Renewal and Reconciliation: Strasbourg Municipality and SPA Work Together to Improve Animal Shelter Conditions

Marie-Françoise Hamard, municipal councilor and Clément Moeglin, the new president of the SPA.

Credit: Maud Karst

Tensions had marred relations between the association and the municipality of Strasbourgleading to the suspension of the annual subsidy of €44,000 granted to the animal shelter by the City. A gesture more symbolic than anything else (when we know that the budget of the SPA is around 1.5 million) which has finished marking the cold between the two institutions. “Lack of protocol, lack of governance, lack of organization, failure to produce documents and problem of dog bites”all these problems have tarnished relations between the City and the Strasbourg SPA, as confirmed Marie-Françoise Hamard, municipal councilor responsible for animal rights. A judicial mediation had been initiated in an attempt to resolve the differences between the two parties.

Relationships are heating up

In office for a little over three years, the advisor has seen three different presidents come and go and it was during the renewal of the board of directors of the association that a fourth president arrived, along with a whole new team. The dialogue was therefore able to resume. This is what the municipal councilor explains alongside Clément Moeglin, the new president : “Very quickly, he made contact and very clearly expressed his desire to put an end to this situation and resume transparent cooperation”. The dog trainer, who became president of the association, confirms this desire to reconnect and adds: “Alone we may go faster but together we go further, and that’s the idea”. A reconciliation that delights both parties, as the municipal councilor attests: “I am very pleased with this return to good understanding.” A second mediation was put in place after his arrival, but given the improvement in the situation, the latter was finally canceled. After numerous meetings between the City and the Strasbourg SPA, in order to reflect on the difficulties, it remains “now the need to resolve these issues”affirms Marie-Françoise Hamard.

There is still work to be done

The new president is not tackling a small project, many things need to be reviewed and reorganized : “A heavy task”, describes Marie-Françoise Hamard. To start again on good foundations, the priorities will initially be “bringing certain things up to standard that there is still to be done”. And especially, “work on a management strategy”, for this the new president is not short of ideas. He details: “We are redefining an organization chart, we are looking for a new director, new managers for each sector, and we are also looking to recruit a dog behaviorist”. A new dynamic is underway in the premises of the animal shelter.

Increasing amounts of abandonment and abuse

The hundred volunteers and the twenty employees are no longer enough to welcome and take care of animals who continue to arrive in numbers at the shelter. A dropout waiting list was even set up by the pound, located right next to the SPA. A situation which relates to “never seen” underlines the municipal councilor. An increasingly complex situation has settled in recent years and surprised the refuge: “We didn’t imagine we would reach saturation here, with more complicated animals, with an increase in cats, with NAC* which are becoming significant.” reports Clément Moeglin. The SPA must not be “a prison environment or a death hall” for animals, indicates Clément Moeglin before adding: “The shelter must once again become a place of transition”.

*New Pets

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2024-01-19 00:37:16
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