Like every summer, the SPA is overwhelmed by the abandonment of cats and dogs. But this year, there are also far fewer adoptions. As a result, the SPA refuges reached saturation point much faster this year.
The SPA is sounding the alarm. More than 12,000 animals are currently listed in the 56 refuges of the SPA, the animal protection society, while summer abandonment continues.
“This year, the situation is paradoxical. We have collected 12,000 animals since the beginning of the summer, a little less than a year ago”, explains this Tuesday on RMC Jacques-Charles Fombonne, the president of the SPA .
“But our shelters are completely saturated, because we have a lot fewer adoptions this year. Instead of starting the summer with 4,000 animals in our shelters, we had almost 6,500. So we quickly reached saturation and this figure does not don’t go down,” he said.
In Hermeray in the Yvelines, abandonments have been pouring in since the beginning of the summer. Last weekend, a dozen were identified. So much so that to abandon your animal, you must now make an appointment. Because the waiting list is long: “We are saturated,” laments Sabine Leydecker, an agent at the center. “At the level of dogs, it’s quite catastrophic. Cats, it’s the same thing and we have more and more rabbits and mice,” she explains.
Temporary adoptions to last until the end of the summer
Jacques-Charles Fombonne does not know the reasons for this decline. He evokes pell-mell, inflation, uncertainty, war: “It does not encourage taking an animal”, he admits, recalling that between vaccines, food and veterinarian costs, a dog or a cat costs about 1000 euros per year.
For Hélène Gauthier, the manager of the Hermeray center in the Yvelines, the first real post-Covid-19 holidays can explain these abandonments: “People can leave more this year and want to take advantage, and unfortunately, the animals who suffer from it.
“The only solution that allows us to hold out until September is temporary adoptions. Thanks to the relay families”, we manage to work miracles. We started to push the walls, “adds Jacques-Charles Fombonne who invites RMC listeners to participate in these adoptions.
Up to 5 years in prison and 75,000 euros fine
The abandonment of a domestic animal, or tamed, or held in captivity, is punishable by 3 years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros. The fact of abandoning the animal, knowingly, in conditions presenting an immediate or imminent risk of death constitutes an aggravating circumstance.
When the abandonment is committed with an aggravating circumstance, the author incurs 4 years in prison and a fine of 60,000 euros, unless the abandonment resulted in the death of the animal. If the abandonment led to the death of the animal, the author faces 5 years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros.
