Berlin's former animal welfare officer Diana Plange has been awarded the Lower Saxony Animal Welfare Prize. In 2021, the veterinarian had founded a database on so-called torture breeding. This refers to animals in which body parts or organs are missing, unfit or deformed due to breeding. The QUEN database project is the only data collection of its kind to date, the Ministry of Agriculture in Hanover announced on Thursday. The first prize of the animal welfare award is endowed with 15,000 euros.
The QUEN database created by Plange will "make a significant contribution to jointly improving and enforcing national and international animal welfare legislation", said Agriculture Minister Miriam Staudte. The Green politician criticized the fact that torturous breeding of dogs and cats has now reached a level that has long been unacceptable from an animal welfare perspective.
Two other projects were awarded 7500 euros each as runners-up: Tierschutzhof Hachmühlen in Bad Münder (district of Hameln-Pyrmont) and Tiernothilfe Nord in Soltau (district of Heidekreis). Tierschutzhof Hachmühlen has a unique selling point because it specializes in the care of small rodents, rabbits and guinea pigs. Tiernothilfe Nord works far beyond its catchment area to care for and neuter abandoned and left-behind domestic cats that have lost their connection to humans.
