Many French people are taking vacations at the moment and from home.
But the period of the crossover between Juillettists and Augustians, synonymous with holiday memories for some or rest to come for others, is also that of the massive abandonment of animals.
As the president of the SPA (Society for the Protection of Animals), interviewed on RTL, recalls, "it's going to be the worst weekend of the year".
"The long weekends in August will generate, as every year, a large number of abandonments", explains Jacques-Charles Fombonne.
Up to five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros
This complicated period for the SPA comes when it is already in a particularly tense situation.
Its refuges are saturated.
Jacques-Charles Fombonne explains this state of affairs not by the number of abandonments, "comparable to those of last year", but by the low number of adoptions.
"We have more than 8,900 animals, it's more than 1,000 than last year," he worries.
Abandoning an animal is punishable by five years' imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros in the event of the animal's death.
"This is often the case," laments Jacques-Charles Fombonne.
However, for lack of possibility of going back to the owner, convictions are rarely pronounced.
"Today, abandonment is sanctioned by law, but remains socially accepted," lamented Katia Renard, president of the association Solidarité people animal and editor-in-chief of the magazine 30 Millions d'amis, interviewed at the end of June in Le Parisien. .
For her, part of the solution lies in a guideline: “We must adopt the animal that suits our way of life and not the fashionable one”.
