Document type : press release of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty
Author: Marc Fesneau's press office
Preview: In France, Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories, and Marc Fesneau, Minister for Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, visited a pet shelter in Chamarande (Essonne) on January 27 to sign a partnership agreement between the two Ministries and the French Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA).
Our fellow citizens are justified in expecting the government to take steps to combat animal abuse and improve animal welfare and, for this reason, the government has prioritised action in this area. Their commitment to increase the effectiveness of their joint working has led the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas Territories, the Ministry for Agriculture and Food Sovereignty and the SPA to sign a partnership agreement on January 27.
This agreement creates the first dedicated interministerial network of investigators of animal abuse on a national scale. The arrangement provides for the appointment of an investigator or advisor in:
- each police district,
- the gendarmerie brigade for each département,
- each departmental directorate in charge of population protection (DDPP).
With 23,800 reports of abuse or illegal trade recorded in France in 2022, the agents who make up this new network can be contacted as needed by the SPA as part of the fight against animal abuse.
The network of investigators will improve information sharing between the services of the Ministry for Agriculture (which carries out more than 14,500 animal-welfare inspections each year) and the forces of the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas Territories (police and national gendarmerie). This agreement will also facilitate the reporting of information by SPA teams, whose Investigation Unit receives a large number of reports of abuse each year.
Such partnership agreements are to be extended to other associations and foundations whose usual activities include the protection of animals and who wish to strengthen their collaboration with State services.
Last, the deepening of the collaboration between the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas Territories and the Ministry for Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, particularly in terms of the training of operatives, will constitute an important area of activity in 2023.
