An appeal trial in Agen: breeding or trafficking?

The
appeal trial of 28 November in Agen will decide on the case of a
breeder’s fraudulent practices. One Voice is hoping for an
exemplary judgment. 37 cats, 19 dogs and 7 puppies, all in a
deplorable state, were seized from her breeding establishment in
February 2015.

In
this farm of Lot-et-Garonne, it is first the smell of ammonia that
takes your breath away. The floor is littered with excrement. Cats
are crammed into small makeshift pens, even in rabbit cages, devoid
of any comfort to the point that stereotypical movements have been
observed. A number of them are devoid of documentation and of dubious
origin. Dogs are also present. A dog and her pups are locked in the
dark, in a cellar. Another in a garage. A dog is in a vehicle in the
garden. All animals are sick, none have been treated. All will not
survive. Calcined bones were also found in an incinerator. Even
worse, a dying puppy will be eventually discovered in a plastic bag
...

This
case, joins another still under investigation in the Dordogne, even
the authorities were shocked. Frédérique Dubost, Prosecutor of one
of the departments concerned, was deeply involved. During the two
seizures made in February 2015, the state of the place and that of
the animals was catastrophic. The report from the trial judgment,
which contains the findings made during the searches states the
“deplorable state of health” of 63 animals that were
seized, which “all presented pathologies attributed to
ill-treatment, defects of care as well as malnutrition and
dehydration.

Since
2007, the breed was put on notice to make her facilities comply with
the legislation. But the work by the investigators and the network of
informants and investigators of the Cell Zoé revealed that this was
far from the case, giving One Voice the necessary elements for the
organization of two seizures, some animals having proved
non-transportable at the end of the first seizure.

At
the trial, the breeder was convicted of mistreatment of animals,
deprivation of care, starvation and watering, a suspended prison
sentence and a ban for 5 years and various other fines.

One
Voice strongly hopes that the Agen court will uphold this sentence at
the appeal hearing. The sentence must be exemplary. Cats and dogs are
not products that can be stored: they are individuals who need
respect of their dignity. They should not even be the subject of a
contract.

Muriel
Arnal, president of One Voice, says: “This breeding is
symptomatic of the deviance of a practice. Can our pets continue to
be traded? From a market? This question needs to be reconsidered
urgently and thoroughly. Where there is sale, where there is profit,
there is exploitation and there cannot be dignity for animals. “