“We are extremely satisfied with this decision which has just been taken”, rejoices on franceinfo Friday, October 28 Jacques-Charles Fombonne, president of the Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA), after the announcement of the creation of a division of investigators specializing in animal abuse. A decision communicated by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, while acts of animal abuse increased by 30% between 2016 and 2021.
franceinfo: What will these investigators be used for?
Jacques-Charles Fombonne: They will be able to do what several associations and the SPA are already doing. We have a thousand volunteer investigators, who go to the scene to observe the mistreatment that is reported to us. They then notify the legal authorities. This brigade will make it possible to give a completely official dimension.
We are extremely satisfied with this decision that has just been taken. I have been saying for a very long time that the State is not sufficiently involved in animal protection. This will allow police officers and the gendarmerie to intervene perhaps even more quickly on the reports that we will make to them. We at the SPA have the opportunity to form this new division quickly and free of charge.
What should they be trained in?
In terms of criminal law, it is necessary to know the constituent elements of the offence. What do we do with an animal that is in the middle of a meadow and has not been fed? What things should you see? What to think about? And then, once we have these elements, what are the articles of the Rural Code, the Penal Code, what are the measures of police custody, arrest? You understand that in a police or gendarmerie environment, there are a lot of cases of theft, aggression… Animal protection, even with the best will in the world, necessarily comes after. If we have specialized investigators and if we have people like our volunteers who are always able to help them in their work, things will work extremely well.
How do you analyze this increase in acts of abuse?
At the SPA, we received 15,000 reports of abuse last year. There are some acts of sadism, but most of the acts are rather acts of abandonment. I think that these acts are reported to us more, because our fellow citizens are more and more sensitive to animal protection. Which doesn’t mean there isn’t an increase in this abuse either. And the economic crisis may have something to do with it. From the moment you take an animal but you have less money, it is necessarily the animal that will pay the price, on food, on veterinary costs.