Gaspard is safe, but for how long? This is the question that haunts the Association of the Volunteer Animal Brigade (Abab). And it is to try to get an answer that this collective born in 2016 and bringing together more than 2,500 volunteers, a large half of whom belong to the police, launched on February 13 an online petition entitled “Preventing the return of a beaten dog to its torturer” and which has already gathered more than 72,000 signatories.
However, the animal protection association does not usually launch such petitions. “In general, we have reports of animal abuse on our Facebook page, explains Cindy, co-director of Abab. Then we check through a network of investigators and we try to solve the problem amicably with the owner, either by giving advice or by proposing an assignment and transfer to a host family. In the most serious cases, the association calls on the police, colleagues in a way.
Complaint to the police station
And that’s what happened to this owner of two American staffs residing in Malakoff (Hauts-de-Seine). “We have had reports of violence from the neighborhood and obtained five testimonies on Cerfa with photocopies of identity documents, as well as audio recordings of dog howls which we have published on our Facebook page “Says Cindy, who also reports possible sexual abuse. A complaint follows at the Vanves police station last October while the Abab is looking for host families among its volunteers.
Finally, on Wednesday February 10 in the morning, the owner was arrested and placed in police custody. If he agrees to sell the female, renamed Niska, he wants to keep her son, the famous Gaspard. However, “at 4 p.m., we received a request from the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office to return the Staff, who nevertheless had behavioral problems, to their owner for an insufficiently characterized offense, even before the dogs had had time to see a veterinarian” , laments Cindy. The association sends an email to the prosecutor’s office, which reconsiders its decision pending the next hearing of the owner.
Transfer and reversal of the floor
This is heard on Friday the 12th and produces a veterinary certificate attesting to the absence of abuse. As a result, justice again demands the return of the dog. “We do not understand because in addition to the testimonies, the man has committed several offences: he does not have a license to own such dogs and he illegally reproduced Niska”, the volunteer is surprised. . Faced with this incomprehensible situation, the Abab therefore decided to launch a petition with the success that we know. Then she then sends an email to the prosecutor’s office which the following Tuesday reconsiders its decision again and confirms the maintenance of Gaspard in foster care pending a veterinary expertise.
“Doing an expertise so late does not make sense because after three weeks in reception, the abuse is almost no longer visible”, denounces Cindy. But since then, the association has had no news from the prosecution, which has not followed up on us either. The owner, meanwhile, regularly sends messages to the Abab’s Facebook page and “he also called us on the emergency number at three in the morning,” says Cindy. While waiting for news from justice, Gaspard lives in the shelter of his foster family, while waiting for someone to decide on his future.