Gers: the president of the SPA indicted in a dog theft case

Europe 1 with AFP 4:41 p.m., April 28, 2022

The president of the Gers SPA, suspected of being involved in a dog theft case, was indicted and placed under judicial supervision on Thursday, we learned from the Auch prosecutor.

Marie-France Le Bagousse-Baus had been in police custody since Tuesday for "breach of trust" and "complicity in willful attack on the life of an animal", said prosecutor Jacques-Edouard Andrault.

An animal killed with a gun

The case dates back to early April, when an owner of two dogs reported their disappearance in Eauze, in the northeast of the department.

"They had been recovered by the Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA) but the president refused to give them to her," said Jacques-Edouard Andrault.

This woman had subsequently "asked a third person to kill one of the two dogs with a firearm", specified the prosecutor, pointing to the hypothesis that she had "probably judged that the owner did not was not legitimate to keep them".

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“We suspected something”

An exceptional board of directors will take place on Friday at the headquarters of the SPA du Gers, located in Ordan-Larroque, to decide on the follow-up to the presidency.

"We suspected something, we had talked about it with her but the decisions belonged to her," an employee of the structure told an AFP correspondent, preferring to remain anonymous.

As part of her judicial review, the president of the SPA du Gers was banned from going there, as well as from exercising any professional or social activity related to animals.

Investigators are now investigating whether similar cases may have occurred in the past.