Vvegetarian since the age of seven, sensitive “for as long as (she) can remember” to the animal cause, the animalist presidential candidate Hélène Thouy held a meeting on Saturday evening in Orléans to show that “another life is possible for animals”.
Hélène Thouy “is the perfect candidate for the Animalist Party”, created in 2016 and which claims 5,000 members, smiles Simon Nordmann, 26, during a visit to the animal sanctuary Le Vernou, in Sologne.
Next to him, the co-founder of the Animalist Party continues caress following caress: Josephine the “pig-glier”, half-pig half-boar who lies down when scratched, Peter the huge ox saved from the slaughterhouse, but also goats and donkeys.
“It feels good to be here because we mainly see videos of animals locked up, we see that there is another life that is possible for them with their needs and their interests”, breathes Ms. Thouy, all dressed in black, with high pink rubber boots to face the mud.
His commitment to animals dates back to childhood. “I lived in the countryside,” says the Girondine. I was in contact with the animals and I immediately paid attention to the way they were treated“, she continues.
Growing up, “I heard the shots of hunters every weekend, I had meat served on the table daily in my family, my grandmother had a slaughterhouse next to her house and I heard the animals howl constantly”, details the 30-year-old. “I covered my ears,” she says.
“Very young, from seven years old, I stopped eating meat. Then I turned to law studies to defend the animal cause and I also became vegan regarding fifteen years ago”, explains the candidate who notably defends the antispeciesist association L214.
She has a cat and two rabbits that she saved from intensive farming, she says. “If I might have more?” she said smiling.
Macron and his dog
According to a recent Ifop poll, 69% of French people consider animal welfare to be an important electoral campaign issue.
For Hélène Thouy, it is “fundamental” that young people, in particular, campaign alongside her. At the first meeting of the Animalist Party in Orléans on Saturday evening, the young people occupied almost half of the room.
“For me, his candidacy represents a huge source of hope for the animal cause”, insists Marion Bigoin, activist of the Animalist Campus, a youth association of the Animalist Party, created in October 2021.
“She is transcended by the convictions that we all share and she really has this ability to be able to debate, she has that in her blood”, continues the young woman of 20 years.
“I am quite curious regarding the candidate’s program. I think that the animal cause is an obvious theme of the campaign, which is also quite overshadowed by the other candidates”, estimates for his part Julien Bara, a technician from Orleans 28 years old, present at the meeting.
“It is fundamental that young people commit themselves to animals (…) the animal cause brings together very diverse people, of all origins, of all social categories, of all ages, rural, urban, it is absolutely fundamental that they take up the torch and that gives hope”, affirms the candidate.
About 200 people were present at the meeting, including Jean-Marie Boutiflat, a 71-year-old retiree. “I am involved in La France insoumise and we have a certain number of common demands with the Animalist Party, in particular to develop shelters, so I thought it was important to be there this evening”, testifies the Orléanais.
The animal cause owes its growing visibility over the past five years to the militant actions of associations such as L214 and its shocking videos of abuse in slaughterhouses.
Since the Animalist Party won 2.2% of the vote in the European elections in May 2019, the animal cause is increasingly invited into the political debate.
The government notably announced the end of live castration of piglets and the grinding of male chicks at birth has been banned since last Sunday.
For his part, the Head of State Emmanuel Macron has regularly staged his dog Nemo, adopted at the SPA, while his rival Marine Le Pen appears with his cats.
12/02/2022 22:35:32 – Orleans (AFP) – © 2022 AFP
