National Socialist Animal Welfare Laws

[jarno833]

The National Socialists enacted some of the most advanced animal welfare laws ever in a western county:

Animal welfare in Nazi Germany - Wikipedia

In fact, I think they are the most advanced to be introduced in any western country.

Regardless of what you think about them this is significant and praiseworthy.

The only reason why they banned certain vegetarian groups was because of their political party associations, not because of their advocacy of animal rights.

To this day, we don't animal protection laws nearly as stringent as theirs. In fact, it seems like we're the opposite, namely, very careless to the welfare of animals.

 

[Brian W]

For balance:

Book on Animal Law in the Third Reich | AnimalWelfareAndTrade by Adolfo Sansolini

Let us not be fooled or confused into thinking that these positive legislative developments in any way justify that appalling regime. Some of the proposals had been in the air for years but, as in other matters, the politically unstable Weimar Republic had failed to transform them into law.



Some societal demands for higher environmental and animal protection were finally enshrined in law, but exemptions were soon introduced. Animal experiments were forbidden but – as in other countries – there were derogations based on the researcher’s own assessment of need. A similar law was approved in Italy during the fascist regime. In other words, animal experiments were banned unless the researcher thought they were necessary.



Some protections were granted to companion animals in Germany as early as 1933, including a prohibition against killing them for population control (something that is absent even today in several European countries). Nevertheless, this was followed in 1942 by a law banning Jews from keeping pets, leading to the confiscation and slaughter of large numbers of animals in pursuit of the regime’s perverse aims. Part of the training for SS soldiers was to kill their own dogs.



The law on hunting of 1934 contained some positive elements too, as it was linked to the animal protection law and certain conservation measures, but it fell far short of the mythical abolition of hunting that is sometimes repeated.