Vienna Animal Protection Day

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The Vienna Animal Welfare Day has the motto “Dog, Katz & Co” and has been a two-day information event on Rathausplatz that has been held since 1998 by the City of Vienna (MA 60 - Veterinary Office of the City of Vienna) together with animal welfare organizations . The main aim of the organizers is to inform the population about how to handle animals properly.

Participating organizations

In the course of time the number of represented organizations and representatives of the economy increased steadily (2001: over 40, 2002: over 55, 2003: over 60, 2006: over 70). A total of 134 organizations, associations, companies and individuals took part in the Animal Protection Days, around a dozen of them have been there from the start. Examples of the represented organizations are:

Program items

One of the demonstrations during the 10th Vienna Animal Protection Day

In addition to the information stands of the participating organizations, a varied show program is on the agenda, for which a 20 by 40 meter sand-covered riding arena has been laid out every year on the town hall square since 2001. In the course of the past few years the following demonstrations were among others:

  • Horses : traditional costume quadrilles, vaulting, pas de deux, demonstrations on long reins, ponylonge, riding in side saddle , riding and carrying horse demonstrations by the Austrian armed forces , western riding, horse-drawn carriage, baroque horse carousel, therapy horses
  • Cats : pedigree cat show
  • Culture: In addition to the animals, there are also cultural program items:

In 2002 the cabaret artist Alf Poier was a guest and in 2004 the chamber singer Ulrike Steinsky from the Vienna Volksoper sang songs by Carl Michael Ziehrer on her horse on her Friesian stallion . The cabaret duo Muckenstruntz and Bamschabl were guests in 2005, Michael Seida showed his skills in 2006 and in 2007 the cabaret artists Monica Weinzettl and Gerold Rudle showed excerpts from their program.

In addition to the activities related to animals, attention is also paid to the physical well-being of the visitors. In 2003 the field kitchen of the Austrian Armed Forces served about 6,500 portions. Depending on the occasion, there is meat-free food.

Riding arena

Since demonstrations on horseback were not wanted on the asphalt of the Rathausplatz , a 40 by 20 meter riding arena was set up in 2001 with the help of MA 49 - Forestry Office and Agricultural Company of the City of Vienna . The wooden square is filled with over 1,000 tons of sand.

In order to save the horses the daily car transport to and from the stables and to create a quiet place between performances, a stable tent with a spraying area was also built. The Schönbrunn Zoo provides feed and litter. The stable guard and other auxiliary services are performed by employees of the agricultural technical schools in Tullnerbach and Edelhof.

Visitors

The day after: dismantling the tents

The first Vienna Animal Welfare Day took place on July 10, 1998 in some of the stands on Liechtenfelsgasse borrowed from the Market Office and only had a few hundred visitors. Increasing awareness, the postponement of the event time out of the summer holidays and an increasing number of attractions ensured an increasing number of visitors and made it necessary to extend the event to two days from 2000.

The success of the freely accessible Vienna Animal Protection Day can be seen in the ever increasing number of visitors:

  • June 8 and 9, 2000: 25,000 people
  • June 21 and 22, 2001: 50,000 people
  • June 12 and 13, 2003: 50,000 people
  • June 17 and 18, 2004: 60,000 people
  • June 16 and 17, 2005: 70,000 people

Since the Rathausplatz is not available for the 11th Vienna Animal Welfare Day in June 2008 due to the fan mile for the European Football Championship 2008 , this event will probably be postponed to September.

criticism

Parts of the local animal protection movement and the animal rights movement criticize the "Vienna Animal Protection Day" because of its conformist orientation:

Withholding main problem of animal use

The ontologization of non-human animals as a means to an end may not be discussed in the context of this event, although the problem of livestock cannot possibly be excluded if animal welfare is to be seriously discussed.

Despite the fact that every effort to improve the way we treat animals is worthwhile, keeping pets and other situations in which people work with animals is only a negligibly small factor in relation to the number of individuals affected and the extent to which their welfare is impaired for food and other products.

Exclusion of independent associations

More consistent groups than the established middle-class institutions already represented are not invited or rejected with dubious arguments ("no place"). So far z. B. the organizations: Vegan Society Austria and the association against animal factories .

For the intention of the organizers, even moderate animal welfare organizations like Vier Pfoten are not compliant enough. As one of the most important and largest animal welfare associations in Austria, this renowned association is also not represented. Instead, mainly explicit animal use organizations appear in the list of organizers.

Obstruction to freedom of expression

In 2006, young people who were handing out leaflets about background information on animal use and animal-product-free lifestyles were even forced to leave the venue under threat of violence and temporary arrest.

inconsistency

The demonstration of training animals to perform tasks for people or for their edification cannot be described as appropriate to the species . Animal welfare without regard to species justice ...?

Even the "appropriate to the occasion" (vegetarian or vegan) meat-free diet only goes back to the massive pressure of the animal rights movement, since a non-vegetarian goulash - provided by the Austrian military - was traditionally offered beforehand.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b Weblink: http://www.wien.gv.at/vtx/vtx-rk-xlink?SEITE=%2F2001%2F0620%2F015.html
  2. ↑ a b c d Weblink: http://www.wien.gv.at/vtx/vtx-rk-xlink?SEITE=%2F2002%2F0610%2F018.html
  3. ↑ a b c Weblink: http://www.wien.gv.at/vtx/vtx-rk-xlink?SEITE=%2F2003%2F0616%2F011.html
  4. ↑ Weblink: http://www.wien.gv.at/vtx/vtx-rk-xlink?SEITE=%2F2006%2F0623%2F011.html
  5. ^ A b c d e Walter Reisp: The Vienna Animal Protection Days 1998–2007 - Ten Years for Dog, Katz & Co, commemorative publication for the 10th Vienna Animal Protection Day
  6. ↑ Weblink: http://www.wien.gv.at/vtx/vtx-rk-xlink?SEITE=%2F1999%2F0614%2F007.html
  7. ↑ Weblink: http://www.wien.gv.at/vtx/vtx-rk-xlink?SEITE=%2F2004%2F0611%2F005.html
  8. ↑ Weblink: http://www.wien.gv.at/vtx/vtx-rk-xlink?SEITE=%2F2005%2F0614%2F014.html
  9. ↑ Weblink: http://www.wien.gv.at/vtx/vtx-rk-xlink?SEITE=%2F2007%2F0613%2F008.html
  10. ↑ Weblink: http://www.wien.gv.at/vtx/vtx-rk-xlink?SEITE=%2F2000%2F0606%2F016.html
  11. ↑ Weblink: http://www.wien.gv.at/vtx/vtx-rk-xlink?SEITE=%2F2004%2F0621%2F004.html
  12. ↑ Weblink: http://www.wien.gv.at/vtx/vtx-rk-xlink?SEITE=%2F2005%2F0621%2F007.html