Donkeys can continue to go to school

Created: 01/13/2023 11:08 am

Anahid Klotz and Gerhard Gregori are relieved about the outcome of the long-standing dispute.

© DIETER ROETTIG

The animal-supported pedagogy in the Dießen Carl-Off-School with the animals from the Pähler Asinella donkey farm continues.

After years of legal disputes, Anahid Klotz and her husband Gerhard Gregori are now allowed to continue.

Dießen/Pähl

– The Asinella donkey farm in Pähl can be continued as “social farming” until the end of the operator's life, because the therapy work with the Pähl donkeys is recognized and has always been a concern of the Dießen Carl Orff School.

In addition to the focus on music, the former headmaster Michael Bauer introduced animal-assisted education with donkey hikes or visits to the schoolyard, among other things.

This work will be continued by his successor Michael Kramer.

And now that the settlement agreement has been concluded with the district office of Weilheim-Schongau, Klotz and Gregori can continue their work, albeit on a “more modest scale,” says Anahid Klotz, who is nonetheless happy.

Several small buildings need to be eliminated.

The house built by the previous owner in 1945, including the beehives, is still considered a black building and was actually supposed to be demolished.

Despite the present protocol from 1950, in which the then Pähler municipal council subsequently approved the construction.

According to the current settlement agreement, the building may now remain as a "shelter", but not be inhabited for fire protection reasons.

The remaining buildings on the site in Pähl-Hinterhadern are tolerated, but must be removed by the successors or heirs of Anahid Klotz (56) and Gerhard Gregori (55) as soon as they give up their jobs or die.

"God willing, we still have many years ahead of us," emphasizes Anahid Klotz.

She wants to "continue to run her smallholder and highly biodiverse farm with a focus on social farming with a unique selling point, full of conviction and heart."

On the eight hectares of land, it's not just about the donkeys, but also about cattle, goats, sheep, chickens and 28 bee colonies.

Anahid Klotz is happy that the exhausting and financially costly disputes with various authorities have finally found a relatively happy ending.

After various objections, expert opinions and a signature campaign with 7263 supporters, including a huge echo in the media, the case ended up twice before the petitions committee of the Bavarian state parliament, which ultimately pointed to the decision-making authority of the responsible authorities.

Anahid Klotz had fulfilled her lifelong dream with the expansion of the farm and donkey farm in 2005.

Fifteen years there were no problems until differences like the donkey evening hikes became a stumbling block.

And because there were no applications for agricultural privileges, which Anahid Klotz took for granted, the company was threatened with closure.

Her father-in-law bought the property in 1980 and from then on farmed it with his son Gerhard Gregori.

Dieter Rottig