Document type: article published in La Voix le Bocage
Author: Nathan Blouin
Preview: Animal abandonment may be considered to be an act of abuse punishable by law, but it sadly remains a major issue. More so than ever, in fact. In a situation report carried out in July 2024, the French government remarked that, while it remains difficult to quantify precisely the exact number of abandoned animals, the number of those taken in by pounds and shelters - whether they have been abandoned or not - "is not falling and remains at around 200,000 animals a year", drawing on a study carried out by the French Reference Centre for Animal Welfare .
3677
This new toll-free number has been set up to report animal abuse, with lines open daily (9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at weekends).
"There's no more lull, it's endless"
For its part, the Stéphane Lamart Association for the Defence of Animal Rights (Association pour la défense des droits des animaux) referred in 2023 to "more than 300,000 abandoned animals per year", based on figures from the Solidarité-Peuple-Animal Association. Which amounts to more than one abandonment every two minutes. And this rate, contrary to expectation, does not concern - or no longer concerns - the summer season with its long holidays alone, but applies throughout the year . (...) At the Aunay Shelter, by August, 96 animals (85 dogs, 5 cats and 6 other small pets) had been accommodated since the beginning of the year.
Proposals to reverse the trend
But the Association and its Aunay Shelter are determined to address the root of the problem, in the hope of finally reversing the trend. To this end, they have called for a number of "priority" measures to be considered by the government.
The first would be to make sterilization of cats and dogs compulsory, with the introduction of a tax reduction or tax credit for private individuals to help with the cost. They then call for greater financial support for associations and shelters, for example through subsidies and by making veterinary fees VAT free, bringing down the spiraling cost of bills. This is because the adoption fee is not enough to cover all the expenses previously incurred for the animal. Failing this, the State should create more shelters. This last proposal would help to resolve, at least in part, the problem of enforced animal removals, i.e. animals that have to be taken into care following legal proceedings for animal abuse. (...) Last, the association calls for a total ban on the publication of animal sales on the Internet, and for greater supervision of breeding operations, which would "reduce the risk of animal trafficking and unwanted litters, and thus reduce abandonment".
For anyone wishing to help, the Aunay shelter is still in need of help from volunteers, and is appealing for donations of chew toys, which are essential to their charges on both a psychological and physiological level.
