Document type : Article published in Le Monde
Author: Le Monde, with AFP
Preview: The certificate will cover care and vaccination requirements and the costs associated with animal ownership: food, vet bills...
On the evening of Tuesday 26 January, the French National Assembly was unanimous in giving the green light to the new "certificate of knowledge" to be signed by all new animal owners, a key measure in a majority bill against animal cruelty.
The certificate will cover care and vaccination requirements and the costs associated with animal ownership: food, vet bills.. It should help to raise awareness of what it means to acquire an animal, said the Minister of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie, speaking in support of this bill which reflects the concerns of society and also addresses the welfare of dolphins, mink and other wild animals [...].
Other clauses include commitments by the government to implement a progressive ban on the keeping of wild animals in travelling circuses and dolphinariums, the presence of wild animals on television sets, in discos or at private parties, on keeping bears and wolves for show and the farming of mink.
Before the debates began in the chamber, supporters and opponents of the bill had gathered near the Palais-Bourbon. On one side, members of the Parti Animaliste and groups such as One Voice and L214 demanded that the measures should go further than planned, writes an Agence France-Presse journalist.
On the other, representatives of travelling circuses, such as the Lydia Zavatta Circus and the Roman Grand Circus, protested against "Minister Pompili's arbitrary announcements" (on ecological transition), which deal the final blow in the proposal for the progressive banning of wild animals in travelling circuses.
Barbara Pompili assured the parliamentary representatives that she wanted to "move forward together with the professionals, not against them". "The State will be there" to "support them in finding new professions" and "create places" to welcome their animals, the minister repeated.
