French Minister of Agriculture Stephane Le Foll To Create Animal Abusers Crime

In a press conference presenting a plan on animal welfare, French Minister of Agriculture Stephane Le Foll stated on Tuesday April 5 his will to create a 'crime of ill-treatment' of animals in addition to 'criminal sanctions', along with a protective status for who expose perceived wrongdoing.

Sanctions for animal abusers are currently in use only in the French Rural Code (Article L.214), not in the French Penal Code which does include appropriate penalties.

The Minister insisted on the sharing of responsibilities between the State and all other actors in the food chain, particularly the slaughterhouse operators, involved in many scandals these last few months: 'I'm not adopting this subject only because atrocious slaughterhouse images have been shown lately', said Le Foll, alluding to the recently released secret recordings by an animal welfare organization, in which aninals are being slaughtered without being properly stunned.

In Europe, animal welfare is taken into account through the 'protection of animals at the time of killing' that entered into force in January 2013 sets a framework in this field in order to further harmonize practices among the 28 E.U member states.