“Stop the massacre of dropouts every summer!”

Alain Bashung sang it more than 40 years ago: “… it’s like this guy who wants me to take care of myself and who abandons his clebs in August in Spain…” Nothing new, nothing acceptable. The simple encounter with Arkos should convince that there is always a solution when one is “encumbered” by an animal, and that this solution is never animal suffering. Arkos was collected at the SPA refuge in Salon-de-Provence when he had lost 17 kilos. Skeleton, terrorized by the light, Arkos was initially the victim of savage abandonment. He was part of the cohort of wandering animals. Taken in, the dog continued his Way of the Cross by being adopted by an individual who turned out to be a torturer, leaving the animal on its own, without sufficient food. The SPA has filed a complaint and has just saved the skin of Arkos, now in remission for long weeks.

Philippe Adam chairs the Salon-de-Provence SPA which sees 1,400 animals pass through its hectare each year and which works on behalf of around thirty municipalities in a basin of 300,000 inhabitants. “Abandonments are all year round with a peak in summer. And it gets worse every year. For three months, due to a boom in divorces, we have seen an explosion of “official abandonments”. -couples get rid of the animal. At least, they do things in the rules, they pay a sum, provide us with the papers and give the animal a chance. Finally, I had to wrong with that. When you divorce, you don’t abandon your children!” Pets also pay for Covid-19 confinements. Cloistered at home, many French people have compensated for the lack of social life by acquiring an animal. Normal life returns and we realize that, yes, an animal, we have to take care of it and it is not free. Hence the temptation of betrayal, of abandonment.

absolute horror

Philippe and the hundred or so volunteers from the Salon site are not ready to forget and forgive the arrival of a dog a year and a half ago. “Tied up in the middle of the forest, without water, far from the roads. There was the will to kill him, to make him suffer. It revolts me!” loose Philippe, clenching his fists. “The absolute horror. I think of this 14-year-old poodle, imprisoned in a living garbage bag! Fortunately, a resident of Salon heard him and freed him. The person wanted him to be crushed by the garbage truck “. These two victims were rescued and adopted. The Inhumans were never found, never punished, despite complaints from the SPA.

Heavier penalties…. but not applied

Since last year, those who dump their animals in the wild risk a heavier fine and prison sentence. Up to 3 years and 45,000 euros. Abandonment on the public highway, with aggravating circumstances, the price rises to 4 years and 60,000 euros. If the abandonment resulted in death, the author faces 5 years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros.

Bitter, Philippe Adam is categorical: “These sanctions are never applied. There are undoubtedly other priorities in delinquency…” Marie-Hélène, biker with a big heart, is on the same wavelength. She has just parked her large car in the car park of the “Zone Animale” pet store in Salon-de-Provence to meet the needs of one of these abandoned animals that she regularly collects: “Those who give up know that they risk nothing. So they swing. The animal is a toy.

At the time of the great summer abandonments, animal lovers are as revolted as they are pessimistic. What to do ? “A license to own an animal” imagine Fabrice. Except that there is traffic with non-chipped animals, in particular fighting dogs in the cities of Marseille, or shameless masters who are not ready to pay more than 1,000 euros for a doggie. This is the solution for Michael who comes to deliver bags of dog food: “We have to fight so that there are only farms left that sell animals at fair prices. Even when you want to “give away” an animal, you have to charge. Nothing is free and especially not an animal! A guy who pays 1,500 euros for a breed he adores, I guarantee you that he will not abandon his dog.

Some pet owners come up with explanations, but never make no mistake. “Hotels and beaches should accept animals. They are no dirtier than humans!” Nicole keeps her imposing labrador on a leash: “I’m struggling to find a three-day boarding house for my dog. It’s full and it’s very expensive. But I’ll find it!”

You don’t abandon a child!

The comparison may shock those who are not very sensitive to the animal cause. The reflection comes up most often when we evoke these abandonments of the summer holidays: “You don’t abandon a child!” Marie, in her thirties, calls them her “babies”, two crippled “totally weird bastards” adopted at the SPA. “They have already been so traumatized that I never leave them. My car is fitted out. We go with them or we don’t go. Afterwards I can understand those who are overwhelmed and who say to themselves that they cannot do it. I ask them to do a “class” abandonment in quotes, in the rules. No animals tied in the middle of nature or swung over the SPA gate. They come to the SPA, they assume their stupidity, they pay, they give the animal a chance to have a life and not get the hell out of it”.