At the end of the nineteenth century, kosher butchering and vivisection were the main concerns regarding animal protection in Germany. These concerns continued among the Nazis.[7] According to Boria Sax, the Nazis rejected anthropocentric reasons for animal protection—animals were not to be protected for human interests—but for themselves.[8] In 1927, a Nazi representative to the Reichstag called for actions against cruelty to animals and kosher butchering.[7]

In 1931, the Nazi party proposed a ban on vivisection. In early 1933, representatives of the Nazi Party to the Prussian parliament held a meeting to enact this ban. On April 21, 1933, almost immediately after the Nazis came to power, the parliament began to pass laws for the regulation of animal slaughter.[7] On April 21, a law was passed concerning the slaughter of animals. On April 24, Order of the Prussian Ministry of the Interior was enacted regarding the slaughter of poikilotherms.[9] Germany was the first nation to ban vivisection.[10] A law imposing total ban on vivisection was enacted on August 16, 1933, by Hermann Göring as the prime minister of Prussia.[11] He announced an end to the "unbearable torture and suffering in animal experiments" and said that those who "still think they can continue to treat animals as inanimate property" will be sent to concentration camps.[7]

I can't help but think there was some anti-Jewish agenda here. They also lumped in bans on kosher butchering, which would have made it harder for Jews to find food. And Germans supported it because it meant an end to vivisection. After reading this, I don't think the Nazis were being animal lovers so much as they were sneaking in ways to attack Jews, even just after being elected.