Document type : article published in Public Sénat
Author: François Vignal
Preview: Well here's a thing. In the flurry of amendments to the 2024 budget agreed by the French government under Article 49.3, one measure has slipped through unnoticed.The government has retainedan amendmenttabled by Corinne Vignon, the elected representative for Haute-Garonne, which provides for 3 million euros to be allocated to local administrations to "support the sterilization of felines", in other words, cats.
An exceptional allocation for 2024 only"
This issue soon surfaced again in the course of the Senate's debate on the Finance Bill. Dominique Faure, the Minister for Territorial Collectivities and Rurality, defended as "a technical amendment" the plan to divert 3 million euros earmarked by the Assembly for a different budget, that of "concours spécifiques et administration". It was approved by the Finance Committee (see the video below).
The government has thus "suspended ringfencing" for the deputies' amendment (since members of parliament cannot create new expenditure, but must creatively offset any new credit line with an equivalent saving elsewhere). The government's amendment states: "This is an exceptional funding allocation for 2024 only, the purpose of which is to help local authorities to pay for the sterilization of stray and domestic cats".
"The failure of cat owners to sterilize their cats is the top cause of abuse, abandonment and, ultimately, euthanasia."
Although some might smile at the subject, it is a very serious one. "The French craze for cats continues to grow, and the domestic cat population rose from 10.9 million in 2010 to 13.5 in 2016, an increase of around 400,000 cats a year. In 4 years, a pair of cats can be responsible for more than 20,000 births," explains the Renaissance Party Deputies' amendment.
" In 2017, an estimated 11 to 12 million stray cats were on the streets in France, with an average of 80% of those entering a pound undergoing euthanization. Cats have become the victims of their domestication, and the amendment warns that "their owners' failure to sterilize them is the top cause of abuse, abandonment and, ultimately, euthanasia", not to mention the "diseases that can be spread by stray cats". Given the figures quoted, the 3 million euros will in reality provide only limited sterilization assistance, as the amendment explains:
"Currently, almost 20% of the 15 million domestic cats [in France] are unsterilized, i.e. 3 million cats. And 3 million euros would enable around 30,000 cats to be sterilized."
As the deputies point out: " During the debates on the parliamentary bill on animal abuse, the question of the sterilization of free cats by local authorities was discussed, and a final decision was postponed until the submission within 6 months of a report providing an estimate of associated costs", adding that "the main obstacle to the sterilization of domestic animals today indeed lies in its cost, which can be more than €200 for a cat". Additionally, "the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals, ratified by France on July 8, 2003, called on the participating States to discourage unplanned reproduction in pets". France therefore has a duty to take action in the matter of stray cats.
