The Association for Animal Protection has been warning for years about the disappearance of cats in the Hérault.
In 2023, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Montpellier opened an investigation, but it has not yet borne fruit at the moment.
For animal owners and associations, it is certain that human trafficking is the cause of these disappearances.
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Pet
Their names are Cookie, Tigger, Gus, Goofy, Monsieur Nouille or even Boukan. They are black, white, spotted or grey. What do they have in common? All these cats have disappeared in recent years in Hérault.
According to some, it was as early as 2008 that cats began disappearing into the region. And in recent years, mysterious disappearances have increased.
“We have registered 250 missing cats since 2019 in the region. According to the local Pet Alert, even a thousand have been reported.”, laments Saïda Ounnas. This volunteer in Dyrenes Beskytselse (SPA) also paid the price. One winter morning, exactly on January 13, 2022, her cat Choco, 5 years old (pictured below), who liked to go outside at night, did not come home. “I knew right away there was a problem. He always came home” she assures us.
Trade in skin and hair?
Along with other lonely pet owners, Saïda Ounas mobilized to look for her pet and other felines. “My neighbor, who lost her cat Cerbère, had already listed all the missing cats in Tressan, our small town of less than 700 inhabitants. We realized that all the cats had disappeared on the same street, ours. We visited the residents of the neighboring towns and we noticed that the same thing happened there. And each time the cats disappeared in waves and places: black cats in one sector and period, red cats in another. the volunteer explains to us.
Several complaints were filed and in April 2023 an investigation was opened by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Montpellier. So far, investigations have not led to any suspects being implicated. “We are sure that behind all this is trafficking!”supports Annie Bénézech, director of Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone SPA (Hérault). To his eyes“we are not at all in a case of poisoning through pure evil. These cats are kidnapped to exploit the skins and hair that today has a market value in some countries”.
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Saïda Ounas also believes that among the volunteer investigators and animal lovers, some would have seen hand-to-hand transactions and trucks leaving for Spain twice a month with animals in coolers to be transformed, especially according to her “coat collar”, “fur key ring”... “We have pictures of trucks, license plates. But no one has been arrested. The police are overwhelmed, and cases about people unfortunately take precedence over animals. It’s not their fault, but that’s how it is”. regrets the volunteer, who clarifies that in Toulouse and Béziers animal thefts have also been detected without anyone being blamed.
As animals continue to disappear, Saïda Ounas now wants investigations to be carried out by the department of investigators set up by Gérald Darmanin last fall and specifically responsible for animal cruelty. This team consists of 15 specialized police officers and gendarmes and is attached to the Central Office for Combating Attacks on the Environment and Public Health.
