Animal rights activists are left with the costs - more money planned

Animal shelters in Saxony can expect more money: The shelters will now receive three times as much and animal welfare organizations more than twice as much money as originally planned in the government draft, explained Left Party parliamentary group leader Susanne Schaper. It was good that this could be achieved in the budget negotiations with the CDU-SPD minority coalition. This year and next year, 1.5 million euros will be available for grants to animal shelters and 500,000 euros per year for the investment costs of animal welfare associations.

Schaper had asked a minor question in the state parliament to find out how much funding the Free State had provided for animal welfare in the previous two years and which applications from associations were unsuccessful and for what reasons.

Funding amounts are far below demand

"Unlike in 2023, not all applications for funding in the area of animal welfare were approved last year: Animal welfare activists were left with around 40,000 euros for feed and animal supplies," said Schaper. A total of almost 908,000 euros was spent in this area in 2024, most of it for material costs. "These sums were slightly higher than in 2023, but they are far below the requirements."

Schaper pointed out that the grants for investments by animal shelters in 2024 had fallen by almost 18 percent compared to the previous year. In 2023, only two applications worth a good 77,000 euros were rejected, while last year seven applications worth more than 220,000 euros were rejected.

Since the CDU and SPD were ten votes short of a majority in parliament, they had to rely on help from the opposition for the double budget. An agreement was finally reached with the Greens and the Left Party. The two parliamentary groups pushed through amendments amounting to around 250 million euros.