The claim

Annalena Baerbock is allegedly calling for an end to private animal husbandry. She mentions a CO₂ tax on pets as a possible implementation option.

Our conclusion

This claim has been circulating on social media for a long time. However, the quote is incorrect. Baerbock never made this statement.

In a screenshot shared on social media titled “End of pet ownership,” Annalena Baerbock is quoted as saying:

“By eliminating dogs in Germany alone, we can save around 19 million tons of carbon dioxide. This corresponds to almost as much CO2 as a car would release if it traveled ten thousand times around the world - almost 10% of road traffic. There are also cats, horses and many other animals. “Private animal husbandry must therefore come to an end, even if it means a CO2 tax on pets,” says Annalena Baerbock (39). [sic!]

Screenshot Facebook post
Screenshot Facebook post

___STEADY_PAYWALL___

Claim is not new, but still wrong

We already examined Baerbock's alleged statement in 2021 ( HERE ). The fact that Baerbock's age is listed as 39 in the screenshot is also an indication of no current claim. The Federal Foreign Minister was born in 1980. The alleged quote therefore comes from 2019.

No media reports or indications could be found via search engines that Baerbock made this statement. So we asked the press office directly and received the following answer:

The quote is simply made up, Annalena Baerbock didn't say that.

Kind regards
ALLIANCE 90/THE GREEN
Press Office Federal Executive Board

We were therefore able to determine in 2021 that the quote was incorrect and was attributed to Annalena Baerbock. She never made such a statement. Now it is circulating again on social media and is causing excitement and outrage among users.

Green bashing

Here we are dealing with the typical “green bashing”. For some time now, the Greens have been accused of calling for a large number of absurd bans, such as the ban on barbecues for Germans .

As part of this narrative and bashing, topics that are highly emotional are deliberately addressed, especially children and pets. If someone is accused of wanting to ban pets, this serves to create an enemy image. And that is exactly what this false claim is intended to achieve.

Through the constant repetition of this narrative, supported by the spread of false reports, such statements eventually appear plausible, even if they are untrue.

Interestingly, there was actually a discussion about pets. An article by Bayerischer Rundfunk, for example, deals with this topic. However, there was never a call for the abolition of private pet ownership.

Conclusion

Rating: FALSE

Annalena Baerbock never made this statement, as was confirmed to us by her press office in 2021.

This is an old screenshot that is now making the rounds again and is intended to serve a single purpose, namely green bashing.

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Note: This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication
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The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic.