The or GEH is a German national association for the conservation of historic and endangered

domestic animal This page gives a list of domesticated animals, also including a list of animals which are or may be currently undergoing the process of domestication and animals that have an extensive relationship with humans beyond simple predation. This includ ...

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slight ...

History

The GEH was founded on 5 December 1981 in the Rottal, in

Lower Bavaria Lower Bavaria (german: Niederbayern, Bavarian: ''Niedabayern'') is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the east of the state. Geography Lower Bavaria is subdivided into two regions () – Landshut and Donau ...

in southern Germany. It has about 2100 members. Since it was founded, no domestic livestock breed has become extinct in Germany.

Activities

The GEH co-operates with other national and international organisations for the conservation of

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') le ...

. It publishes an annual

Rote Liste The , full name , is a red list of threatened breeds of domestic animal published annually by the Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen, the German national association for the conservation of historic and endanger ...

or red list of

endangered breed In modern agriculture, a rare breed is a breed of poultry or livestock that has a very small breeding population, usually from a few hundred to a few thousand. Because of their small numbers, rare breeds may have a threatened conservation status ...

s of livestock, which attributes one of four categories of conservation risk to domestic breeds of cattle, dogs, goats, horses, pigs, rabbits and sheep, of chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys, and of bees; listing of domestic pigeon breeds is in preparation. Some breeds from outside Germany are listed separately. The four levels of risk are: * I: ', "extremely endangered" * II: ', "seriously endangered" * III: ', "endangered" * ', "alert" The risk level is calculated using a formula that takes into account five criteria: the number of breeding animals or breeding females; the percentage of pure-bred matings; the five-year trend in breed numbers; the number of breeders or herds; and the interval between generations of the animal. The GEH also publishes, in conjunction with the , the German national association of poultry breeders, a separate list of the historic poultry breeds and colour varieties that were raised in Germany before 1930. The same levels of conservation risk are assigned as in the main red list.

Endangered breed of the year

Since 1984 the GEH has each year named one or more animal breeds as "endangered breed of the year". To date, these have been: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Note

References

Agriculture in Germany Biodiversity Conservation and environmental foundations Sustainable agriculture Rare breed conservation Animal welfare organisations based in Germany 1981 establishments in Germany {{Germany-stub