Animal Welfare Ombudsman Office Vienna

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The Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsman (TOW) is an institution of the City of Vienna . At its head is the Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsperson. The Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsperson is an independent body of the State of Vienna that is not subject to instructions . Its task is to represent the interests of animal welfare . According to the Austrian federal law on the protection of animals, every federal state has to appoint an animal welfare ombudsperson. A comparable position is the state animal protection officer in the German federal states .

Legal basis

On January 1, 2005, the Federal Act on the Protection of Animals (Animal Welfare Act - TSchG) came into force. An important point of the new law was the creation of an animal welfare ombudsperson in each state. The tasks and powers of the animal welfare ombudspersons are regulated in § 41 TSchG. Further tasks can be provided for in state law provisions .

history

The Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsman was founded in 2005 after the Federal Animal Welfare Act came into force. From 2005 to 2015 the Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsman was headed by Hermann Gsandtner, the first Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsman. On January 1, 2015, Eva Persy succeeded him as animal welfare ombudswoman and head of the Vienna animal welfare ombudsman. At the beginning of 2020, Eva Persy was reappointed for a second, five-year term of office.  

tasks

According to the Federal Animal Welfare Act, the animal welfare ombudsperson has to represent the interests of animal welfare . It also fulfills this task in official proceedings ( administrative - including administrative criminal proceedings according to the Animal Welfare Act) in which the animal welfare ombudsperson enjoys party status. She is entitled to inspect all procedural files and to request all relevant information. In addition, the animal welfare ombudsperson has the right to appeal against decisions that have been issued. The animal welfare ombudspersons are also members of the Animal Welfare Council, which advises the responsible Federal Ministry on animal welfare issues.

The Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsperson was involved as a party in around 650 administrative criminal proceedings under the Animal Welfare Act in 2017/2018. "In numerous proceedings, the objections we raised and the expert reports we provided prevented the proceedings from being discontinued and an appropriate fine was imposed," says the activity report of the Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsman. Furthermore, the Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsperson was involved in more than 150 approval processes in 2017/18, which mainly concerned events such as animal fairs, theater and opera performances, and film and television recordings with animals.

Projects and initiatives

In addition to the statutory duties of the animal welfare ombudsperson, the Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsman has set numerous priorities of its own in recent years and, together with partners, has initiated animal welfare projects whose relevance extends beyond Vienna's national borders. These include:

Tier & Recht-Tag and TiRuP

As a contribution to the further development of legal animal welfare, the Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsman held the legal conference “Animal & Law Day” for the first time in 2016, which deals with current issues and problems of animal welfare law and has taken place annually in Vienna since then. Since November 2017 the legal journal "Tierschutz in Recht und Praxis" (TiRuP) has been published, which the Tierschutzombudsstelle Vienna publishes together with the universities of Linz and Salzburg . The articles can be accessed free of charge and updated daily on the Internet.

Certificate of competence and certified city dog

Since July 1, 2019, there has been a mandatory certificate of competence in Vienna , which dog owners must present when registering their dog in Vienna. The Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsman has worked out the course content and modalities of the Vienna Certificate of Competence. By the end of 2019, around 1,000 people had already attended the new Vienna Certificate of Proficiency Course. The Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsman has developed the “Geprüfter Stadthund” initiative (formerly a voluntary dog ​​driving license) for well-rehearsed human-dog teams. Dog and owner can prove their suitability for big cities in a theoretical and a practical test. Upon successful participation, the graduates will be exempt from the dog fee in the following year .

Good conscience - good taste

Together with the City of Vienna - Environmental Protection ( Magistratsabteilung 22) and the Eco-Social Forum Vienna, the Vienna Animal Welfare Office has launched the initiative for more animal and environmental protection in food production. The aim is to show the effects of our food consumption on animals, the environment and people and to develop solutions for dealing fairly with the three authorities. This initiative also resulted in the Vienna Round Table for more animal welfare and environmental protection in food production, at which various stakeholders from agriculture , science , business and NGOs are working on a joint agreement with concrete measures to improve animal welfare on farms. This should be adopted in 2020.

team

The Animal Welfare Ombudsman's Office in Vienna consists of an eight-person team made up of experts from the fields of veterinary medicine , biology , cynology , (animal welfare) law and communication . The Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsman is headed by the Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsperson Eva Persy.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ RIS: Entire legal provision for the Animal Welfare Act. Retrieved June 22, 2020 .
  2. ^ Tierschutzombudsstelle Wien: For another five years as an animal welfare ombudswoman. Retrieved June 22, 2020 .
  3. ^ Tierschutzombudsstelle Vienna: We give animals right 2017/18. Activity report of the Vienna Animal Welfare Ombudsman. Retrieved June 22, 2020 .
  4. ↑ TiRuP - Animal Welfare in Law and Practice. Retrieved June 22, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Dog customer: Why dog ​​expertise? Retrieved June 22, 2020 .
  6. ^ ORF: A thousand Viennese completed a dog course. January 7, 2020, accessed June 22, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Dog customer: Certified city dog : About the test. Retrieved June 22, 2020 .
  8. ^ Vienna Environmental Protection Department - MA 22: OekoBusiness Vienna: More organic and animal welfare for large kitchens. September 18, 2019, accessed June 22, 2020 .