Species protection
No form prescribes what a German proof of origin looks like.
It still decides whether an animal stays with you during an inspection. What belongs in it, what is routinely missing, and why the parent animals are the part almost everybody forgets.
The buyer is already in the room
The handover is arranged, the box is ready, and then somebody asks for the paper. You write it at the kitchen table: your name, their name, species and count, two signatures. For that afternoon it is enough. Three years later it is exactly the paper that cannot answer the one question being asked: where did this animal actually come from.
What belongs in it
Seller, buyer, species and count are treated as too little in practice. What authorities and keeper associations want to see beyond that:
Both sides, with addresses
Who handed the animal over and who took it on, each with a full address. A first name and a mobile number are nobody in three years.
Species, scientific, and count
The common name is not enough. The scientific name is what an authority looks for in its lists.
Identification
Transponder, ring or photo documentation, depending on what the species requires or what is customary. Without it the paper describes a species, not an animal.
The documents attached to it
EU certificate, CITES papers, earlier proofs of origin, receipts. The proof is the bracket around them, not their replacement.
Date and both signatures
And one copy for each side. The buyer signs for taking the animal on, not merely for receiving a sheet of paper.
The parent animals and where they came from
The part most often missing, and the part that closes the chain. A captive-breeding paper without parents asserts the breeding, it does not evidence it.
There is no template that counts
For the proof itself no rule prescribes a form. Trade bodies publish templates, authorities accept informal documents, and what counts in the end is whether the chain is unbroken. There is one exception: for Annex A animals the EU certificate comes on top, and that is an official document your authority issues. Otherwise every proof looks different. Which is why so many are missing the same thing.
What happens when it is missing
Without an attributable proof the animal can be seized and confiscated. And the sale itself is then not an administrative offence but a criminal one: the federal nature conservation act provides for imprisonment or a fine, up to three years for Annex B species and up to five for Annex A. That is not meant as a threat but as the reason: this is why the proof has to travel with the animal instead of staying in your folder.
How KeeperLog solves it
The record moves with the animal
At handover the buyer receives the dossier rather than a sheet: origin, feedings, sheds, weights, documents. They open no account to read it, and you keep your copy.
Parents are part of the record
Clutches and descent belong to the file, not to a second spreadsheet next to it.
Every line knows where it came from
Whether you entered it, the previous keeper did, or the vet, stays visible. That is the difference between a claim and evidence.
Arrivals and departures are in the book
The stock book carries every movement with its date, so a question does not start a search.
Common questions
- Do I need a proof if I give an animal away?
- Yes. What counts is the change of keeper, not whether money moves. A gifted animal needs the same chain as a sold one.
- Is a sales contract enough?
- Usually not. A contract evidences the deal between two people; a proof of origin evidences where the animal came from. The contract can hang off it, it does not replace it.
- The previous keeper gave me nothing. What now?
- Ask them while you can still reach them, and record when you asked. A documented gap beats a silent one, and the authority decides the individual case.
- Does the proof have to stay with the animal?
- It travels with the animal on every handover. You keep one copy, the new keeper gets one. If it stays with you, it is missing where the animal is.
- Does this apply to unprotected species too?
- It is not required there. It stays sensible anyway: the origin question gets asked at resale, whether by an authority or by a buyer.
- And for my own captive breeding?
- Then you are the one evidencing the origin. Which is exactly why the parent animals are where it shows whether your proof holds.
Which species-protection authority is responsible for you depends on the state: eight territorial states route the report to a state office rather than the district. KeeperLog records what you declare and does not verify it.
This is a reading of published sources and not legal advice. What applies to your animal is decided by your responsible authority.
The record that stays with the animal
Add your animals, keep the care history, and hand over the whole dossier at the handover instead of a sheet of paper.