Law against animal abuse: here is what will now be prohibited – actu.fr

After nearly a year of back and forth between the two chambers of the French Parliament, the law aimed at combating animal abuse has been definitively adopted this Thursday, November 18, 2021 by a Senate vote, two days after that of the National Assembly.

Progressive ban on wild animals in circuses and dolphinariums, end of the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores, tougher penalties for abuse or abandonment … The adoption of this vast text is perceived as a new “historic step in the fight for the animal cause” by the LREM-Agir majority, even if some elected officials and associations regret the update. deviation of certain points from the initial bill.

Many emotions at the end of the vote of the #PPLAnimals a societal law which aims to send a clear message: the Animal is not an entertaining object but a living being, sensitive to whom we owe protection. France is now taking a long-awaited big step! pic.twitter.com/od678nNh0H

– Laëtitia Romeiro Dias (@ Romeiro1L) November 16, 2021

here is the main provisions adopted and the subjects on which the debates stumbled.

A certificate of adoption for pets

One in two French people owns a pet, that is to say more than nine million dogs, fifteen million cats, a million equines. To remind you that they are not “No toys, no consumable goods”, in the words of the Minister of Agriculture Julien Denormandie, the law pays particular attention to the fight against dropouts (100,000 animals are abandoned each year).

From now on, any person “who acquires for payment or free of charge a pet signs a certificate of commitment and knowledge of needs specific to the species ”. And any person transferring an animal must ensure that the purchaser has signed the said certificate, the text being very clear: “the transfer of the animal cannot take place less than seven days after the issuance of the certificate to the transferee”.

The precise content of this document will be defined by decree, but the general idea is to recall the costs represented by a cat, a dog or a horse (food, veterinarian, education…) and the obligations of care and vaccination.

End of the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores

From January 1, 2024, pet stores will no longer be able to sell cats and dogs. These establishments may, however, in partnership with foundations or animal protection associations, present cats and dogs belonging to these foundations or associations, resulting from abandonment or whose former owners had not been identified.

These stores will no longer be able to display animals in the window.

It will also be forbidden to sell pets on the internet, except for breeders, in specific sections. Platforms that do not implement a system of prior checking of offers to sell domestic carnivores may be fined 7,500 euros.

Finally it will be Prohibited from shipping live vertebrate animals by post.

Heavier penalties for mistreatment

In terms of the tightening of penal sanctions in the event of mistreatment, the fact of willfully kill a pet will be a misdemeanor and no longer a simple fine. He could be punished with five years in prison and a 75,000 euro fine.

The fact, publicly or not, of exercising serious abuses, or of a sexual nature, or of to commit an act of cruelty towards a domestic or tamed animal, will henceforth be punished by three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros. The fact of committing these acts in the presence of a minor or of owning the animal will be recognized as an aggravating circumstance.

Broadcast on the internet the recording of images of serious abuse or acts of cruelty or sexual assault on a domestic animal, tamed or held in captivity is punishable by two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros.

Progressive ban on wild animals in circuses and dolphinariums

It was one of the main points of contention, the fate of the thousand wild animals in the 120 traveling circuses current was the subject of a compromise. It will be prohibited to present them to the public within two years, and to detain them within seven years. “The government will be there to support these professionals” with a view to their retraining and reception solutions for animals, promised the Secretary of State for Biodiversity Bérangère Abba.

Will also be prohibited the exhibition of animals in private parties and discotheques and the presentation of wild animals on television, excluding zoos and farms. Bear and wolf trainers will no longer be able to exhibit these species during traveling shows.

The keeping cetaceans in dolphinariums – 21 dolphins and 4 orcas in France – will be excluded within five years.

Furthermore, pony rides, “Understood as attractions allowing, for the entertainment of the public, to ride any type of equine, via a rotating fixed attachment device depriving the animal of freedom of movement”, are prohibited.

At last, any breeding of animals for their fur is now prohibited, resulting in the immediate closure of the last American mink farm in France, located in Normandy.

Hunting and intensive breeding: no way out

The hunt, the bullfight or intensive breeding are nevertheless among the great absent from this text, to the regret of certain associations for the defense of animals, elected officials or the Animalist Party.

The #PPLanimals is so skinny that it would be ridiculous if the stakes weren’t so high.
❌Nothing on the#Intensive livestock
❌Nothing on the # biodiversity which collapses
❌Nothing on the #hunt#LREM boasts of an electoral and hypocritical law, while our ecosystem is threatened. pic.twitter.com/hJEWeObHGM

– Bastien Lachaud (@LachaudB) November 16, 2021

“The millions of animals of intensive industrial breeding will continue to be martyred and brutalized”, denounced in particular in the Hemicycle the deputy Bastien Lachaud (LFI), asserting also that “the hunt will have been particularly cajoled” during this quinquennium.

The compulsory sterilization of cats, adopted at first reading in the National Assembly, was abandoned, replaced by an experiment over five years of concerted action between the State and local communities through agreements.

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