Although it multiplies awareness campaigns, it continues to welcome too many companions in distress.

The SPA thus took care of 44,199 abandoned animals in 2022, almost equaling a 2019 record, including 27,940 cats.

In addition to small felines, the Society for the Protection of Animals last year housed 13,373 dogs, 160 equines and 2,726 new pets or NACs (rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils, etc.), as well as farm animals, in its 63 shelters and SPA houses.

On the adoption side, 41,186 animals found a new master, including 26,024 cats, 12,646 dogs and 2,389 NAC.

This is “a number of adoptions close to the 2019 record and (of) an increase of 2.6% compared to 2021”, counted the SPA in a press release.

The problem of dogs with special needs

The SPA is also concerned about having to deal with an emerging difficulty in recent years, that of dogs with special needs.

They represent about 20% of its residents and it is difficult to entrust them to inexperienced masters.

"The acquisition of certain fashionable dogs with specific needs (such as the Australian Shepherd, the Belgian Shepherd, the Malinois, the American Staffordshire terrier, etc.) requires special knowledge and attention to which not all masters are necessarily able to respond.

Animal advocates also deplore the upsurge in NAC abandonments, up 34% since 2019. so that the law on animal abuse, prohibiting the sale of dogs (and) cats in pet stores from 2024, is extended to these animals”.

A complicated year 2023

“This activity report suggests an important year in 2023 in terms of challenges to be met.

The fear of the consequences of inflation on the resources of the SPA - which lives only on the generosity of the public - and on the activity of the shelters is present”, worries Jacques-Charles Fombonne, its president.



The year 2022 has also been intense on the animal abuse front.

The SPA processed 23,800 reports in 2022, an increase of 52%.

To fulfill this mission, the SPA has notably recruited more than 250 delegate-investigators in order to strengthen the territorial network.

The SPA's Animal Protection and Investigations legal departments were thus able to save 4,400 mistreated animals.

Miscellaneous facts

Seine-Maritime: An abandoned dog tied to a tree, its owner identified

Miscellaneous facts

Morbihan: A SPA refuge lodges a complaint after the death by intoxication of two dogs

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