Die Garantenstellung des Amtstierarztes

A deficit in enforcement of animal protection laws has been complained about for some time. This concerns in particular official veterinarians, who are intended to be the main supervisor of the compliance to the law. The present work spans an arc from the legal philosophical foundations of the german animal protection law to the application of its principles in law enforcement practice. Alongside dogmatic questions of the criminal responsibility of official veterinarians key aspects of the central punitive norm of the animal protection law (§ 17) as well as current problems of the law are discussed. Additionally the author also presents the first empirical study of its kind in Germany within the scope of which is examined by analyzing criminal records of various federal states whether and to what extent effective implementation of animal welfare standards is implemented by official veterinarians, prosecutors and criminal courts, especially regarding commercial animal husbandry.