Document type : Article published in Le Monde
Author: Mathilde Gérard
Preview: members of the French Assemblée Nationale voted in favour on first reading of a ban on the keeping of killer whales and dolphins in water parks and of wild animals in circuses.
This is not the great revolutionary animal rights law that some people had hoped for. But it is a document that could make history: on Friday 29 January, members of the French Assemblée Nationale voted, by 79 votes to 2, on the bill to combat animal cruelty, which was introduced by three elected members of the majority - Loïc Dombreval and Laëtitia Romeiro Dias (La République en Marche, LRM) and Dimitri Houbron (Agir Ensemble). An end to wild animals in circuses, cetaceans in dolphinariums and the farming of mink for their fur, stricter supervision of pet purchases and tougher penalties for mistreatment... The bill includes several measures that have long been called for by animal protection groups and by a majority of the French people, who are increasingly concerned over the fate of animals.
Throughout the three days of scrutiny in the chamber, several elected representatives, in particular those from La France Insoumise (LFI), constantly deplored the fact that the text excludes blood sports, cage rearing and bullfighting, thus, according to them, failing to meet its purpose. In fact, all the amendments relating to these practices had been declared inadmissible by the Assembly's Committee on Economic Affairs. Olivier Falorni (of the Libertés et Territoires party) had mocked it as a "Care Bears Bill", Bastien Lachaud (LFI) described it as "combatting the ill-treatment of certain animals only". The rapporteurs for the Bill defended its pragmatic approach, which undertook to progress matters that, although they might be less contentious, were equally necessary in their view.
