Mara Gergolet (Corriere della Sera)

Updated Friday, March 29, 2024-11:34

The

objective of the Animal Welfare law is noble: to prohibit the suffering of animals

, not just domestic ones. The result is that it could lead to the ban and extinction of one of the quintessential German dog breeds,

the dachshund

. And in the background there is the umpteenth cultural war between those who want to legislate, protect and regulate animal life and those who consider it only an interference by the State in established customs.

The Ministry of Agriculture led by

Green Özdemir Cem

published the guidelines in February. He wants to prohibit "unscrupulous" breeding and practices that generate breeds with genetic characteristics that condemn animals to degenerative diseases. For

example, no more cats without ears, no more pugs that can't breathe, no more hairless pets

, but cows will no longer be allowed to be tied in stalls all the time. Now, long-bodied, short-legged dachshunds

are among the animals with "skeletal abnormalities," because the excessively elongated shape of their back often causes hernias

, discopathies, and difficulty moving late in life. And, although the wording of this law remains vague, if confirmed, its restrictive reading would lead to prohibiting the breeding of dachshunds in the future.

It was the Association of German Dog Breeders (Vdh) that reported the case, triggering a wave of protests. "

We protect our dachshunds from the intrusion of ideological forces

. A united front is necessary," wrote Josef Ramacher, president of the Deutscher Teckelklub founded in 1888, the oldest in Germany. The petition has reached 22,000 signatures.

Teckel, Dackel, Dachshund: three names for the same breed, which the English call, friendly, "the German dachshund." And although it is now only the tenth favorite dog in Germany,

it has at least 400 years of history behind it

. Napoleon, Emperor William II and Pablo Picasso had it. He was the mascot, along with "Waldi", of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. And dachshunds are also the center of a famous Walt Disney movie that was broadcast on television every Christmas, in which everyone was in. his against and in favor of the gigantic and naive Dane Brutus.

As with the English bulldog (another breed that has been at risk of being banned for some time), the

origin of these animals' health problems is the increasingly extreme crossbreeding created in the

last century.

In photos from the late 19th century, the dachshund has longer legs and a shorter torso. It is an example of how animal welfare has been endangered by humans. Peta animal advocates believe that the only "legal" dachshunds should be those that come out of municipal kennels, meaning that the only way to stop them suffering is to make them extinct. Green Minister

Cem, no: he assured that the law only wants to stop unscrupulous breeders

, and that no one, least of all him, would think of touching the German dachshund.