Animal shelter Berlin
The Berlin animal shelter is a Berlin facility that has been taking care of abandoned or abandoned pets since the beginning of the 20th century , accommodating and caring for them in a species-appropriate manner, and passing them on to private animal lovers. The operator is the Tierschutzverein für Berlin und Umgebung Corporation e. V. , which was founded in 1841 and is therefore one of the oldest animal protection associations in Germany. After moving from the Lankwitz district to the Falkenberg district , the home has an area of 16 hectares, making it one of the largest animal shelters in Europe. The facility is located on Hausvaterweg in Berlin-Falkenberg.
history
The first animal shelter was built in Britz in 1886 . In 1892 the operator, the Animal Welfare Association for Berlin and the surrounding area, moved to the expanded tram arches at the Jannowitzbrücke in Schicklerstrasse 4 in Berlin-Mitte . There was already a veterinary clinic there. Since the capacity was no longer sufficient after a short time, the Lankwitz animal shelter was opened in 1901 in Dessauerstrasse in what is now the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district .
The central animal shelter at Schicklerstrasse 4 was destroyed in the Second World War. Since the mid-1950s there has been the “Official Dog Catcher of the Greater Berlin Magistrate” at this address. In the mid-1960s, the East Berlin animal shelter with an emergency veterinary service was built there. It was closed in 1991 and the animal welfare association took over its duties.
The animal shelter in Lankwitz, also initially badly damaged by the war, was the animal shelter for West Berlin after the Second World War. It was given up when the new Berlin animal shelter in Berlin-Falkenberg went into operation. The Kurfürstenviertel, a single-family housing estate, was built in its place in 2001.
The foundation stone for the new building was laid on August 18, 1999; the official opening took place on June 9, 2002. The animal shelter went into operation a few months earlier in September 2001. The Berlin architect Dietrich Bangert designed the futuristic animal shelter. It is characterized by built-in exposed concrete , wide expanses of water and transparency. The entire site is barrier-free.
In addition to the small animals that have been taken in here for decades, accommodation options for farm animals in need such as pigs, sheep, goats and chickens were added in 2008 . A year later, another sanctuary for exotic and reptiles opened, a senior cat agency and an outdoor enclosure for street cats. In 2011 the dog training and rehabilitation center was added, in which animal shelter dogs are socialized, cared for and trained.
The animal welfare association, which is financed through donations, membership fees and bequests, bears all costs incurred in the animal shelter mostly alone. The official animal collection point, which is housed on the animal shelter premises, is supported by the State of Berlin and financed as far as possible - even if not 100 percent. However, the animal shelter receives almost no support from the public sector and is urgently dependent on donations, memberships and bequests.
At the beginning of 2018, the State of Berlin provided funding for the animal shelter for the first time, symbolically handed over by Dirk Behrendt , who, as Justice Senator, is also responsible for animal welfare in Berlin. The budget of the Senate provides for the transfer of 300,000 euros annually in 2018 and 2019, which are intended to support specific projects of the animal protection association such as the expansion of the cat quarantine station or the care of the 250 external feeding stations in all Berlin districts. Further specific plans will be drawn up in the corresponding years. There are opportunities for animal lovers to support the animal shelter, for example as an animal sponsor, voluntary helper, permanent donor or through an estate.
Brief description
The animal shelter includes three cat houses, five dog houses, a house for small animals, a water bird house, an animal clinic as well as a pet cemetery and a dog playground. The roof structure of the building complex was damaged by heavy rain in July 2017. The repair costs ("a mid-six-figure sum") came together within a short period of time through donations from animal lovers. In the spring of 2018, a company carried out the work following a public tender.
The facility also serves as animal welfare classes for the Berlin Animal Welfare Youth .
Selected dates
Every year, several thousand animals in distress or abandoned by their owners are taken in, cared for and given to new owners at the Berlin animal shelter. In addition, the official animal collection point of the State of Berlin is located on the site , a central contact point for found animals, which the Lichtenberg district is responsible for organizing. Although the number of animals housed in the home has decreased in recent years, the remaining animals cause at least the same costs as before, because the animals usually stay longer in the facility, "because they are increasingly older, sicker and more behavioral, so that their placement takes longer ”, as the managing director of the animal protection association describes it.
The Tierschutzverein für Berlin und Umgebung Corporation eV employs around 180 full-time employees in its animal shelter, including animal keepers , house workers and administrative employees , veterinarians and veterinary assistants .
Others
In addition to its actual function, the modern animal shelter also serves as a film and photo backdrop:
- Among other things, parts of the 610th Tatort episode Leiden wie ein Tier (2005) were filmed here as the “Institute for Experimental Molecular Medicine” .
- The animal shelter served as the backdrop for the US science fiction film Aeon Flux (2005)
- It also forms an architectural template for a complex of fictitious architecture.
- In 2009 the Berlin animal shelter was presented in the ten-part ZDF series SOS for all skins .
On the occasion of the open day in 2014, the President of the Animal Welfare Association for Berlin, Wolfgang Apel, unveiled a Buddy Bear on the premises . For a donation, animal shelter visitors have been able to immortalize themselves on the Buddy Bear with a colored handprint and their name since 2014.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A foray through Berlin's animal welfare history. Backyard tölen, dog butcher and a high-rise chicken. In: Der Tagesspiegel , December 5, 2016.
- ^ Telephone book East Berlin 1959 , p. 3.
- ^ Telephone book East Berlin 1967 , p. 430.
- ↑ a b c Birgitt Etzel: Politicians discovered their love for animals. In: Bezirks-Journal Hohenschönhausen-Lichtenberg, January 2018, p. 5.
- ↑ tatort-fundus.de: suffering like an animal. Filming in the shelter. Retrieved January 8, 2011 .
- ^ Aeon Flux Pictures: Aeon Flux Images. Production design with the main entrance of the Berlin animal shelter. IGN, archived from the original on February 23, 2014 ; Retrieved December 23, 2010 .
- ↑ Aeon Flux Pictures: Image 81 of 117. Scene with the exterior facade of the dog houses of the Berlin animal shelter. (No longer available online.) IGN, formerly in the original ; accessed on January 13, 2014 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Aeon Flux Pictures: Image 1 of 117. Fictional location analogous to the Berlin animal shelter. IGN, accessed December 23, 2010 .
- ↑ SOS for all skins : New ZDF series from the Berlin animal shelter , accessed on October 4, 2018.
- ↑ Berlin-Online: 1600 animals and 8000 people in the largest animal shelter in Europe ( Memento of the original from July 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , June 23, 2014.
Coordinates: 52 ° 34 ′ 27 ″ N , 13 ° 32 ′ 46 ″ E