The 4th of October is an annual day for international animal welfare, with the aim of drawing attention to the suffering of animals and raising awareness of animal welfare. The Austrian Armed Forces is the “employer” of 227 animals throughout Austria and therefore bears a great deal of responsibility for the training, keeping and deployment of these four-legged friends.
“In the Austrian Armed Forces, we attach particular importance to species-appropriate husbandry and training, which are subject to the Animal Welfare Act. Ensuring high-quality veterinary care in all areas is a top priority. In addition, the respectful and caring treatment of our four-legged comrades plays a major role, as our military animals ultimately also make a significant contribution to the safety of our soldiers,” says Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner. https://militaeraktuell.at/katzen-jaegerkompanie-bundesheer-hochfilzen/
Pack animal center in Hochfilzen
The pack animal center at the military training area in Hochfilzen is home to a total of 58 horses, including 46 pack animals and twelve young horses in training as well as eight donkeys. The pack animal center was restructured in 2007 after the four pack animal squadrons were merged and a new infrastructure was set up in accordance with the latest animal husbandry criteria and in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act. The mission of the pack animal center is to support the armed forces with the pack animals in particularly difficult terrain conditions, taking into account deployment in low and high mountains. The two cats Elli and Funny are also on duty in the field (-> The hunter company of the Austrian Armed Forces). The two cat girls keep the mice away from the pack animal center. Because there are plenty of them in the stables where they live: They catch four to six mice every day.
Military dog center in Kaisersteinbruch
The military dog center in Kaisersteinbruch is the army’s competence center for breeding, training and further education, deployment and testing of service dogs throughout Austria. There are a total of 161 military dogs in 20 departments and they are handled by 128 military dog handlers. Over 40 percent of the staff at the Military Dog Center are women. 61 military dogs of the Rottweiler, German Shepherd and Labrador breeds are kept in Kaisersteinbruch for breeding and training purposes, but also for a wide variety of missions. The military dogs make a not inconsiderable contribution to minimizing risk for soldiers on missions at home and abroad.
Bees in barracks
In some barracks, such as the Maria Theresa Barracks in Vienna, the Schwarzenberg Barracks in Salzburg and the Belgian Barracks in Graz, honey bees (-> The Austrian army relies on its “bee army”) are looked after responsibly by soldiers.
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