At the end of the nineteenth century, kosher butchering and vivisection were the main concerns regarding animal protection in Germany. These concerns continued among the Nazis. According to Boria Sax, the Nazis rejected anthropocentric reasons for animal protection—animals were not to be protected for human interests—but for themselves. In 1927, a Nazi representative to the Reichstag called for actions against cruelty to animals and kosher butchering.
This is an older article I discovered, but it’s very telling. Here are the highlights.
If Labour MPs ban hunting with hounds, they will follow the pioneering efforts of a leader of a very different political persuasion: Adolf Hitler.
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The Nazi laws gave animals more protection than any other country in the world. Ian Kershaw, a professor of modern history at Sheffield University and the author of a biography of Hitler, said: “It does seem rather strange that they should be so concerned about foxes and other animals when you consider how they were treating humans.”
“So the new laws banned all field sports that involved training and using animals to kill game and vermin. There was a belief that if you put an animal through unnecessary torture you were somehow injuring the feelings of the German nation.”
The official Nazi biography, which was written by Erich Gritzbach, says: “Goering is a fanatical friend of animals. He says: ‘Whoever tortures animals violates the instincts of the German people.’
The same love of animals which he demonstrates in all he has to do with the animal world also imbues the Reich hunting law of 1934. Indeed it gives this law its deep ethical meaning. In Germany hunting on horseback, chasing animals with a pack of hounds, is banned.”
A spokesman for the Countryside Alliance said: “Hitler banned fox hunting partly because he wanted to attack the aristocracy’s way of life and further his own ambitions. It would appear that Tony Blair’s reasons for banning foxhunting are not dissimilar – a curious mixture of class envy, spite and a curious understanding of animal welfare.”
Goering adopted a moral code governing hunting called Sporting Justice (Waidgerechtigkeit) that had long been established in Germany. The code stipulates that it is unsporting to use animals such as dogs to kill game and vermin.
Karl-Heinz Lehmann, the former vice-president of Germany’s 220,000-member association for the protection of hunting, said: “Goering gave Sporting Justice an almost religious importance and the laws still form the basis of today’s hunting rules in reunified Germany.”
Goering’s law still exerts a profound influence on other aspects of hunting in Germany today. No one is allowed to hunt without a licence, for example, and obtaining a licence is not easy: it involves attending more than 100 hours of lectures and practical tests and sitting a difficult three-hour written exam.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1407954/Thanks-to-Hitler-hunting-with-hounds-is-still-verboten.html
Of course, the Nazis, the so-called “Master Race,” is in denial of nature. Using animals to kill other animals isn’t cruel, but logical. In New York City, “a group of dog owners have gathered to let their various breeds hunt rats” for more than a decade.
Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/rat-hunting-dogs-bite-new-york-city-vermin-problem-article-1.1331191#ixzz2byI90hDw
PETA doesn’t like it, but the city tolerates them. After all, who doesn’t hate rats?
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Gregory Smith