Document type: reply to question n°128 published in the Journal officiel de la République française
Authors: question : Mme Maud Petit (Val-de-Marne (4th district) - Les Démocrates). Answer: Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.
Question: Maud Petit alerts the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry to animal euthanasia being carried out in France and the Drom-Com. In particular, she alerts her to the abusive "euthanasia" being carried out in the vast majority of animal pounds. Based on data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, the Animal Cross Association estimated that, in 2016, out of a total of 112,508 animals, 8,428 dogs and 19,450 cats had been euthanized without justification on health grounds in shelters and pounds. To this can be added the "comfort euthanasia" carried out by vets in their surgeries. According to a study carried out by Claire Borrou-Mens, veterinary advisor for the Grand-Est Region, there are some 40,000 such cases every year. Given that these data come from a variety of sources, the MP asks the Minister whether it would be possible to establish an observatory that would bring together the Ministry, associations, professionals in the sector and members of parliament, to record the case numbers for pet euthanasia in France. Having been alerted by the Amis de Sam association, the Deputy asks the Minister how this practice might be stopped. She asks to what extent the existence of kitten and puppy fairs, and the sale of pets on social networks by pet shops or private individuals might not encourage it. Many of these pets are bought on impulse and without due thought over the internet, and many are often abandoned, ending up in already overcrowded pounds. She therefore asks what measures the Minister could put in place to regulate the pet trade and thereby put a stop to pet euthanasia.
Answer: Pet welfare is a government priority. A plan dedicated to this issue was published on May 22, 2024 to extend the positive momentum established since 2020 through the France Relance plan. The Observatory for the Protection of Domestic Carnivores (OCAD) was set up by the Minister for Agriculture in May 2021 to identify, monitor and assess the situation of dogs, cats and ferrets in France, with a view to providing objective evidence on the facts and contributing to the development of public policies on animal protection. OCAD brings together all the players involved in animal protection: representatives of associations, pounds, breeders, pet shops, veterinarians, pedigree and studbook managers, manufacturers, the French Mayors' Association, the National Reference Center for Animal Welfare (FRCAW) and the French Ministry of Agriculture, in a steering committee responsible for the definition of OCAD's main working guidelines. One of OCAD's priority missions is to better qualify and quantify dog and cat abandonment, in order to organize actions to combat it. A first report has been published by its expert body, the FRCAW, and a second referral is currently underway with the aim of defining a common definition of abandonment in order to better quantify it. This second referral also aims to provide details of the reasons for which animals enter and leave shelters (pounds, shelters and associations without shelters). Euthanasia will be included among these reasons, so that it can be characterised and better evaluated. According to an October 12, 2020 press release on animal euthanasia issued by the French National Veterinary Association, euthanasia is generally carried out for medical reasons, when there is no alternative to alleviate pain or suffering, but in certain specific situations it can be motivated by non-medical reasons. In such cases, it is up to the veterinarian to assess these reasons in the light of his or her code of ethics and conscience. It is also the veterinarian's responsibility to seek alternative solutions wherever possible. In all cases, each veterinarian makes his or her decisions independently, respects the animals, and is responsible for his or her decisions and actions [article R. 242-33 of the French Rural and Maritime Fishing Code (CRPM)]. The Conseil National de l'Ordre des Vétérinaires defines veterinary euthanasia as follows: "Animal euthanasia is a veterinary act consisting of inducing the death of an animal by a parenteral route, resulting in the rapid and irreversible loss of consciousness with a minimum of pain and distress, and carried out in accordance with good professional practice. The veterinarian performs euthanasia after assessing the need and obtaining the informed consent of the owner. The act of animal euthanasia may be justified by a medical reason (a state of health, intense suffering experienced by the animal or those surrounding it), by a regulatory reason, or by an overriding reason of general health or environmental interest". In this sense, the OCAD's work will enable us to better characterise and quantify abandonment and euthanasia. Further, the pet trade is governed by Article L. 214-8 of the CRPM, which stipulates, among other things: the list of documents to be issued in the event of the transfer of a pet; that only dogs and cats over eight weeks old may be transferred; the obligation to sign a certificate of commitment and knowledge; the rules governing the transfer of pets online; etc. Article L. 214-8-1 of the same code sets out the compulsory information to be included in offers of sale, while the following article, L. 214-8-2, provides for a monitoring system and a label for sales offers of domestic carnivores. The aim of all these measures is to provide a framework for the sale of animals, make future purchasers more aware of their responsibilities and promote responsible adoption.
