Animal Disease Fund (Germany)
Lexikon
The Animal Disease Funds (Germany) are institutions of the federal states.
The Animal Disease Funds (Germany) are institutions of the federal states. They collect contributions from animal keepers and use them to pay compensation for animals killed on official order, as well as grants for prevention and testing.
For beekeepers this applies: whether bees must even be registered with the Animal Disease Fund and are subject to contributions is decided separately by each federal state. In North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg, bee colonies must be registered, with different reporting dates and reporting thresholds. In Bavaria and Lower Saxony, by contrast, bees are not subject to registration. Anyone who moves or has apiaries in several states must keep this in view.
Independently of the contribution obligation, several funds provide services related to bee health, such as covering the costs of feed ring examinations in foulbrood monitoring, expense allowances for bee inspectors, and grants toward training.
The Animal Disease Fund must be strictly distinguished from insurance through the beekeepers' association. That insurance covers theft, storm, fire, transport damage and liability; damage from bee diseases and epidemics is explicitly excluded there.