Legal opinion warns

Outdated laws threaten free-roaming pets

It is estimated that up to 30,000 pets are shot by hunters every year.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Stoch Adobe)

In Austria, dogs and cats can be shot legally - almost everywhere. A new legal opinion, commissioned by a private dog owner from Burgenland, questions this practice and calls for a reform of the provincial hunting laws.

According to the current legal situation, a hunter may shoot a dog if it is caught poaching or is outside the calling range of its owner - in some cases even preventively. Cats may be shot from a distance of 300 meters from the nearest inhabited building.

Scandal: dogs caught in traps and killed!
The legal situation in Burgenland, Tyrol and Upper Austria is particularly alarming: dogs may be shot without restriction in these states - even if they are already caught in a trap. In Styria, shooting is permitted depending on the time of year, while in Lower Austria, Vienna, Vorarlberg and Salzburg there are contradictory rules that are hardly practicable.

A recently published legal opinion by Prof. Dr. Erika Wagner from the Institute for Environmental Law at the Johannes Kepler University Linz considers the regulations to be outdated and in urgent need of reform.

Personal background to the commission
Beatrix Leberth, the initiator of the expert opinion, is campaigning for a change in the law after she herself had to go through the traumatic experience of having her dog killed by a hunter. Her aim is to emphasize not only the ethical arguments but also the legal aspects in order to bring about a legal change in the interests of animal welfare.

Today, dogs are family members for us humans. The idea that a beloved pet can simply be shot is no longer acceptable from a social and animal welfare perspective!

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Erika Wagner, Institut für Umweltrecht an der Johannes Kepler Universität Linz

A relic from the past
The legal permission to kill dogs goes back over 300 years. At that time, the aim was to prevent poaching, often ownerless dogs from killing wild animals. Today, however, both the human-animal relationship and the understanding of animal welfare have changed fundamentally.

The current report emphasizes that the existing regulations are legally problematic in several respects:

• Property rights: the killing of a dog without compensation represents a massive encroachment on constitutionally protected property rights.

• Proportionality: Killing dogs is not the mildest means of protecting game. Alternative methods of deterrence or capture would be much more appropriate.

• Inequality: Hunting dogs are usually exempt from the killing authorizations, regardless of whether they actually kill game or not. This unequal treatment is legally questionable.

The original 50-page legal opinion has been published in the journal "Tier- und Artenschutz in Recht und Praxis" (TiRuP). It can be downloaded free of charge here .

Criticism from other experts too
The internationally recognized biologist and behavioural scientist Prof. Kurt Kotrschal believes that it is not always possible to tell from a dog's behaviour whether it is poaching, and considers shooting a dog to be an unprecedented disregard for the feelings of others, because dogs are very important social partners for their humans. 

Call for reforms to protect pets
Animal welfare organizations such as Tierschutz Austria agree with the criticism and are calling for a general ban on the shooting of pets. "According to estimates, up to 30,000 pets are shot by hunters every year. This practice is outdated and should be abolished," says Dr. Michaela Lehner, head lawyer at Tierschutz Austria.

A first step towards reform could be a nationwide hunting law that standardizes the provincial regulations and adapts them to modern animal welfare standards. A petition for a referendum to this effect has already been launched - and was only recently stopped by the Federal Minister of the Interior. An appeal against the rejection decision has been lodged with the Federal Administrative Court.