Species protection - Keeping or selling protected animals

• Acquisition (e.g. purchase, gift, exchange, inheritance)
• Disposal (e.g. sale, gift, exchange)
• own offspring
• Loss (e.g. escape, theft)
• Death (e.g. euthanisation, age-related)
• Relocation of the animals (e.g. relocation). If you move within the city limits of the City of Munich, please re-register your animals at the new address. If you move to another municipality, the animals must be deregistered with the Lower Nature Conservation Authority of the City of Munich and registered with the new competent nature conservation authority.
  

The complete notification must contain information on

• Species (German and scientific name)
• Number
• Age
• Sex
• Identification (for rings: in addition to the number, please also state whether closed or open ring)
• Origin (see following question)
• Location
• Whereabouts (if the animal is passed on)

As the owner of specially protected animals, you are obliged under Section 46 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act to prove their legal origin and thus their legal ownership to the Lower Nature Conservation Authority. Depending on the respective classification of the animals in one of the various protection categories, various documents are required for the proof, which must be submitted with the notification (CITES certificates, EC certificates and breeding confirmations must be submitted in the original ).

• EC certificate:
  For animals listed in Annex A of EC Regulation No. 338/97, a valid yellow EC certificate (formerly CITES certificate) is required, the original of which must be submitted with the commercialisation.
• Breeding certificates/proof of origin:
  For all other protected animals that have been bred in the EU, a breeding certificate can serve as proof (known as proof of origin). This should include details of the species, the breeder and the origin of the parent animals. A sample certificate of origin can be found in the downloads.
  
• Special case: Offspring
  Your own offspring must be registered with the Lower Nature Conservation Authority immediately after birth and labelled if necessary in order to be able to prove their legal origin at a later date.
  

Certain animal species that are kept in captivity must be labelled so that they can be clearly identified as the owner's property.

In principle, the following labelling methods (see columns 2 to 6 of Annex 6 BArtSchV) should be used as a matter of priority:

-Birds: closed species protection ring

-Mammals: transponder (this is a metal capsule the size of a grain of rice with a chip number that is inserted under the animal's skin)

-Reptiles: Transponder or photo documentation (this must clearly show the individual characteristics of the animal. Instructions for photo documentation can be found under Downloads)

Issuing centres for identification tags (rings, transponders):

Federal Association for Professional Nature and Species Conservation (BNA)

Central Association of Zoological Specialist Companies in Germany (ZZF)

If a licence plate (ring) has to be removed, this may only be done by a vet. The Lower Nature Conservation Authority must be notified of the new licence plate. The necessity of the removal must be justified.