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Maltraitance animale : le Sénat vote un texte en grande partie édulcoré

By October 1st 2021October 12th, 2021No Comments

Document type : Article published in Le Monde

Author: Le Monde, with AFP

Preview: The bill will now return to the French Assemblée Nationale, which will have the final say if agreement cannot be reached. Animal rights groups are keeping up the pressure.

The French Senate,which is dominated by right-wing opposition parties, gave a very broad green light on Thursday 30 September during the first reading of a bill to strengthen the fight against animal abuse, but with modifications permitting the continued existence of pet shops and presence of wild animals in travelling circuses and dolphinariums.

"This is no longer the time for half measures or, worse, for pretence", said the Minister for Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, at the start of the morning's discussion of the legislation proposed by the presidential majority, which had been adopted almost unanimously at first reading by the Assemblée Nationale in January in a bolder form.

Parliamentarians and Senators will now try to reach an agreement that will allow a definitive and speedy ratification, failing which the Assemblée Nationale will be given the final word. The legislation is intended to help prevent the impulse purchase of pets, which results in too many abandonments, and also to increase the penalties for abuse.

Each year, 100,000 animals are abandoned in France; in the summer of 2021 alone, a record number of nearly 16,900 animals were taken in by the Société protectrice des animaux (SPA), including 11,669 cats. The bill introduces a certificate of knowledge and commitment that is to be issued on the acquisition of a pet; this will set out owners' obligations in terms of veterinary care and vaccination and the costs that should be anticipated (food, veterinary bills, etc.).

The Senate adopted this "step forward" in the Chamber, but stepped back from the projected total ban on the sale of cats and dogs in pet shops, which had been agreed in the Assemblée Nationale. Instead, the elected representatives of the upper chamber have, in particular, introduced a ban on the display of animals in shop windows or their delivery by post, have reinforced measures against the introduction of dogs from Eastern Europe, and have introduced the creation of a formal partnership between animal shelters, other types of animal protection associations and pet shops.

"There is no market that will be more regulated," assured the Chair of the Senate's economic affairs committee, Sophie Primas (Les Républicains, LR), in response to her ecologist and left-wing colleagues who wanted to reinstate the sales ban.

Although they are in agreement that internet sales must be regulated, the Senate and the government have not yet reached agreement on how this should be achieved. The Senate adopted, for lack of a better alternative, a measure proposed by the rapporteur (LR, Seine-et-Marne) Anne Chain-Larché, that required the approval of premises, whereas the government recommends the authorisation of sales according to detailed criteria. "It is an absolute red line that such internet sales must be regulated," emphasised the Minister for Agriculture, Julien Denormandie.

The fate of dolphinariums remains undecided

The Senate also refused to make it a statutory duty for mayors to ensure the microchipping and sterilisation of stray cats unless additional resources were provided by the State. The cost of this is estimated to be between €1.5 billion and €2.5 billion, and the Ministry of Agriculture hopes to reach "common ground" in the course of the next stages of parliamentary procedure.

The evening session saw discussion by the upper chamber of a progressive ban on the keeping of wild animals in travelling circuses and dolphinariums. This measure, which had been passed by the Assemblée Nationale, was voted down by senators.

Instead, they have proposed that an expert committee should work on new regulations for dolphinariums, which currently have no way of resolving the problem of their cetacean's future. In the case of travelling circuses, a list of banned animal species would be published by decree, following advice from a specialist advisory group.

The rapporteur stated that, "Rather than taking an ideological stance", she had argued for a "compromise" and eliminated any "distortions" produced by the bill. Ms Pompili had earlier insisted on the need to "agree collectively that it is no longer reasonable to transport elephants, sea lions or wild animals from town to town" and on the need to "put an end to the presence of dolphins and orcas" in dolphinariums.

In the final stages of the debate, the senators did then vote to ban mink farming immediately. As for hunting with hounds, cockfighting, bullfighting, and intensive farming, the Left, while it approved the bill, deplored the fact that the legislation addressed only "a small number of abuses", expressing regret that it was not possible to take action against what were described as "practices from another age", by the ecologist party member, Daniel Salmon (Ille-et-Vilaine).

For their part, animal protection groups are keeping up the pressure. Speaking for the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, Christophe Marie condemned what he called "a retrograde Senate, incapable of seeing what the public expects of it". The SPA criticised the Senate's " dangerous backtracking, which", it said, "betrays a backward-looking stance on the issue of respect for animals".

The Chair of the Parti Animaliste, Hélène Thouy, had brought along several dozen supporters to protest in front of the Senate that afternoon, criticising "the cynicism and anti-democratic spirit that weigh on animals' lives".

See other articles on the same topic published in :

- CNews, 29 September 2021 : Maltraitance animale : une loi qui a du plomb dans l’aile

- Le Dauphiné libéré, 30 September 2021 : Maltraitance animale, bien-être animal : un enjeu très politique

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