Animal abandonments are exploding, according to the SPA. Why ?

With the approach of summer and the departures on vacation, the SPA refuges are at full capacity. If abandons are legion each year, in 2021, the SPA is worried about not being able to accommodate animals at all.

On Thursday July 8, 2021, the SPA warned of the explosion of animal abandonment at the start of summer. Indeed, if each year this scourge persists, 2021 unfortunately breaks records. As a result, the SPA shelters are overcrowded and worried about no longer being able to accommodate abandoned animals. “The sites are close to saturation and adoptions are fewer during this summer vacation period”, according to a statement released by the association.

The pandemic, the main reason for this increase in abandonment

But why is animal abandonment on the rise compared to previous years? Note that even before the summer period, in May 2021 precisely, dropouts increased by 6% compared to the same period of 2019. Two factors came into play and generated this increase, according to the SPA. “Easy and irresponsible purchases on the Internet, as on the Bon Coin and in pet stores which took place in 2020. (…) It is ultimately belatedly that pets become the collateral victims of the health crisis” , explains Jacques-Charles Fombonne, president of the organization in the press release published on Thursday, July 8, 2021

Towards a ban on sales of animals on the internet and in pet stores?

Fighting against compulsive adoptions of animals and, consequently, their abandonment is therefore the priority of defenders of the cause. The SPA, for example, campaigns for the ban on the sale of pets in pet stores and on the Internet. “This sad reality that we are living will allow the Senate to ratify the articles of law on the modes of acquisition of companion animals, voted in January in the National Assembly”, adds Jacques-Charles Fondonne. An important reminder that animals must be considered as living beings and not objects available to humans.

Melanie Bonvard

Mélanie deciphers pop culture from a societal angle and questions the female gaze in films or even series, because everything is a question of gaze, she …