Animals are living beings with consciousness and feeling. The use of animals, which is accompanied with animal suffering, should thus be restricted and brought to an end. This applies to both wild and domestic animals, which are used for consumption, experimentation, entertainment and cultural and religious traditions.

The reasons for animal use should always be critically assessed and weighed up against the consequences for the animal. The more greatly the animal’s welfare is adversely affected, the less vital their use is and the better the quality of alternatives, the less the use of animals can be ethically justified. This means that animal welfare must not be compromised or animals killed for non-essential purposes, such as recreation and the production of luxury goods.

Fur production in our society is a solely a matter of luxury, which is goes hand in hand with animal suffering and should, therefore, be prohibited. Likewise, recreational hunting and angling can also not be considered as activities whereby the wounding and killing of animals is ethically justified.

Other kinds of animal entertainment, such as animal acts in circuses that primarily use wild animals, are extremely problematic for animals. These animals are housed under distressing conditions and the training and transport methods employed also cause considerable suffering.

The use of exotic species and animals that have been caught in the wild as pets is undesirable. These animals are also frequently completely unsuitable for this purpose. The trade, capture and transport of wild animals produces many victims and contributes to the extinction of species. Only animals that are suitable, as a result of their nature and behaviour, should be kept as pets. These animal species should thus be recorded in a ‘positive list’ of animals, which should be as short as possible, in accordance with article 33 of the Animal Health and Welfare Act.

The use of farm animals and fish as food for humans has expanded enormously throughout the past few decades. Within fifty years, the world population has doubled and the consumption of meat has increased five-fold. Meat and fish do not necessarily have to be regarded as an essential part of the human diet. People can lead healthy lives by exclusively eating vegetarian food. Indeed, in many countries the extremely high level of consumption of animal products is not beneficial to human health. Moreover, a huge amount of agricultural land and grain is required for the production of meat. This could be more efficiently used for the production of plant-based proteins. Large expanses of woodland, rainforests and savannas are being destroyed to acquire agricultural land for the production of animal feed and livestock keeping. Yet only between 10% and 20% of the vegetable material that farm animals eat can actually be converted into meat (protein and fat). This biological fact means that meat production is an extremely lengthy and wasteful method of producing food for human consumption.

Worldwide, the consumption of fish exceeds the capacity of the seas and oceans. As a consequence, increasingly more areas are being depleted of fish and many fish species have been forced to the brink of extinction.

The Party for the Animals thus seeks to vigorously promote the consumption of vegetable-based foods not only in the interests of the animals, but also to preserve human health and conserve the environment and nature.

The interests of animals are being seriously compromised in the field of animal experimentation. Animals are not only being exploited for the development of pharmaceuticals, but also for the development of cleaning products, animal feed and other consumer products. The Party for the Animals ultimately seeks a ban on all animal experimentation. On the road to achieving this, it believes that the aims, value and effectiveness of animal experiments should be adjudged more critically. The Party wants more money to be made available for the development of alternative testing methods, which could replace animal experiments. Thus far both the government and industry have only provided a minimal contribution towards the development of alternatives.

The genetic manipulation of animals is rejected as a matter of principal. It unacceptably compromises the physical integrity and freedom of the animal and will lead to the even greater manipulation of animals as a means of production in the future.