This summer, cat abandonments broke records

"Let's stop the bleeding", warns the SPA, always more exhausted by the abandonment of animals.

With more than 11,000 cats cared for by the SPA this summer, or 19% more than in the same period in 2019 - an already record year - pets are "victims of the unregulated business of the object animal" , deplores Tuesday the association in a press release.

Read also "We are drowning under the litters of kittens!"

Saturated SPA refuges

In detail, 16,894 animals - cats, dogs and other rodents and reptiles - were collected between May 1 and August 31, 2021, "a number historically at its highest level for a summer period, an increase of 7% compared to the last record of 2019 ”.

[Thread] SPA employees and volunteers worked tirelessly throughout the summer to collect 16,894, a sad record up 7% from the previous one in 2019. [1/4] #JamaisSansEux #NonAlAbandon

+ d ' info: https://t.co/FxvxGLik2n pic.twitter.com/bg4jxe57Do

- La SPA France (@SPA_Officiel) September 7, 2021

Among the clerks, it is the kittens who pay the heaviest price: the SPA collected and saved 30% more than in 2019. According to the association, the latter “suffer from clichés which too often justify cowardly abandonment: a cat does not get attached to its master, an abandoned cat does very well on its own, etc ”.

So many received ideas that push some masters to abandon their animal, deplores the SPA.

Finally, cats are also victims of a cruel lack of sterilization and identification of this species, note animal rights activists.

More than 4,000 dogs collected in the summer of 2021

If cats pay the heaviest price, dogs are also victims of abandonment.

If the summer of 2020 marked by the Covid-19 had caused a significant drop in the abandonment of dogs in shelters, the summer of 2021 brings an unfortunate observation with 4,360 dogs collected, including more than 2,000 abandoned directly to the association.

As for new pets (NAC) such as reptiles or ferrets, 850 have found refuge at the SPA, "a very worrying increase" of 82% compared to 2019. At the same time, the end of September will mark the first reading before the Senate of the bill on animal abuse.

This proposal includes various measures to combat the abuse of domestic and wild animals.

Above all, the text toughens the penalties in case

of abandonment, providing in certain circumstances up to 5 years in prison and a 75,000 euros fine.