The bill against animal abuse was passed in the National Assembly on Friday.

If the text garnered almost unanimity, the debates were sometimes tense.

Some welcomed a first step in the field of animal rights, while others regretted a form of "sentimentality" and many subjects left aside.

Often heated exchanges, moments of harmony and also some tug of war with the government: the National Assembly on Friday adopted almost unanimously a bill that was used by the majority to fight against animal abuse.

This text, validated by 79 votes for, and two against from the UDI group, must now pass to the Senate for first reading.

Most deputies hailed "a first step forward" requested by the French.

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The bill should help avoid impulse purchases of pets, which then lead to too many neglect, some 100,000 animals being abandoned each year in France.

Unanimously, the Assembly voted on Tuesday in favor of the new "certificate of commitment and knowledge" which will be issued upon the first acquisition of a pet.

It will recall the obligations of care, vaccination and related costs (food, veterinarian ...).

The online sale of pets will be reserved for shelters and breeders.

On Friday, the deputies, again unanimous, tightened the penalties for mistreatment, bringing them in particular to three years' imprisonment and a 45,000 euro fine in the event of serious abuse.

"A strong signal"

Faced with the recent wave of mutilations of horses or the videos of "happy slapping" (assaults) posted online, it is a question of sending "a strong signal", argued Dimitri Houbron (Agir), co-author of the bill with two LREM deputies, Loïc Dombreval and Laëtitia Romeiro Dias.

In the home stretch, the deputies validated other articles taking up the commitments of the September government: gradually prohibiting the keeping of wild animals in traveling circuses and in dolphinaria, the presence of such animals on television sets, in discos or at private parties, and even close mink farms.

The closure was extended during the meeting to all farms dedicated exclusively to fur production.

UDI deputies see the adopted provisions as a "Trojan horse" for the subsequent closure of zoos.

LR fear "a cure worse than the disease" for these wild animals with uncertain fate.

Daniel Labaronne (LREM) questioned the "pseudo scientific studies" supporting these prohibition measures.

But, for the Secretary of State for Biodiversity Bérangère Abba, "our perception of captivity has really changed" and "our responsibility is to dispassionate these subjects".

Some issues left out

However, the deputies refused to give a "blank check" to the government, which wanted to define by simple decree the list of species prohibited in roaming.

"The government is being disowned by the majority," observed the right.

This has been the case on other occasions since Tuesday.

The deputies thus voted for the ban in 2024 of the sale of cats and dogs in pet stores, as requested by animal protection associations in the name of their well-being while the Minister of Agriculture Julien Denormandie made valuing (in vain) the work of the employees of these establishments as well as the controls carried out.

The bill left aside various annoying subjects such as hunting, intensive breeding or bullfighting, to the chagrin of many parliamentarians.

"We remained on the sentimentality" with regard to certain animals, tackled François-Michel Lambert (Freedoms and territories).