End of 2020. Christmas is only a month away, but for the Rissoise Association for the Protection of Animals (Arpa), a dog shelter in Ris-Orangis in Essonne, it's already time for gifts: they unpack a parcel filled with bags of kibble, toys, plaids, harnesses… sent by Karine Ferri.
The host of TF1 is customary.
She's not the only one.
In Ile-de-France, several associations and animal shelters benefit from the support of personalities.
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The ultimate example is Brigitte Bardot.
The one who set the screens on fire in the 1950s and 1960s definitively stopped her film career in 1973, to devote herself to the defense of animal rights and to create a foundation that bears her name.
In 2019, her former property in Bazoches, a sheepfold in Yvelines, became a refuge for more than 700 animals, after she donated this home.
But “BB” is not the only one.
Julien Courbet, presenter on RTL and M 6, is also very committed.
For two weeks, he has shared his pain with the subscribers of his social networks: he lost Vega, a dog he had adopted in 2006 at the Montgeron refuge (Essonne).
Julien Courbet is the godfather of the Montgeron animal shelter (Essonne), where he adopted Vega fifteen years ago, a bitch he has just lost.
/ DR
“It was fifteen years ago, I accepted to be the godfather of the refuge,” he says.
They wanted to take a photo with me to encourage adoption.
They came between two recordings of my shows, with a bitch, Vega.
It was love at first sight.
By letting her go again, I had a lump in my stomach.
A few days after talking about it with my wife, we went to pick her up from the shelter.
His loss plunges me into immense pain.
"
Regularly, he takes advantage of RTL's ratings (more than two million listeners) to relay messages about dogs for adoption.
"I am grateful to the radio for letting me do it," smiles Julien Courbet.
As a sponsor of the Montgeron refuge, I provide after-sales service, I am at their disposal.
As soon as they ask me, I answer present.
"
A solidarity project launched thanks to Julien Courbet
For Stéphanie Slusarek, the president of the refuge, Julien Courbet does much more.
"Thanks to him, we have a very nice infirmary," she recalls.
At Christmas, in 2017, the refuge was broken into and ransacked.
A momentum of solidarity is very quickly launched, to which Julien Courbet has brought a big breath.
“He organized a solidarity project through his program and it raised 40,000 euros in donations, continues Stéphanie Slusarek.
At the refuge, we are lucky to have him as our godfather, as well as as godmother Cécile Bois (
Editor's note: the main character, among others, of the series "Candice Renoir"
).
They help us to disseminate the calls for adoption much more widely.
We placed several animals after their relays.
"
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This is the case with Francine.
“I adopted a dog at the Montegron shelter,” she says.
Julien Courbet had launched an appeal on RTL for a long-haired dachshund who had been thrown in the trash when he was 6 months old.
It was in November 2014, since then we have not regretted a single day to welcome this little pot of glue.
"
"When we can relay on social networks, we do it"
This strike force, Wamiz, the site "of the pets", understood it well.
Last September, they asked "people" to adopt dogs and cats who have been living in shelters for several years.
Karine Ferri and Elodie Gossuin did not hesitate to wear the T-shirts of the Wamiz site to encourage the adoption of dogs from the Arpa refuge, in Essonne.
DR / Wamiz.
Karine Ferri, Elodie Gossuin or even Marilou Berry took the pose with a t-shirt bearing the image of a dog hosted at the Arpa refuge, while influencers or YouTubers like Marie Paillon, Aziatomic and Emmacakecup took action for cats collected by Mille et un regards, an association based in Hauts-de-Seine but which works throughout Ile-de-France.
“The goal was to raise awareness,” says Elodie Gossuin, TV and radio host and former Miss France.
When we can relay
calls for adoption
on social networks (
Editor's note: she has 502,000 subscribers on Instagram
), we do it regularly, on the radio too.
Especially since the current period, actions on the ground are complicated.
"
It's not Sylvie, the president of the Mille et un regards association, based in Bagneux (Hauts-de-Seine), who will contradict her.
“We were very touched to be highlighted in this way,” she emphasizes.
It was one of our volunteers, YouTuber, who put us in touch with Wamiz.
This resulted in large adoption requests, between 150 and 200 per month.
Above all, I think it was this campaign that enabled us to complete our 2020 budget. We had many more donations, which I attribute to the visibility that these personalities have given us by talking about us.
"
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For Nicolas Biscaye, volunteer director of the Ethics for Animals association, “the support of personalities plays an important role”.
“This offers visibility, an undeniable media relay,” he explains.
Last August, he was able to meet in a refuge in Evry-Courcouronnes with the Minister of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie.
"I am sure that the government was all the more inclined to listen to us since we had launched a petition in spring 2020, signed by more than 100,000 people, including 85 personalities such as Sophie Marceau, Jean Reno or Kev Adams", continues Nicolas Biscay.
A mobilization that has paid off since the ministry has released an emergency aid fund of 20 million euros for associations and animal shelters, which are in the process of putting together their case to benefit from a subsidy.
The Arpa, the refuge of Ris-Orangis, is right in it.
“Normally, we organize two open house operations per year,” recalls Aurélie Routélos, the volunteer president.
This was not possible in 2020 with the pandemic, which represents a huge financial shortfall.
Fortunately, we have the help of anonymous or known benefactors, such as Karine Ferri, who regularly gives us financial and material donations.
These are welcome nudges and can give people who follow them on their social networks the idea to do the same.
"
