Paris (AFP)

One in two French people own a pet: the National Assembly on Tuesday evening gave a unanimous green light to the new "certificate of knowledge" that any new purchaser will have to sign, a key measure in a bill from the majority against mistreatment .

This certificate will remind you of the care and vaccination obligations and the costs associated with owning an animal (food, veterinarian, etc.).

It must help the "awareness" of what the acquisition of an animal represents, argued the Minister of Agriculture Julien Denormandie, in support of this text which echoes the concerns of society and s' also interested in the fate of dolphins, mink and other wild animals.

Beasts are "neither a fad of urban people in need of nature, nor a passing fad, but a subject henceforth irreversibly political", launched the LREM deputy Loïc Dombreval, co-author of the text with Laëtitia Romeiro Dias, another "walker ", and Dimitri Houbron of the Agir group.

They hope for nothing less than a "historic" law, in the European champion country of the possession of animals, but also of their abandonment.

“Is France going to lose its donkey cap for animal protection in Europe?” Asks the Brigitte Bardot Foundation.

For nearly 7 in 10 French people (69%), animals are poorly defended by politicians, according to the Ifop barometer for the 30 Millions d'Amis Foundation.

Nearly 500 amendments are on the menu until Friday on this text which strongly mobilizes the deputies and leads them to evoke their own animals, like the Juju and Savon cats of the communist Hubert Wulfranc.

According to elected officials from both right and left, the measures are "useful" but are only "a first step".

While the annoying subjects such as hunting, intensive breeding or bullfighting are not addressed, this bill leaves Olivier Falorni (Liberties and Territories) "with a taste of unfinished business" and is only "opportunism. electoralist "in the eyes of Bastien Lachaud (LFI).

Despite nuances of appreciation within each political group, the bill enjoys broad support.

It also plans to toughen the penalties against mistreatment, with three years' imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros for the death of the animal.

In the event of a conviction, people may be prohibited from keeping an animal.

The penalties could be tightened in the hemicycle.

At the end of the evening on Tuesday, the planned obligation to sterilize stray cats animated the debates, some municipalities not having the means for this new charge.

Animal protection associations welcome these measures but regret that the bill does not prohibit, for example, the sale of animals on the internet, which "promotes illegal breeding", and in animal shops, which "encourages impulse buying", according to the president of the SPA Jacques-Charles Fombonne.

He would prefer to reserve the sale to breeders, like several deputies who will bring amendments to this question.

But the government simply wants to better regulate online sales.

Other articles take up government commitments: progressively prohibit the keeping of wild animals in traveling circuses and dolphinariums, the presence of wild animals on television sets, in discos or at private parties, prohibit 'bears and wolves and close mink farms.

Parc Asterix announced Monday the closure of its dolphinarium, which had eight dolphins.

Before the start of the debates in the hemicycle, supporters and opponents of the bill had gathered around the Palais Bourbon.

On the one hand, members of the Animalist Party and associations such as One voice and L214 have demanded to go further than the planned measures, noted an AFP journalist.

On the other hand, representatives of traveling circuses, such as the Lydia Zavatta circus or the great circus of Rome, protested against "the arbitrary announcements of Minister Pompili" (Ecological Transition) which dealt them the "coup de grace" with the progressive ban on wild animals under their marquees.

Barbara Pompili assured the deputies wanting to "advance with the professionals, and not against them".

"The State will be there" to "accompany them towards new professions" and "create places" for their animals, repeated the minister.

The deputies had started in October to debate this component on wild animals on the occasion of a bill of former "walkers" of the Ecology, Democracy, Solidarity group.

This episode finally helped the elected LREM, "dogs and cats between them" for many months, to "converge", relates a tenor.

© 2021 AFP