Founded: By Christa und Michael Blanke in 1998
Staff: 15 Employees, approx. 30 teams of volunteers
Supporting members: approx. 3,000
Teams in: Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Poland, Slovenia, Canada, USA and Australia
Goal: Abolition of all long-distance transports of live animals
Motto: „We are with the animals“
Memberships: - World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA)
- EU Advisory Group on Animal and Plant Health since April 2005

Animals’ Angels e.V. are an internationally operating, non-profit-making animal welfare organisation that was founded in 1998 by the theologians Christa and Michael Blanke. Christa Blanke’s idea was to draw attention to the suffering of the animals and to show solidarity. Looking more closely when others look away!
 
The organisation’s work focuses on one issue: The abolition of long-distance transports of “farm” and “slaughter” animals. Animals’ Angels are the experts in Europe in this field. Since April 2005, the organisation, as the only independent animal welfare organisation, has been an official member of the EU Advisory Group on Animal and Plant Health. The professionalism of our teams has earned Animals’ Angels great respect from veterinarians, the police and even the drivers of animal transport trucks and forwarders.
 
The teams are active in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Poland, Slovenia, Canada, the USA and Australia. Everywhere, cooperation with the authorities, official institutions and ministries is a main priority. Animals’ Angels maintain close contacts with many international animal welfare organisations and are a member of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).
 
The Animals’ Angels employees always act according to the motto "We are with the animals".

Worldwide, 15 employees and approximately 40 freelancers work for Animals’ Angels e.V. All our staff is highly qualified and committed. Their work is demanding and requires above-average knowledge and skills. Therefore, successfully completed professional training is a prerequisite for employment, as well as several years of work experience outside the field of animal welfare. Every employee must have social conscience, be physically and mentally strong and be able to competently and professionally speak with the police, veterinarians, ministries, customs authorities, transport companies and drivers of animal transport trucks in the language of the respective country. The teams often accompany animal transport trucks for several days. Of course, they must exactly know the needs of the animals on board and the current regulations.
 
Day after day, the Animals’ Angels employees experience extremely stressful situations. What is particularly depressing is the knowledge that they cannot save the animals from an inevitable death. Nevertheless, they assist the animals – sometimes until their death. Professional coaching helps the employees deal with distressing experiences. This improves the teams’ work, allowing them in turn to more efficiently use their energy and strength and to make effective use of donations.
By the way: currently only women work for Animals’ Angels e.V. and all of them are vegetarians (by now).

The Animals’ Angels teams …
… inspect transport trucks and accompany the animals on their way to the slaughterhouses in order to document their distressing journeys and ease their suffering.
… care for and look after the animals on the spot: at the markets, in the ports and loading stations.
… provide first aid in emergency situations or call in veterinarians. If necessary, they make sure that dying animals are released from pain and suffering.
… negotiate with the competent authorities (e.g. with the police, veterinary authorities, border control points) to ensure compliance with the legal regulations.
… document violations of the law und initiate legal proceedings.
 
Animals’ Angels e.V. …
… file petitions on a national and international level.
… train the highway police and cooperate with veterinary officials.
… inform the public on appalling conditions during the transport and slaughtering of the animals.
 
Although Animals’ Angels e.V. take on many of the duties of the authorities, we do not receive any state benefits. The competent committees, however, use our thoroughly researched facts as the basis of their work and cite them at official conferences. Animals’ Angels e.V. also owe their reputation to the fact that they only report on what the teams have seen with their own eyes.
 
Animals’ Angels e.V. do not rely on short-term sensational effects . In order not to jeopardise the overall continuity of its work, the organisation deliberately refuses spectacular media coverage.
 
However, in cases that allow the presence of the media and if the integrity of the media is guaranteed, Animals’ Angels e.V. are pleased to work together with journalists.

Since 2004, Animals’ Angels e.V., with the support of the local authorities, have held police training courses in France, Italy, Germany, Greece, Hungary and Portugal as well as in Western Australia.
More than 2,000 policemen were taught the contents of current laws and regulations on animal transport as well as trained how to solve frequently occurring problems. They have learned how to effectively inspect animal transport trucks and have become sensitized to the needs of the animals.
 
In addition to that, the organisation has designed and developed a police manual that has already been published in Italian and French.  The manual is currently being revised following the new EU regulation that has come into force. Following that it will be translated into several other languages.

Veterinary officials often are under enormous pressure. Animals’ Angels e.V. are of the opinion that the working conditions of veterinarians must improve to enable them to become the natural allies of the animals again. For this reason, the organisation, in its fight against animal transports, is committed to enhancing the reputation and standing of the veterinary profession and tries to further cooperation in this field.

The commitment made by Animals’ Angels e.V. ensures that the subject of animal transportation does not disappear from the agenda of politicians and the authorities. The organisation’s work has not only led to tangible improvements for the animals on the roads, at the markets, loading stations and ports but also resulted in new laws and regulations.
Here are some examples:

• Thanks to the investigations carried out by Animals’ Angels e.V., a new EU Commission decision became effective on 23 December 2004 that almost brought the import of Romanian horses into the EU to a standstill.
• More frequent and more thorough inspections of animal transport trucks, thanks to the training of more than 2,000 policemen.
• Erection of a supply station for animals at Poland’s largest cattle and horse market in Bodzentyn.

18 September 1948: Born in Gießen/L., Germany
1966 – 1972: Study of theology in Hamburg and Heidelberg
1972 - 1978: Ordained vicar in Offenbach, afterwards, until 1999, unpaid church work in the parish of her husband Michael  Blanke
April 1986: „Hoechst, have mercy“ church service for “laboratory“ animals  in front of the factory gates of Hoechst in Frankfurt
1988: First church service with animals, broadcast nation-wide on TV
1989: Founder of a charity called AKUT e.V. (Church and Animals) together with her husband Michael Blanke
March 1995: First „Animal Death Transport“ campaign together with Dr. Madeleine Martin, the Hesse animal welfare officer. Trailing of an animal transport truck loaded with Polish “slaughter” horses from Frankfurt on the Oder, through all of Germany, in the direction of France
1996: Second church service with animals, broadcast nationwide on TV
1996: Trailing of animal transport trucks by the first four teams of volunteers
1998: Foundation of Animals’ Angels e.V.
2000: Leaving the church
2007: Foundation of Germany’s first retirement home for cows
 
Christa Blanke is a mother of three children and grandmother of a grandson.

1999: Animal welfare prize, awarded by the Hans Rönn Foundation
October 1999: “Franziskuspreis” awarded to Christa and Michael Blanke for their merits in the field of ‘animals and church’
November 1999: “Hessischer Tierschutzpreis” (animal welfare award from the German state of Hesse) for Christa Blanke’s dedication to the protection of “farm” and “slaughter” animals
February 2001: Lord-Houghton-Award. Christa Blanke is the first non-British recipient to receive the British prize, in acknowledgement of her merits and accomplishments in improving the transport conditions of “slaughter” animals in Europe
October 2004: Karl-Adolf-Laubscher-Preis, a prize awarded for environmental protection and animal welfare
December 2008: The prestigious German Order of Merit awarded by the state of Germany, acknowledging her work and achievements within the field of animal welfare

Christa Blanke’ s commitment to animal welfare was triggered more than 20 years ago, when the son of friends broke into an experimental animal testing laboratory. He was arrested and treated as a member of a terrorist organisation by the authorities.
 
Christa Blanke – shocked by this incident – began to actively carry out investigations into animal testing. She found out that Hoechst AG in Frankfurt, at the time, used more than half a million animals for experiments annually. To draw public attention to the suffering of these animals, the dedicated theologian held a church service in front of the Hoechst factory gates in 1986.