Animal Welfare
Animal health protection encompasses animal welfare and the regulation of veterinary drugs.
Animal welfare is a responsibility of official veterinarians, aimed at ensuring species-appropriate care and, thereby, the well-being of animals. To this end, commercial animal facilities—including slaughterhouses, animal transport companies, animal shelters, zoos, circuses, and agricultural livestock operations, including horse farms—are regularly monitored.
Another area of responsibility is the monitoring of private animal holdings. Inspections are usually conducted in response to reports from citizens who believe that animals are being kept in violation of the law.
Animal Health
The primary purpose of animal disease control is to protect the health of humans and animals. Through consistent monitoring and targeted control measures, the introduction and spread of animal diseases are to be prevented.
The goal is to maintain healthy animal populations, protect people from communicable animal diseases, and prevent those animal diseases against which individual livestock owners cannot adequately protect themselves or that pose an existential threat to them.