Germany 2019 – Federal Administrative Court ruling on male chick killing
Court Decision
In Effect
June 13, 2019
Summary
On 13 June 2019, the German Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht, BVerwG) issued its judgment in case 3 C 28.16, ruling on the legality of killing day-old male chicks in hatcheries supplying the egg industry. The court held that the economic interest in high-performing laying hens does not in itself constitute a “reasonable cause” (vernünftiger Grund) within the meaning of section 1 second sentence of the Animal Welfare Act (Tierschutzgesetz, TierSchG), thereby establishing that economic justification alone cannot make chick culling lawful. At the same time, the court found that because in-ovo sex determination methods were expected to become available in the near term, killing male chicks remained permissible for a limited transitional period under animal welfare law until such alternatives were practically deployable. In the specific case, the court dismissed the state authority’s appeal and confirmed the annulment of a 2013 prohibition order against a North Rhine-Westphalia hatchery operator, meaning no immediate prohibition was placed on that operator’s practices. The ruling did not fix a calendar deadline for the end of permissible chick culling; specific statutory prohibition dates were subsequently established by federal legislation adopted in 2021 banning the practice from 1 January 2022.
Background Context
Before the ruling, approximately 45 million male chicks from laying hen breeding lines were killed annually in Germany, according to figures cited in the BVerwG press release. Male chicks from high-performance hybrid laying hen lines are not used for egg production and are not well suited for economically efficient meat production, leading hatcheries to kill them shortly after hatching. In July 2013, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Münster discontinued criminal proceedings against a hatchery for the practice. Also in 2013, the Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature and Consumer Protection of North Rhine-Westphalia issued a decree to local authorities to prohibit chick culling through regulatory orders; on 18 December 2013, the relevant District Government issued an order prohibiting one hatchery from killing male chicks from 1 January 2015, backed by a threatened penalty payment. That hatchery challenged the order through administrative courts. The Administrative Court of Minden annulled the prohibition; the Higher Administrative Court of Münster upheld that annulment, finding the practice compatible with section 1 TierSchG. The case then reached the Federal Administrative Court. Germany had constitutionally embedded animal protection as a state objective in the Basic Law (Article 20a) in 2002, which the Federal Administrative Court referenced in its reasoning on contemporary ethical and legal standards.
System Impact
Direction
Neutral / Administrative
Type
Alters Legal Basis
Significance
Moderate
The Federal Administrative Court dismissed the state authority’s appeal on 13 June 2019, confirming the annulment of the 18 December 2013 prohibition order. The ruling established that killing male chicks falls within the scope of the general prohibition in section 1 second sentence TierSchG and that the “reasonable cause” requirement applies. It explicitly held that economic interest in high laying performance alone does not constitute a reasonable cause under current standards. It simultaneously found that, because in-ovo sex determination methods were expected to become practically available in the near term, chick culling remained permissible for a limited transitional period. The court cited Germany’s constitutional obligation under Article 20a Grundgesetz in assessing contemporary ethical and legal standards. The ruling provided the principal judicial reference for the subsequent federal legislative process; the Federal Government adopted legislation in January 2021 banning the killing of day-old male chicks from 1 January 2022, with that law identifying the practice as affecting approximately 45 million chicks annually. As of 2022, chick culling’s legal basis in Germany is governed primarily by that statutory ban; the 2019 BVerwG ruling remains operative as part of the interpretive background on “reasonable cause” under the Animal Welfare Act.
Anticipated Effects
If administrative authorities and courts apply the ruling’s interpretation of “reasonable cause” consistently to similar animal welfare cases, it would establish a precedent limiting the extent to which economic efficiency arguments alone can justify practices that cause harm to animals within German administrative law.
If in-ovo sex determination technologies continue to be developed and deployed at commercial scale — as was anticipated in the ruling — the transitional justification framework established by the court would no longer support chick culling, and any resumption of the practice post-statutory-ban would lack the legal basis the ruling identified.
If the interpretive framework established by this ruling is applied by regulators and courts to analogous hatchery practices in other livestock sectors, it could constrain the use of purely economic justifications for the killing of unwanted offspring in those systems.
Significance Rationale
Assigned Neutral / Administrative (impact direction) because the ruling did not itself directly reduce the number of male chicks killed. The judgment annulled a specific prohibition order against one hatchery while confirming the legal permissibility of the practice during a transitional period; chick culling continued at approximately 45 million annually in Germany after the ruling. Scale reduction occurred only when the 2021 federal legislation establishing a statutory ban from 1 January 2022 took effect — that is a distinct Development record. Coding this ruling as Reduces Exploitation would conflate its legal effect with a legislative consequence that followed three years later through separate political and regulatory processes.
Assigned Alters Legal Basis (impact type) because the primary mechanism is the court’s reinterpretation of “reasonable cause” under section 1 second sentence TierSchG, rejecting economic interest alone as a sufficient justification for chick culling and establishing a time-limited transitional allowance linked to the availability of technical alternatives. This modified the legal framework within which administrative authorities may justify or oppose prohibition orders against hatcheries and provided the principal legal reference point for subsequent legislative action.
Assigned Moderate significance because the ruling affects legal interpretation at national level, binding all German administrative authorities and administrative courts in their assessment of chick culling under the Animal Welfare Act, and is documented as a key reference in the legislative pathway to the 2022 statutory ban. However, the ruling itself did not immediately change animal numbers or end the practice; its significance operates through the legal framework it establishes rather than through direct system change.
Impact direction is Neutral / Administrative; the trajectory sentence is not applicable.
Within The System
Key Actors
The Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht), Third Senate, issued the judgment on 13 June 2019 in case 3 C 28.16. The claimant was the unnamed hatchery operator in North Rhine-Westphalia subject to the 2013 prohibition order. The defendant was the District Government (Bezirksregierung) of the relevant North Rhine-Westphalia district that issued the prohibition. The Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature and Consumer Protection of North Rhine-Westphalia had issued the decree directing local authorities to prohibit chick culling. Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture Julia Klöckner publicly described the practice as ethically unacceptable and supported the development of alternatives, contributing to the political context for subsequent legislation. The Albert Schweitzer Foundation for Our Contemporaries and Animal Equality Germany provided public legal analysis of the ruling and its implications.
Editorial Correction Notice
Related record: The 2021 federal legislation establishing a statutory ban on killing day-old male chicks from 1 January 2022 is a distinct Development record not yet drafted. That record carries the direct scale change (Changes Scale, Reduces Exploitation) that this ruling anticipated but did not itself produce. The two records together constitute the Germany male chick killing sequence: the legal interpretation (2019 ruling) and the statutory elimination (2021/2022 legislation).
Key actors — hatchery operator: The name of the specific hatchery operator (claimant) is not provided in the English-language BVerwG press release or case summary. The German-language judgment text may identify the operator. The specific District Government unit is likewise not named beyond being in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Scale & Prevalence: The figure of approximately 45 million male chicks killed annually in Germany derives from the BVerwG press release citing the situation in 2012. This figure is widely repeated in media and policy communications but is not accompanied by a detailed statistical breakdown in the court document. Post-ruling annual figures for the period 2019–2021 (before the statutory ban) are not provided in primary sources consulted.
Impact direction — Neutral/Administrative: This classification reflects the ruling’s direct operative content only. The ruling annulled a prohibition order and confirmed that chick culling remained permissible during a transitional period; it did not itself reduce the number of chicks killed. The scale reduction that followed is attributable to the 2021 statutory ban, which is a distinct Development record carrying Reduces Exploitation and Changes Scale.
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