The great call of associations heard
Since the lockdown was put in place last March, shelters that welcome pets have been forced to close their doors to the public. Consequence: the number of adoptions has dropped, raising fears of a saturation of reception structures for the heads of animal protection associations as well as mass euthanasia of animals placed in the pound which could not have been taken care of.
To escape this grim scenario, the Société Protection des Animaux (SPA) had appealed to the government to set up a derogation so that the French could come and adopt an animal, despite the confinement. Good news: this call has been heard!
An exemption to adopt an animal
Through his Twitter account, Christophe Castaner, the Minister of the Interior, announced that a derogation will be put in place from Thursday April 16, 2020 to allow families to be able to visit in shelters with a view to adopting an animal.
Our pets must not be "collateral victims" of COVID19: alerted by the SPA to the risks of saturation of its premises, the Government grants from Thursday a tolerance concerning travel for the adoption of animals in shelters. pic.twitter.com/ItJRP7YFJy
- Christophe Castaner (@CCastaner) April 11, 2020
But only shelters that comply with the criteria put in place by the Ministry of the Interior will be able to benefit from this derogation in order to be able to have their protected adopted.
The device provides that the animal can be chosen upstream by the adopter (via the shelter's website, for example) and that a specific appointment is fixed for the latter by the shelter.The day and time of the meeting must appear on a dematerialized certificate issued by the refuge. Obviously, the adopter will have to go alone to the shelter to pick up the animal.
An adoption is for life!
If this device has the merit of being able to resume the course of adoptions and avoid the saturation of shelters, it also raises fears of thoughtless adoptions and a boom in abandonments as soon as the confinement is lifted.
" We don&39;t want our pets to be used as hobbies or escapes during lockdown and once everyone is back to work, these hastily adopted pets go back to square one,” declares Nathalie JOLY on the Facebook account of the Lorraine Society for the Protection of Animals (SLPA)."
If the director of the shelter nevertheless complies with the system put in place to allow the resumption of adoptions, she nevertheless recalls "that a reciprocal link must be created between the adopter and the animal" and that "the choosing from a photo is somewhat contrary to our principles”.By calling for everyone's responsibility, it also relies on a drastic selection process by its employees of serious, motivated masters and mistresses whose lifestyle is compatible with the animal's needs.
Faced with the risk of massive abandonment at the déconfinement, some shelters not affected by the lack of space, on the other hand, choose to remain closed. This is the case, for example, of the Belfort SPA refuge.
The association, which like the SLPA does not depend on the Paris SPA, does not wish to provide "animals as an alibi to defy outing bans" . On France Bleu Belfort Montbéliard, the association said it received more than fifteen calls a day from people who wanted to take a dog during confinement to bring it back afterwards. A very sad practice which is reminiscent of that of dog rentals in Spain during confinement, where the Government does not authorize outings to simply get some fresh air or do some sport.