Citizens, associations and authorities are advised in questions of faunistic and floristic species protection as well as biotope protection by

• the Thuringian State Office for the Environment, Mining and Nature Conservation as the upper nature conservation authority,
• the lower nature conservation authorities in the counties and independent cities, and
• the Thuringian State Office for the Environment, Mining and Nature Conservation as the state agency.

The lower nature conservation authorities are responsible for the implementation of all measures and actions in the field of species protection, thus also for the issuance of species protection exemptions and exemptions from species protection regulations. In connection with specially protected species this concerns

• prohibitions on catching, killing and possession,
• the keeping of and trade in specimens of specially protected species,
• the marking of specimens of specially protected species

and in connection with species that are not specially protected

• permission to commercially collect wild plants and wild animals, unless hunting or fishing rights take precedence.

Information on whether a species is designated as specially protected can be obtained from the Scientific Information System on International Species Protection (WISIA) of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation.