Illustration of a very cute puppy. - Chris Fairweather / Huw Evans / REX /

Disappointed by the absence of a secretary of state dedicated to the protection of animals, animal welfare advocates could recover. A text published on Wednesday in the official journal and carried by 152 deputies intends to strengthen the legal arsenal and improve the condition of animals in France.

Increase in fines and penalties, supervision of breeding or creation of an "animal defender", this bill - which extracts the legislative measures from the government mission report of LREM deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes Loïc Dombreval - "hardens and "harmonize" criminal penalties for acts of mistreatment in a country with more than 63 million pets.

A new legal arsenal

At the top of this penal edifice, the text provides for the possibility of an increase in penalties for the most serious abuses, up to 5 years in prison and a 75,000 euros fine when they are characterized by torture and barbarism.

These penalties would systematically be accompanied by a ban on keeping an animal. "This is the main sentence, beyond the fine and possible prison sentences," Loic Dombreval told AFP.

This text builds a policy of prevention of mistreatment and abandonment. It suggests "a minimum level of knowledge on the physiology and behavior of animals for the acquisition of a first cat or dog", sanctioned by a certificate of knowledge or a certificate of ability, according to the terms set by decree. “An educational component”, according to Mr. Dombreval.

Awareness training

It also hardens the existing criminal response when an animal professional exercises, or lets exercise, mistreatment of animals placed in his care, punishing this type of mistreatment with 3 years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros. The text also provides for the creation of an awareness training course in the prevention and fight against animal abuse, "of the pedagogy of punishment, as there are on other types of abuse".

To better manage feline overpopulation, the text provides for making the status of free cats compulsory, by imposing the sterilization of cats not intended for breeding at the age of 6 months.

It also aims to suppress the categorization of "dangerous" dogs, based on morphotypal and racial criteria, substituting the objectification of the criteria of a behavioral categorization.

“Categorization based on the breed of the animal does not work,” says Loïc Dombeval. "The dog will be evaluated at one year by a vet and classified according to a grid of dangerousness". This text also wants to put an end to the sale of animals in pet stores, on Le bon coin or Facebook. "The breeding and acquisition of a pet, to be sensitive, must be governed by specific rules, distinguishing the pet from a commodity like any other".

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