Two court appearances in Périgueux for the gundog breeder

Since early 2019, we have repeatedly complained about this breeder who mistreats and, we hold, is guilty of cruelty to his dogs. We have supporting images from our investigations. When we rescued 16 dogs in February 2020, it was very obvious. Some of bitches were cowed by fear and suffering from serious untreated health problems. The puppies were infested with worms and fleas.

Richard Mandral will therefore appear in Périgueux twice this week: on 28 April at 13.30 at the criminal court (tribunal correctionnel) and two days later at 09.00 at the police court (tribunal de police).

This breeder was already in the news in the 1980s for trafficking dogs to laboratories. He now risks a year in prison and a €15,000 fine for the offence of failure to comply with a formal notice to satisfy a regulatory requirement in relation to his business as a breeder; and a fine for the second, summary, offence of intentionally continuing to breed dogs, although he was well aware of the limit on the number authorised. The dogs were kept in unacceptable conditions. We paid veterinary fees of over €13,000 in 2020 for the 16 dogs we rescued. We are asking for €1000 in damages.

Richard Mandral has been summoned by the public prosecutor to appear before the court for operation of a notifiable classified facility for the protection of the environment (ICPE) not in compliance with a formal notice. As we filed the complaints, we have joined the proceedings as a civil party.

Richard Mandral kept his dogs tied up in bare kennels, in yards where the water freezes in winter and evaporates in summer. He neglected them and left them to die, to the point where they were eating each other. Not content with this, he enclosed females and males together in cages and vans, for mass-breeding, when he already had over a hundred dogs! It was our complaint, accompanied by the images we published, which enabled the prefecture to issue a formal notice to comply with the regulations on breeding facilities, followed by a referral to the public prosecution service for criminal proceedings against the breeder, who refused to comply.

For One Voice, this is not just about failure to comply with ICPE standards. It is above all about the ill-treatment suffered by the dogs.

Our January 2020 complaint on abandonment, acts of cruelty and ill-treatment committed by a breeder is still in progress. No hearing has yet been fixed.

Translated from the French by Jo Durning