Ccompetent in matters of “animal pounds and shelters” since December 15, 2023, the Agglo de Saintes community is continuing to take control of this service by launching the principle of a public service delegation (DSP). Which means that there will be competition between several candidates for a choice of service provider, during the summer of 2025.
“Everything was tried against Bois-Rulaud, everything failed”
No more agreements between the municipalities of the Agglo and the SPA (Society for the Protection of Animals) of Saintes, which has occupied Bois-Rulaud since 1976. The 1,183 m² building belongs to the intercommunality and the land to the City of Saints. Which SPA, affiliated with the Confederation of Independent Shelters, may have to leave the premises if it does not apply or if it does not convince the community delegates to grant it the DSP. Community delegates unanimously voted for this new management on Thursday, November 7.
The prosecution seized in 2021
Underlying this decision is the dissatisfaction of elected officials or at least that of Bruno Drapron, mayor of Saintes. During the community council, Éliane Train, community delegate from Varzay, sought to better understand what was wrong. President Bruno Drapron first deplored that the SPA did not live up to its commitments and “does not come and collect stray or wandering animals when the mayors ask it”.
“We only know that the mayor of Saintes does not like us, even hates us”
Since 2020, the Agglo de Saintes no longer pays subsidies (around 13,000 euros per year), considering that it has already given away the “rent” and that its accounts – a priori well filled according to the words of Bruno Drapron – should have allowed the association to invest in better animal reception conditions.
And this is the second part of the file. Suspicions of mistreatment have reached the ears of the mayor and president of the Agglomeration. Alerted by several associations, Bruno Drapron contacted the Saintes public prosecutor's office in 2021 to launch an investigation into possible breaches. The case was closed at the end of 2022.
In her final “letter from the president”, Yva Moyon, who died last spring, returned to “the repeated storm attacks” since 2021: the investigation after the referral to the prosecutor; a petition titled “Stop mistreatment and abusive euthanasia at the Saintes SPA” in the spring of 2023 and at the end of the same year, accusations of mistreatment and breach of trust reported by Ecological Revolution for the Living, an ecology party radical and anti-speciesist. “Everything was tried against Bois-Rulaud, everything failed,” she wrote. “Against all odds, the refuge held firm. » Will the Saintes SPA, now chaired by Mélissa Pontois, survive the new management rules of Bois-Rulaud?
Its director for thirty-seven years, Laurent Demunter, is officially not aware of the intentions of the Saintaise intercommunality even if “for two weeks, municipalities have been telling us to go through the Agglo”. The director is quite irritated. “We only know that the mayor of Saintes does not like us, even hates us. And we don't know why. » There is no question of letting it happen. “The Saintes SPA has been here for almost fifty years. We can't be kicked out like that. »
Home for wildlife
As for the boxes which would be well filled, Laurent Demunter explains how it works. “For fifty years, the legacies we receive have been distributed in three parts: renovation of the shelter, cash to fill the holes and investments whose interest allows us to finance four jobs. » The Saintes SPA employs 11 people, six of whom are on permanent contracts. A management possible thanks to the fruit(s) of an establishment of almost half a century.
With this public service delegation which will include both the pound service and the shelter, Bruno Drapron wants to set the rules and “restore a framework”. The specifications will include various obligations and will require the reception of New Pets, these NACs which are neither dogs nor cats. He also wants to pay great attention to the care and welcome of wildlife.
If the Saintes SPA is not maintained in its activity in Bois-Rulaud, what about the 360 municipalities (minus the 35 in the Agglomeration, Saintes having already moved away) with which it has an impound agreement? “We are in the process of agreeing for 2025,” replies Laurent Demunter. In this context, in 2023, the Saintes SPA took care of 1,560 animals: 407 dogs, 773 cats, 364 birds and small wild animals, 16 “miscellaneous” such as rabbits, guinea pigs, sheep and goats.
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