Apply for compensation for animal losses and payment of killing costs after animal disease outbreaks

    If you keep horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats or poultry and your animals or some of your animals have been killed as a result of an animal health order, you may receive compensation for these animals and reimbursement of the cost of killing.

    Description

    The Lower Saxony Animal Disease Fund pays you financial compensation for animal losses due to animal diseases and for animal losses that occur as part of officially ordered measures to control animal diseases. It also covers the costs of killing your animals if the killing was ordered on the basis of animal health regulations. Compensation for animal losses is intended to promote your cooperation in disease control and to reduce your economic losses.

    Half of the financial resources for compensation are raised by the Animal Health Fund and come from the contributions of the animal owners. The other half is borne by the state of Lower Saxony and Bremen. In the case of certain diseases, such as swine fever, avian influenza or foot-and-mouth disease, the EU usually also contributes to the costs.

    Online services

    There is currently no online service available for this location.

    Competent office

    not specified

    Contact point

    In Lower Saxony, it is the responsibility of the districts, independent cities and the Zweckverband Veterinäramt Jade-Weser

    Contact person

    Unfortunately, no contact persons were found for District Wesermarsch (Lower Saxony). Please check the service description above for information on how to find the responsible contact person.

    Forms

    not specified

    Prerequisites

    You are only entitled to benefits from the Animal Disease Fund if you have reported your animals to the Lower Saxony Animal Health Fund on the cut-off date 3.1 of each year and have paid the contributions on time and in full. In addition, in the case of officially ordered killing due to an animal disease, you must have complied with all the necessary animal health regulations in order to be fully entitled to the benefits.

    administrative court action

    Procedure

    You can only apply for compensation for the fair market value for the animals killed and for the assumption of the costs of killing through the municipal veterinary authority responsible for the place where you keep your animals.

    • There you will receive the appropriate form and there the value of the killed animals will be determined. The basis for this is the documents and evidence to be submitted by you and the computer program provided by the Animal Health Fund.
    • The municipal veterinary authority will also comment on whether you have complied with the animal health regulations and send the complete application to the Lower Saxony Animal Health Fund.
    • In the case of the Animal Health Fund, a two-stage procedure is used to determine whether there is an entitlement to the benefits and, if so, how high the benefit is.
    • The money for the compensation of the fair market value will then be transferred to the account specified by you.
    • The cost of killing the animals is paid to the service provider who carried out the killing and from whom the corresponding invoice originates.

    Deadlines

    Application deadline: 30 days (Applications must be submitted up to 30 days after the animals have been killed)

    Processing time

    7 to 90 days (The processing time depends on the completeness of the documents and the question of whether the animal owner has complied with the animal health regulations. The legal processing period is a maximum of 1 year.)

    Costs

    Fee free of charge

    Notes (specifics)

    Information on benefits from the Lower Saxony Animal Health Insurance Fund and the requirements for granting benefits can be found on the website of the Lower Saxony Animal Health Insurance Fund.

    Unterstützende Institutionen

    not specified

    Welche Dokumente resultieren aus dieser Leistung?

    not specified

    Area of validity

    Lower Saxony

    Official approval

    Officially approved by Lower Saxony Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection

    Version

    Technisch erstellt on 01.09.2021
    Technisch geändert on 27.03.2026

    Keywords

    Compensation

    Language version

    Deutsch

    Sprache: de
    Technisch erstellt on 07.06.2017
    Technisch geändert on 14.05.2025

    Englisch

    Sprache: en
    Sprachbezeichnung nativ: English
    Technisch erstellt on 22.10.2025
    Technisch geändert on 23.10.2024