Document type : Press release from the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food
Preview: In France, between 750,000 and a million pets are adopted every year. However, France is also the holder of the sorry record of over 100,000 abandonments per year.
On Monday 21 December 2020, the French Minister of Agriculture and Food set out an unprecedented plan to effectively combat this scourge.
It is accompanied by a charter signed by the veterinary associations and the Leboncoin platform, and is based on three sets of actions: awareness-raising, organisation and support, and the imposition of penalties.
An action plan in 3 parts
Awareness-raising
- Establish an awareness certificate for all adoptions and acquisitions.
- Raise awareness of pet welfare starting in primary school.
- Prohibit the sale of dogs or cats from mobile vehicles.
- Engage internet platforms in the oversight of online sales.
Organisation and support
- Invest in the infrastructure of shelters and associations.
- Contribute to the financing of campaigns to sterilize stray animals.
- Facilitate access to veterinary care for those with the lowest incomes.
- Create a monitoring body for the protection of domestic carnivores.
Penalties
- Strengthen penalties for animal abuse.
- Extend certification in identification checks to rural and urban law officers.
Available to download
– Dossier de presse du plan d’actions pour lutter contre l’abandon des animaux de compagnie (Press pack, PDF, 302.92 KB)
– Charte d’engagements en faveur de la protection et du bien-être des animaux de compagnie faisant l’objet d’une transaction via une plateforme de vente en ligne (Charter for online sales, PDF, 320.81 KB)
Publication discussed in many articles, including :
- Press release from the Ordre national des vétérinaires, 21 December 2020: Achats en ligne d’animaux de compagnie : une Charte d’engagements en faveur de leur protection et de leur bien-être
- Le Monde, 21 December 2020 : Le gouvernement annonce un plan pour lutter contre l’abandon des animaux de compagnie
- Sud Ouest, 21 December 2020: Abandons : comment le gouvernement veut mieux protéger les animaux de compagnie
- Huffington Post (French), December 28, 2020: Macron met son chien Nemo en scène contre l’abandon d’animaux
