be carried out on such an unanesthetized animal.
Animals that suffer appreciable pain after the completion of
such a difficult experiment, especially involving an operation, are, in so far
as this is, in the judgment of the scientific director, compatible with the goal
of the experiment, immediately to be put to death.
5. Experiments on horses, dogs, cats, and apes can only be carried out when the
intended goal may not be achieved through experiments on other animals.
6. No more animals may be used than are necessary to-resolve the
associated question.
7. Animal experiments for pedagogical purposes are only permitted when other
educational tools such as pictures, models, taxonomy, and film are not
sufficient.
8. Records are to be kept of the sort of animal used, the purpose, the
procedure, and the result of the experiment.
#8
Experiments on animals for judicial purposes as well as inoculations and taking of blood from living animals for the purpose of diagnosing illness of people or animals, or for obtainment of serums or inoculations according to procedures that have already been tried or are recognized by the state, are not subject to provisions #5 through #7. These animals, however, are also to be killed painlessly if they suffer appreciable pain and if it is compatible with the goals of the experiment.
Section IV
(1) Whoever unnecessarily torments or
roughly mishandles an animal will be punished by up to two years in prison, with
a fine, or with both these penalties.
(2) Whoever, apart from the case in (1), undertakes an experiment on living
animals (# S) without the required permission will be punished by imprisonment
of up to six months, with a fine, or with both of these penalties.
(3) A fine of up to five hundred thousand marks or imprisonment will, apart from
the punishment mandated in (1) and (2), be the punishment for whomever
intentionally or through negligence.
1. violates prohibition #2 though #4;
2. acts against regulation #7;
3.violates guidelines enacted by the Ministry of the Interior or by a provincial
government according to #14;
4. neglects to prevent children or other persons that are under his/her
supervision or belong to his/her household from violating the provisions of this
law.
#10
(1) In
addition to the punishments in #9 for an intentional violation of the law, an
animal belonging to the condemned may be confiscated or killed. Instead of
confiscation it may be ordered that the animal be sheltered and fed for up to
nine months at the cost of the guilty party.
(2) If no specific person can be identified or condemned, the
confiscation or killing of an animal may be undertaken in any case when the
other prerequisites are present.
#11
(1) If someone
is repeatedly guilty of intentionally violating the provisions that are
punishable according to #9 the local authorities that are responsible can
prohibit that person from keeping certain animals or from business involving
them either for a specified period or permanently.
(2) After a year has passed since the imposition of the
punishment the responsible local authorities may rescind their decision.
(3) An animal subject to appreciable negligence in provision,
care, or shelter may be taken away from the owner by the responsible local
authority and accommodated elsewhere until there is a guarantee that the animal
will be cared for in a manner above reproach. The cost of this accommodation
shall be paid by the guilty party.
#12
If in a judicial process it appears doubtful whether an act violates a prohibition of #1, (1) or (2), a veterinarian shall be summoned as early in the process as possible and, in so far as it concerns a farm, an agricultural official of the government shall be heard.
Section V
#13
Anesthesia as it is understood in this law means all procedures that lead to general painlessness or eliminate localized pain.
#14
The Minister of the Interior can issue judicial and administrative decrees for the completion and enforcement of this law. In so far as the Minister of the Interior does not make use of this power, local governments can make the necessary decree for implementation.
#15
This law becomes binding on February 1, 1934 with the exception of #2, (8) and #3, (11), for which the Minister of the Interior must see the time of implementation in consultation with the Minister of Food and Agriculture.
The laws #1456 and #360, (13) of the law of May 30, 1908 remain
unchanged.
Berlin, November 24, 1933
Signed:
Adolf Hitler
Chancellor
Cruelty to Animals Measures for the Protection of Animals Experiments on Living Animals