Ludwig the Dackel sniffs German Euro 24 win

BERLIN: 'Dackel' is short for dachshund in modern Germany. Ludwig, a cute dachshund, was, according to this Times report, enticed more by a bowl of chicken treats next to the German flag which indicated to Germans (! 🐶) a home win in their opening Euro 2024 match against Scotland. To be frank, if Germany don't beat Scotland then I would be shocked but then shock results to take place sometimes.

Update: Spain beat England in the final at Berlin! (●'◡'●). Just in case you were unaware of the result. So much for dogs predicting football competitions..😉

Ludwig the soothsayer. Photo: The Times.

There is quite a nice desire by humankind to have animals select winners in sports competitions. In 2008, Paul the Octopus garnered a huge following as a sporting soothsayer. Paul also selected the winners at the 2010 World Cup. More about Paul below.

And then we have Emma the pig and Nelly the elephant. There was also Konstantin the elk and the ferrets, Snow White and Freddy. Finally, there was Lorenzo the parrot and Fedor the Tiger. I could go on but we do like to do this sort of thing.

And in line with this tradition, Germany has a prediction for Euro 24 football competition. The opening match takes place tonight and Germany will win because Ludwig says so.

He's been described as a "Dachshund Oracle". He was presented with three bowls of chicken treats. One bowl was next to the German flag. Another bowl was next to the cross of St Andrew (the Scottish flag) and a third bowl was by both flags indicating a draw.

Ludwig confidently trotted determinedly over to the German bowl said the man organising the soothsaying, Philipp Paulus, the owner of a marketing company. He said that "Ludwig believes the German team will win the opener against the Scottish team."

Ludwig is three years old and entirely unfazed by all goings-on including the photographers. He also picked the tournament winner: Portugal.

It's possible he may be asked to make more predictions. It's hoped that he will be accurate! Apparently there have been some failures which is unsurprising when you think about it.

His predecessor was Sisi, also a dachshund, who picked Byern Munich to beat Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League Final and was off the mark by a small amount because the German team lost on penalties.

Ludwig's owner has confidence in his ability and added: "He is a very relaxed even-tempered and thoughtful character especially for a dachshund".

It appears that Germany had a fascination with animal oracles which dates back to Paul the Octopus. Paul lived in the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen. He picked the winner in four of Germany's six Euro 2008 matches. He also picked all of their seven matches in the 2010 World Cup and he predicted correctly that Spain would win. Remarkable.

On each occasion Paul was offered two transparent boxes marked with a national flag and containing a mussel. The first one opened marked the winner.

He became more famous after each new successful prediction. He became so famous that he had to have guards outside his tank at the Sea Life Centre.

He became an honorary citizen of the Spanish village of Carballino. Russian reporters travelled to Oberhausen to interview him to pick the winner of the next presidential election! Comment: no point as it had to be Putin 😡.

My thanks to The Times newspaper for this story.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Germans keener on cat ownership than the British

On a pro rata basis there are more cats in Germany than the UK. It would appear that the citizens of Germany are keener on cat ownership than the citizens of the UK.

Germany: in 2023 there were 15.7 million cats.

UK: in 2023 there were 11 million cats.

Germany: human population is 83.3 million.

UK: human population is 67.9 million.

The UK population is 0.81 of the German population. Multiplying that figure by 15.7 million cats in Germany produces 12.8 million cats which is 1.8 million higher on a like-for-like basis vis-a-vis the human populations of these countries.

Therefore Germany has more cats per human population than the UK.

Germany: in 42% of households there are 2 or more cats.

UK: 37% of households have more than one cat.

The above figures support the assessment that Germans are keener cat owners than the British.

The above stats come from Pet Food Industry.com and PDSA Pet Populations Report and other sources such as Cats.com and UK Pet Food.org.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Berlin police seized 48 illegally bred Levkoy cats considered the product of 'torture breeding' in Germany

Germany has a brilliant nationwide law which states that purebred cats that are bred with inherited genetic diseases causing general pain and suffering are the product of "torture breeding" and they are illegal in the country. 

Levkoy Cay. Image from unknown author.

The word "torture" is a very evocative and strong word and I think it is a brilliant word to describe these breeds which are fully accepted in many other countries including America.

In this instance I'm referring to the Levkoy which is a Ukrainian breed; a hairless cat with floppy ears. Germany has outlawed hairless cats because they don't have a coat 😎😢 and therefore they can't live normal lives. 

You can't change the anatomy of a cat breed that fundamentally in Germany and make the cat more vulnerable without being labelled a torture breeder.

And apparently this man living in Berlin was told to stop breeding the Levkoy cat but he continued nonetheless and in a raid by the police and animal welfare authorities his entire stock of cats were seized and he was arrested. He now faces a substantial fine.

The officials believe that he was probably the last breeder in Germany of the Ukrainian Levkoy cat breed.

The seized cats have been distributed to foster carers across Germany where they have received a check up and veterinary care where needed.

You might like to read about this cat by clicking on the following link. It's an article written by visitor to my website. I have updated that page to include what happened in Germany as described in this article.

Levkoy Cat Breed.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Huntress shoots domestic cat caught in live trap but initial shots were not fatal

GERMANY-NEWS AND COMMENT: The story comes from Zusmarshausen. It's in German with a Google translation on the Bild online newspaper website. This is the alleged shooting of a domestic cat trapped in a 'live trap' (a trap put down by trappers of wild animals). 

Huntress shoots domestic cat caught in live trap but initial shots were not fatal. Photo: SOKO Tierschutz (pixelated out the cat's head)

It occurred in December 2020. The woman hunter was videoed shooting the cat more than once. The shooting occurred in a forest near Augsburg. It appears that the initial shots may not have been fatal. Clearly this was a matter for investigation on the grounds of animal cruelty. You cannot euthanise a cat in my view with a shot to the head. If the first shot is not fatal then it is a clear case of animal cruelty. 

Huntress shoots domestic cat caught in live trap but initial shots were not fatal. Photo: SOKO Tierschutz

The authorities, both the Augsburg Public Prosecutor's Office and the Bavarian Hunting Association (BJV), are investigating. No doubt we will not know the outcome. The hunter's committee called Swabia is yet to make a decision about the case. There appears to be an acceptance that it was cruel. The shooting was recorded by an animal welfare organisation who had presumably infiltrated the hunting.

Millions of UNUSED research animals killed in Germany including cats

A report which was discussed in April 2020 in the news media revealed a shocking statistic namely that in Germany 3.9 million animals died at research laboratories and these animals had never been used in research. I'll restate that because it is so shocking. Animals brought into research laboratories or bred there and which were not subsequently employed in the research were killed nonetheless and the number of these animals stands at 3.9 million. The figure relates to 2017 in Germany.

Animals not used but killed in Animal research in Germany amounted to 3.9 million in 2017. Photo: Image by Tibor Janosi Mozes from Pixabay.

The information was released after the Green party requested the information. Perhaps more shockingly, across the entire European Union 12.6 million animals were killed under the same circumstances. I find that number hard to digest. Is it really true? It is saying that almost 13 million animals were killed for no reason! No reason whatsoever. This is mass animal cruelty but entirely legalised.

Initially the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to sugarcoat the statistics by releasing the number of animals killed after they were experimented on. That number is high enough at 2.8 million in Germany in 2017. Apparently 2017 saw the highest number of animals ever bred for research in Germany. They included 718 cats, monkeys, fish and over a quarter of a million rats.

About 50% are used for basic research experiments, 27% used in testing for new medicines, while 15% were tested in respect of specific diseases. Across Europe animal experiments are banned to research cosmetics. The same applies to the UK.

Comment: there are many instances when animals that have been tested on for scientific purposes are still viable as domestic pets but they are invariably killed. But, in the EU, when they are not even used, abused, exploited and injured by scientific researchers they are still killed and thrown away. You just can't fathom it can you?

The German Animal Welfare Act allows the use of animals in research despite the fact that the law provides extensive and far-reaching protection. Interestingly, animals under the law in Germany are regarded as "fellow creatures". Hardly true. In order to justify experiments on animals in Germany the researchers must always show that the goal of the experiments cannot be reached using any other methods or techniques. Specifically, experiments can only be carried out if at least one of the following criteria is fulfilled:

• The experiments serve the purpose of prevention, diagnosis or treatment of diseases in humans and animals;
• They help recognize environmental hazards;
• They are part of safety testing for materials or products;
• They are necessary for basic research.

Note: I've taken those words verbatim from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics webpage in the interests of complete accuracy.