New Federal Animal Welfare Commissioner at the BMEL
– A state voice for animals
Ariane Désirée Kari to become Federal Commissioner for Animal Welfare
As announced by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) in May 2023, Ariane Désirée Kari will become the new Federal Commissioner for Animal Welfare. The veterinarian will take office on June 12, 2023. We congratulate her and look forward to the new office with excitement and hope. While the creation of the office was already agreed on in the coalition agreement, the funds for it were made available in the BMEL budget at the end of last year. Animal Society has been campaigning for the appointment of a Federal Commissioner for Animal Welfare since 2021! Now it finally happened!
Who We Are – Animal Society is a non-profit organisation dedicated to advocating for the rights and interests of animals and encouraging society and politics to end animal suffering. Through our educational efforts and political campaigns, we create transparency to establish effective animal policy. More
Tasks and resources of the new office
A federal commissioner represents the interests of a cause or group of people. Ariane Désirée Kari is a qualified veterinarian and has been a specialist veterinarian for animal welfare since 2022. She was also deputy state animal welfare officer for the state of Baden-Württemberg. According to the BMEL, she will work on the further development of animal welfare as well as the promotion of cooperation and exchange between the government, federal states and animal welfare associations.
For this, the commissioner has a staff of four employees at her disposal. The Commissioner is supposed to be able to work independently and without instructions. Her tasks include, among other things:
- An advisory function for the Federal Minister through recommendations and statements
- Cooperation and exchange with competent authorities and state animal welfare officers
- Processing inquiries from citizens
- Exchange with animal welfare and animal owner organizations
Evaluation from the perspective of Animal Society
In cooperation with other animal welfare organizations and experts, Animal Society developed a concept for the new office in order to give it the strongest powers possible. Some of these recommendations were implemented, but overall the potential of the office for animal welfare was not fully exploited. For example, it lacks:
- The right to information and inspection of files
- The right to objection and
- The right to speak and be heard in plenary sessions or in committees.
The main risk for the effectiveness of the office is that time-consuming tasks – such as responding to citizens’ inquiries – are outsourced from the Animal Welfare Unit to the commissioner. This could have a negative impact on the development of innovative initiatives for greater animal welfare.
“Nevertheless, the creation of the office is an important step for the political representation of the concerns and interests of animals“, concludes Philipp von Gall, who accompanied the debate on the Office for Animal Society. “Federal commissioners are regarded as government lobbyists in their field. In this respect, the office can be seen as representing not only animal welfare, but also the animals themselves – and can be put into practice accordingly“.
Commenting on her new role, Ariane Désirée Kari says: “I am very much looking forward to giving animals a voice at federal level and representing them in legislative processes, for example.”
Animal Society congratulates the new Federal Commissioner Kari and looks forward to a good cooperation on behalf of the animals. The civil society is currently the most important driving force for more animal protection and the diversity of clubs and associations are therefore a close partner of the state and federal commissioners for animal protection.