Emmanuel Macron tries to find a ridge line between animal welfare and hunters

To be elected at the head of the country in 2017, Emmanuel Macron had claimed responsibility “And left, and right”. A posture “Beyond the cleavages”, he said, which allowed him to navigate between currents throughout his five-year term. At the time of running for a second term for which he is not – yet – officially a candidate, the Head of State continues to seek this crest line, at the risk of finding himself in a precarious balance.

Monday, October 4, during a brief visit to the Saint-Adrien refuge of the SPA, in the small town of Gray (Haute-Saône), the president thus presented himself as an ardent defender of the animal cause while at the same time acting as an advocate … of hunters. “Everyone must understand each other”, he pleaded. “There is too much of a tendency to oppose worlds in our country. The hunters are actors of rurality. A hunter, he loves his dog, he loves animals, he loves nature, otherwise he would not hunt ”, he added.

On the one hand, animal friend, the head of state praised the efforts made to prevent the abandonment of domestic animals. France is, in this area, the poor student of Europe with 100,000 cats and dogs affected each year. “It has become catastrophic”, testifies a volunteer of the Gray refuge, who questioned the head of state on Monday. During the first confinement imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, many households acquired pets, before refusing to take charge of them a few months later, once life returned to normal.

Fight against dropouts

To remedy this phenomenon, a bill against animal abuse, defended by the veterinarian and member of the Alpes-Maritimes Loïc Dombreval (LRM), is being examined in Parliament. Although significantly watered down by senators, when it was first read in the Upper House on September 30, the text provides, among other things, to prohibit the crushing of chicks or the live castration of piglets and to regulate the sale of domestic animals. It is a question, in particular, of putting an end to the animals exhibited in the windows of pet shops and of strengthening the regulation of sales on the Web. “We must fight against impulse purchases, an animal is not a toy”, said Julien Denormandie, the Minister of Agriculture, present in Gray alongside the Head of State.

So much for prevention. In the event of abandonment, the sanctions will be reinforced. Finally, even if it means flanking the critics of the right accusing him of digging too lightly in the state budget in the run-up to the presidential election, scheduled for April 2022, the Head of State announced a additional financial support for animal shelters. The envelope of 15 million euros which was dedicated to them in the recovery plan – and which allowed the kennel of Saint-Adrien to benefit from 23,000 euros to renovate its premises – will be doubled. “A self-respecting nation must also improve the condition of all the animals that live within it”, argued Emmanuel Macron. “We’ve never heard anyone talk like that about animal misery, rejoices Claude Charles, vice-president of the Gray refuge. I am super happy. “

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