Posted: Nov 20, 2021 16:35 GMT
The document also toughens the penalties for mistreatment or abandonment of pets, as well as progressively limiting the use of wild animals in circuses and dolphinariums.
The French Parliament finally approved this Thursday, through a final Senate vote, a bill against animal abuse. The regulations prohibit the sale of cats and dogs in pet shops, toughen penalties for abuse or neglect, as well as progressively limit the use of wild animals in circuses and dolphinariums.
Pets are “neither toys nor consumer goods”
The range of measures is aimed primarily at companion animals, which are “neither toys nor consumer goods,” according to the country’s Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie, quoted by Le Parisien. “This is a breakthrough in the fight against pet abandonment! “he tweeted.
One in two French people owns a pet, but about 100,000 pets are abandoned each year. To avoid impulse purchases, a “certificate of commitment and knowledge” will be issued prior to any purchase. Selling puppies and kittens in pet stores will be prohibited as of January 1, 2024: the display of these animals will no longer be allowed in shop windows. In addition, the sale of pets online will be better regulated.
Regarding the increase in criminal penalties, deliberate killing of a pet will be a crime and no longer a simple fine. People convicted of ill-treatment will have to undergo an awareness course. Meanwhile, those who are prohibited from having a pet will be registered in a file.
Thousands of wild animals in circuses
The main bone of contention was at first the fate of the thousand wild animals of the 120 current traveling circuses: their presentation to the public will be prohibited within a period of two years and its conservation within a period of seven years. The holding of cetaceans in dolphinariums –21 dolphins and 4 killer whales in France– will be prohibited within a period of five years.
“How are we going to feed our animals for seven years and re-train them at the same time? It’s impossible,” said William Kerwich, president of the circus and show animal owners union. “It is an arbitrary law because there is no animal abuse in our circuses“, he told ., promising a” mobilization “next Monday.
“The Government will be there to support these professionals” with a view to solutions for animals, promised the Secretary of State for Biodiversity, Bérangère Abba.
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