Maling and serious abuses are the most listed attacks according to the Ministry of the Interior.
Le Monde with AFP
National police and gendarmerie services recorded 12,000 offenses targeting domestic animals, tamed or captivity in 2021, according to A study by the Ministry of the Interior published Friday October 26. This is an increase of 30 % in four years, since 9,200 offenses were identified in 2016.
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, took advantage of the publication of these figures to announce the creation of a new service of fifteen police and gendarmes investigators, specializing in the fight against animal abuse and attached to the Central office for combating environmental and public health damage.
The first victims of these attacks, which include ill -treatment, serious abuse, involuntary damage to the life and integrity of the animal and abandonment, are dogs (46 %), followed by cats (24 %) . The authors are for the vast majority of men (73 %) aged 30 to 44.
The ill -treatment (35 %) and serious abuse (34 %) are the most frequently observed offenses before involuntary damage to the life and integrity of the animal (14 %). The serious abuses experienced a particularly significant increase of 36 % between 2019 and 2020 which can be explained, in part, by the wave of mutilation of equines observed in France two years ago.
If abandonments only concern 5 % of damage, their number has exploded for five years with an increase of 95 % and 630 offenses recorded in 2021. Animal protection associations have noted a particular increase in the number of abandoned animals During the health crisis linked to COVVI-19, in particular new pets.
Animal damage is more numerous in rural areas. Orne, Corrèze, Creuse, Allier, Ariège, Aveyron and Lozère are among the fourteen departments where they are most frequent.