File photograph: A brand new draft regulation seems to be to ban the breeding of dogs with “skeletal anomalies,” corresponding to dachshunds.
By Nadine Schmidt, Claudio Otto and Frederik Pleitgen | CNN
Germany’s beloved sausage canine, the dachshund, may very well be below risk within the nation, its nationwide kennel membership mentioned Wednesday, citing a brand new draft regulation that appears to ban the breeding of dogs with “skeletal anomalies.”
The draft invoice, revealed in February and at present being thought-about by the authorities, was launched as a part of the Animal Protection Act, which seeks to strengthen present legal guidelines on so-called “torture breeding,” the German authorities mentioned.
The doc mentioned it might ban the copy of breeds liable to specific issues, such because the frequent spinal points seen in dogs with quick legs and an extended again.
According to the German Kennel Club (VDH), different nationwide favorites just like the German shepherd and schnauzer, and even Snoopy himself, the beagle, may be affected.
History has seen many well-known lovers of the low-slung however feisty dachshund, or “dackel” because it’s identified in German.
Napoleon Bonaparte owned a number of dachshunds, and Germany’s final emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, had a gravestone erected for his dackel, “Erdmann.”
The painter Pablo Picasso was photographed along with his dachshund, Lump, who impressed the artist’s well-known line drawing “Le Chien.”
A dachshund even turned the primary official mascot for the Olympic Games – in Germany, in fact – when organizers unveiled Waldi the Dachshund for the 1972 Summer Olympics.
“The sausage dog is part of Germany’s cultural heritage,” Marion Michelet, chairwoman from the Deutscher Teckelklub Berlin-Brandenburg kennel membership and proprietor of a dachshund known as Pepper, informed CNN Wednesday. “The sausage dog is not inbred just because it is small and has short legs.”
Michelet added that she believes “the new draft law is exaggerated… and is aimed against breeding as a whole.”
The VDH has launched a petition to avoid wasting “our favorite dogs,” arguing the reform would depart an excessive amount of room for interpretation in figuring out what constitutes a genetic defect.
As of Wednesday, the petition had attracted greater than 15,000 signatures.
On its web site, the VDH mentioned that “many of the proposed changes, such as regulating the online trade in animals or taking action against illegal puppy trade, make sense.”
“However, the animal protection law contains requirements that could mean the end of many healthy dog breeds in Germany,” it added.
Michelet informed CNN that the “abnormalities of the skeletal system” may very well be seen as a ban on breeding for “any significant size deviation from wolves,” that are the ancestor of all modern-day dogs.
Germany’s agriculture ministry denied that the brand new draft invoice would quantity to a ban on specific breeds, together with the sausage canine.
