Red alert in SPA shelters. In addition to the usual wave of summer abandonments, this year comes a massive influx of abandoned baby cats. “There are always a lot of them in July but this summer, all of our refuge chiefs are seeing that there are even more. They are sometimes barely weaned and very fragile. They must then be entrusted to host families who bottle-feed them every two hours, it's a full-time job ”confides Jacques-Charles Fombonne, volunteer president of the SPA.
At issue: the impossibility of applying during the health crisis the traditional sterilization campaigns, which were canceled due to confinement. "Neither the associations, nor the mayors, nor the veterinarians were able to go out to do them in March and April", explains the president of the SPA.
"The veterinarians could receive but in more restrictive time slots", explained for her part on Monday to RTL the manager of a Loire-Atlantique refuge, who noted that with good weather the females also reproduced earlier.
Already 8,700 dropouts
As a result, the 62 shelters in the SPA network are currently on the verge of saturation: "since the end of confinement, we have welcomed 8,700 abandoned animals of all species, our capacity is almost reached", warns the president of the SPA.
The only glimmer of hope on the table, the overall number of abandoned animals is a little lower than last year on the same date, when 9,600 animals were collected over the three months of May, June and July. "Optimism tells me that our awareness campaigns on abandonment are starting to bear fruit, but my lucidity leads me to believe that this decline is more due to the fact that people are going on vacation later or less this year because of the coronavirus," especially abroad, ”concludes Jacques-Charles Fombonne. Before recalling two imperatives to fight against the scourge of abandonment: have your animal sterilized and carefully weigh your decision before adopting it.
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