Haltungsbedingungen und Herkunft von als Heimtiere gehaltenen (exotischen) Säugetieren in Deutschland

Blaeske, Alexandra; Hofmann, Nicola; Schwarzer, Angela; Ebner, Magdalena V.; Bergmann, Shana; Reese, Sven; Erhard, Michael und Woehr, Anna-Caroline (2019): Haltungsbedingungen und Herkunft von als Heimtiere gehaltenen (exotischen) Säugetieren in Deutschland. In: Berliner und Munchener Tierarztliche Wochenschrift, Bd. 132, Nr. 3-4: S. 112-124

Abstract

Representative studies of pet keeping in Germany show that 45 % of the households have at least one pet. As part of the EXOPET-I-Study we conducted an online survey of private keepers of (exotic) mammals to gain knowledge of the privately owned (exotic) mammals in Germany, their origin, their housing conditions and the information sources used by the owners to learn about species appropriate and animal-friendly pet keeping. The descriptive evaluation of the data provided included the sociodemographic data, the source of information used by the owners and information about the animals kept. Furthermore, we evaluated the housing conditions of the ten most common animal species with regard to animal welfare aspects. After data cleansing 2939 questionnaires on 136 animal species/-subspecies out of 40 different mammal families were evaluated. Prior to the acquisition 73.8 % of the pet owners informed themselves about the housing conditions of their animals. Most popular source of information was the internet. It was used by 1999 participants and 73.3 % thought the information obtained was "very helpful". Even though a larger percentage of the pet owners informed themselves about the housing conditions of their pets, there were deficits in the cage sizes and the enrichment in some of the animal species kept. The provided data show that 69.8 % of the four-toed hedgehogs and 62.5 % of the chinchillas are housed in too small cages. Apart from that, for 42.5 % of the ferrets/polecat-ferrets, 23.0 % of the fancy rats and 22.6 % of the degus suitable enrichment is missing. Among other things, an obligatory certificate of competence could make sure that future animal owners have sufficient knowledge of natural behaviour and basic requirements of a species. In the EXOPET-I-Study 48.5 % of the participants without a certificate of competence would take an exam if they had to and 24.8 % are interested to acquire a certificate of competence.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Tiermedizin
• Themengebiete: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
• ISSN: 0005-9366
• Sprache: Deutsch