This is a translation for your convenience; only the German version is legally binding.
With the following privacy policy, we would like to inform you about which types of your personal data (hereinafter also referred to as "data") we process, for what purposes and to what extent. This privacy policy applies to all processing of personal data carried out by us, both in the context of the use of this website and its functions and within external online presences, such as our social media profiles (hereinafter collectively referred to as "online offering").
The terms used are not gender-specific.
As of: 10.11.2026
The controller within the meaning of the GDPR is:
Animal Passion e.V.
Bachgasse 2
79108 Freiburg
Contact for data protection enquiries: datenschutz@animalpassion.info
Legal notice: animalpassion.info/en/legal-notice
The following overview summarises the types of data processed and the purposes of their processing and refers to the data subjects concerned.
Types of data processed: Master data (e.g. names, addresses), contact data (e.g. email addresses), content data (e.g. contents of emails), usage data (e.g. websites visited, access times), meta, communication and procedural data (e.g. IP addresses, device information).
Categories of data subjects: Communication partners, users (e.g. website visitors).
Purposes of processing: Contact requests and communication, including via social media; provision of the online offering and security measures; consent management; provision of embedded content (e.g. podcast player).
Below, we set out the legal bases of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on the basis of which we process personal data. Please note that, in addition to the provisions of the GDPR, the national data protection requirements in your or our country of residence or domicile may apply. If more specific legal bases are relevant in individual cases, we will inform you of these in this privacy policy.
Consent (Art. 6(1)(1)(a) GDPR): The data subject has given consent to the processing of personal data concerning them for one or more specific purposes.
Performance of a contract and pre-contractual enquiries (Art. 6(1)(1)(b) GDPR): Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract.
Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR): Processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data.
National data protection regulations in Germany: In addition to the data protection provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation, national data protection regulations apply in Germany. These include in particular the Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz – BDSG) and the Telecommunications Digital Services Data Protection Act (Telekommunikation-Digitale-Dienste-Datenschutz-Gesetz – TDDDG).
In accordance with the legal requirements and taking into account the state of the art, the costs of implementation and the nature, scope, context and purposes of processing, as well as the risk of varying likelihood and severity for the rights and freedoms of natural persons, we implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk.
These measures include, in particular, safeguarding the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data by controlling physical and electronic access to the data as well as access to, input, disclosure, ensuring availability and separation of the data. Furthermore, we have established procedures that ensure the exercise of data subjects' rights, the deletion of data and responses to threats to the data. We also take the protection of personal data into account as early as the development or selection of hardware, software and procedures, in line with the principles of data protection by design and by default.
In the course of our processing of personal data, the data may be transferred or disclosed to other bodies, companies, legally independent organisational units or persons. Recipients of this data include service providers commissioned with IT tasks or providers of services and content that are embedded in a website. In such cases, we comply with the legal requirements and, in particular, conclude appropriate contracts or agreements with the recipients of your data that serve to protect your data.
We maintain online presences on social networks and process user data in this context in order to communicate with the users active there or to provide information about us.
Please note that user data may be processed outside the European Union. This may result in risks for users, for example because it could make it more difficult to enforce users' rights.
Furthermore, user data within social networks is generally processed for market research and advertising purposes. For example, usage profiles can be created based on user behaviour and the resulting interests of users. These usage profiles can in turn be used, for example, to place advertisements within and outside the networks that presumably correspond to the interests of the users. For these purposes, cookies are generally stored on the users' computers, in which the usage behaviour and interests of the users are stored. Furthermore, data can also be stored in the usage profiles independently of the devices used by the users (in particular if the users are members of the respective platforms and are logged in to them).
For a detailed description of the respective forms of processing and the options to object (opt-out), please refer to the privacy policies and information provided by the operators of the respective networks.
In the case of requests for information and the assertion of data subject rights, we would also like to point out that these can be asserted most effectively with the providers. Only the providers have access to the users' data and can take appropriate measures and provide information directly. Should you nevertheless need help, you can contact us.
Types of data processed: Master data (e.g. names, addresses), contact data (e.g. email, telephone numbers), content data (e.g. text entries, photographs, videos).
Data subjects: Users (e.g. website visitors, users of online services).
Purposes of processing: Contact requests and communication.
Legal bases: Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR).
Services and service providers used:
Instagram: Social network; service provider: Instagram Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, USA; website: https://www.instagram.com; privacy policy: https://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy.
Facebook: Social network; service provider: Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland, parent company: Facebook, 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA; website: https://www.facebook.com; privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy; option to object (opt-out): ad settings: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads; additional data protection information: agreement on the joint processing of personal data on Facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/page_controller_addendum, privacy notice for Facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/information_about_page_insights_data.
In order to provide our online offering securely and efficiently, we use the services of a web hosting provider from whose servers (or servers managed by it) the online offering can be accessed. In doing so, the data that your browser automatically transmits when you visit our website is processed, in particular your IP address. The IP address is necessary to deliver the content of our online offering to your browser.
Server log files: Access to our online offering is logged in the form of so-called server log files. These include access logs, which record every retrieval of a page or file, and error logs, which record technical errors during retrieval. Server log files may include the address and name of the web pages and files accessed, the date and time of access, the amount of data transferred, notification of successful retrieval, browser type and version, the operating system, the referrer URL (the previously visited page) and the IP address. We use the server log files to ensure IT security: they enable us to detect and fend off attacks (e.g. overload attacks, automated login or spying attempts), to trace and investigate security incidents after the fact, and to fix technical errors and ensure the stability and load capacity of the servers. As attacks and security incidents are often only noticed after a delay, it is necessary to retain the data for a certain period. The log files are rotated daily, stored for a maximum of 14 days and then automatically deleted. They are not combined with other data sources or analysed to create user profiles. Data whose further retention is necessary for evidentiary purposes is excluded from deletion until the respective incident has been finally clarified.
Types of data processed: Usage data (e.g. websites visited, access times), meta, communication and procedural data (e.g. IP addresses, time information, browser and device information).
Data subjects: Users (e.g. website visitors, users of online services).
Purposes of processing: Provision of our online offering; IT security and security measures (Art. 32 GDPR); ensuring the stability of the servers.
Legal bases: Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR). Our legitimate interest lies in the secure, stable and efficient provision of our online offering and in detecting, fending off and investigating attacks on our systems.
Services and service providers used:
Hetzner: Services in the field of providing information technology infrastructure and related services (e.g. storage space and computing capacity); service provider: Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany; server location: Germany; website: https://www.hetzner.com; privacy policy: https://www.hetzner.com/de/legal/privacy-policy; data processing agreement: provided by the service provider (Art. 28 GDPR).
If you contact us by email, we process your details (e.g. name, email address and content of the message) in order to answer your enquiry. The data is deleted as soon as the enquiry has been dealt with and no statutory retention obligations prevent deletion.
We use Microsoft 365 to receive, send and store emails. Your emails are processed and stored on Microsoft servers. Please note that emails are generally not necessarily encrypted in transit and may have security vulnerabilities.
Types of data processed: Master data (e.g. names), contact data (e.g. email addresses), content data (e.g. contents of emails), meta, communication and procedural data (e.g. IP addresses, time information).
Data subjects: Communication partners.
Purposes of processing: Contact requests and communication; office and organisational procedures.
Legal bases: Performance of a contract and pre-contractual enquiries (Art. 6(1)(1)(b) GDPR); legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR). Our legitimate interest lies in answering enquiries and in efficient, secure communication.
Services and service providers used:
Microsoft 365: Email hosting and office software; service provider: Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited, One Microsoft Place, South County Business Park, Leopardstown, Dublin 18, Ireland; website: https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/microsoft-365; privacy policy: https://privacy.microsoft.com/de-de/privacystatement; data processing agreement: https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/docs/view/Microsoft-Products-and-Services-Data-Protection-Addendum-DPA; basis for third-country transfers: Microsoft may also process data in the USA. This is based on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (adequacy decision, Art. 45 GDPR) and standard contractual clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR).
Cookies are small text files or other storage entries that store information on and read information from end devices. We ourselves do not set any cookies; we only store your privacy settings in your browser's local storage. Third-party cookies are only set once you have consented to the embedding of the respective content.
Consent management: When you first visit our website, we ask you via a "Privacy settings" dialog whether you agree to external content. We store your choice under the entry "consent" in your browser's local storage. It records the consents given, a timestamp and the version of the settings. After 12 months, or if the available settings change, we will ask you again. The entry is necessary to respect your choice. It is not transmitted to our server or to third parties and remains stored until you delete it in your browser.
Legal bases: § 25(2) No. 2 TDDDG (strictly necessary storage); Art. 6(1)(1)(c) GDPR (legal obligation to demonstrate consent) and Art. 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in managing consents).
Withdrawing and changing your consent: You can withdraw or change your consent at any time with effect for the future. To do so, click "Cookie settings" in the footer of any page. You can also delete cookies and website data at any time in your browser settings.
We embed content from third-party providers on our website, for example podcast episodes on our press page. Embedding requires the third-party providers to process your IP address, as they could not send the content to your browser without it. We therefore only load this content after you have given your consent. Until then, only a placeholder is displayed and no data is transmitted to the third-party provider.
Types of data processed: Usage data (e.g. websites visited, interest in content, access times), meta, communication and procedural data (e.g. IP addresses, time information, browser and device information).
Data subjects: Users (e.g. website visitors, users of online services).
Purposes of processing: Provision of our online offering and user-friendliness; playback of audio content.
Legal bases: Consent (Art. 6(1)(1)(a) GDPR, § 25(1) TDDDG).
Services and service providers used:
Spotify: Embedded audio player for podcast episodes; service provider: Spotify AB, Regeringsgatan 19, 111 53 Stockholm, Sweden; website: https://www.spotify.com; privacy policy: https://www.spotify.com/de/legal/privacy-policy/; cookie policy: https://www.spotify.com/de/legal/cookies-policy/. After you give your consent, your browser loads the player from Spotify's servers. In doing so, Spotify receives, among other things, your IP address and information about which page you visited, and may set cookies (e.g. "sp_t", "sp_landing") with a storage period of up to one year. If you are logged in to Spotify, Spotify may associate the usage with your account. Spotify may also transfer data to third countries such as the USA; according to its own information, Spotify bases such transfers on adequacy decisions of the EU Commission (e.g. EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework) or standard contractual clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR).
The data processed by us will be deleted in accordance with the legal requirements as soon as the consents permitting its processing are withdrawn or other permissions cease to apply (e.g. if the purpose of processing this data no longer applies or it is no longer required for the purpose).
If the data is not deleted because it is required for other, legally permissible purposes, its processing will be restricted to these purposes. This means that the data will be blocked and not processed for other purposes. This applies, for example, to data that must be retained for commercial or tax law reasons or whose storage is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person.
Further information on the deletion of personal data may also be provided in the individual data protection notices of this privacy policy.
We ask you to regularly inform yourself about the content of our privacy policy. We will adapt the privacy policy as soon as changes in the data processing we carry out make this necessary. We will inform you as soon as the changes require an act of cooperation on your part (e.g. consent) or other individual notification.
Where we provide addresses and contact information of companies and organisations in this privacy policy, please note that addresses may change over time and please check the information before contacting them.
As a data subject, you are entitled to various rights under the GDPR, which arise in particular from Art. 15 to 18 and 21 GDPR:
Right to object: You have the right to object at any time, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to the processing of personal data concerning you which is based on Art. 6(1)(e) or (f) GDPR; this also applies to profiling based on these provisions. Where personal data concerning you is processed for direct marketing purposes, you have the right to object at any time to the processing of personal data concerning you for such marketing; this also applies to profiling to the extent that it is related to such direct marketing.
Right to withdraw consent: You have the right to withdraw consent you have given at any time.
Right of access: You have the right to obtain confirmation as to whether data concerning you is being processed and to access this data as well as further information and a copy of the data in accordance with the legal requirements.
Right to rectification: In accordance with the legal requirements, you have the right to request the completion of data concerning you or the rectification of inaccurate data concerning you.
Right to erasure and restriction of processing: In accordance with the legal requirements, you have the right to request that data concerning you be erased without undue delay or, alternatively, in accordance with the legal requirements, to request restriction of the processing of the data.
Right to data portability: You have the right to receive data concerning you that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format in accordance with the legal requirements, or to request its transmission to another controller.
Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority: In accordance with the legal requirements, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement, if you consider that the processing of personal data concerning you infringes the GDPR.
This section provides an overview of the terms used in this privacy policy. Many of the terms are taken from the law and are defined primarily in Art. 4 GDPR. The legal definitions are binding. The following explanations, on the other hand, are primarily intended to aid understanding. The terms are sorted alphabetically.
Personal data: "Personal data" means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter "data subject"); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier (e.g. cookie) or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.
Controller: "Controller" means the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.
Processing: "Processing" means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data, whether or not by automated means. The term is broad and covers practically any handling of data, be it collection, analysis, storage, transmission or deletion.