Deputies and senators agree on several measures to combat animal abuse – archyworldys

Three weeks ago, a deal seemed out of reach. Thursday, October 21, the fourteen members of the mixed joint committee (CMP) who examined the proposed law against animal abuse, yet voted unanimously, without abstention, a compromise which anchors several advances for animal protection in France: ban on cetacean shows in dolphinariums within five years, ban on wildlife shows in traveling circuses within seven years, ban on sales of dogs and cats in pet shops from 2024 … In view of the differences of view between senators and deputies on these three points in particular, the upper house having been reluctant to include a ban in the law, the agreement of the CMP was a challenge.

It took hours and hours of preliminary discussions between the rapporteurs of the text in the Assembly and the Senate, until very late in the night before the CMP, to reconcile their views and reach a consensus. The stake for the three deputies of the majority at the initiative of this text – Loïc Dombreval (Alpes-Maritimes, LRM), Dimitri Houbron (North, Agir) and Laëtitia Romeiro Dias (Essonne, LRM) – was to avoid any price to leave without agreement, which, in view of the legislative calendar constrained by the next elections, would have amounted to burying all the planned measures. The rapporteur to the Senate, Anne Chain-Larché (Seine-et-Marne, LR), also wanted “Anything but a disagreement. We could have steered at times. But we gave ourselves time to discuss and understand each other’s interests ”.

On the side of the National Assembly as of the Senate, each had posed its red lines. For the three deputies co-rapporteurs, it was about the fate of wild animals in circuses and dolphinariums. “We wanted to impose a principle ban in law for all wild animals in traveling circuses, relates Laëtitia Romeiro Dias. We took into account the Senate’s request to have the necessary time to support professionals and find placement solutions for animals, hence the ban period increased from 5 to 7 years. ” Deputies and senators also agreed on a ban on the reproduction of wild fauna within two years, so as not to increase the herds held by circuses.

Frame and define in law the activity of sanctuaries

The dolphinariums represented one of the major sticking points in the discussions between the two chambers. The proposed ban, which would come into effect five years after the law was enacted, would apply to shows featuring dolphins and killer whales. At this time, reproduction would also be prohibited. “The only possible exemption to this prohibition of detention would be within the framework of scientific research programs, approved by the State, and not for self-proclaimed programs”, specifies M^me Romeiro Dias. The rapporteur to the Senate welcomes this compromise: “Our common thread was no ban without a solution” placement or for research, insists M^me Chain-Larché.

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