The animal advocacy organization particularly noted his promotion of vegetarian meals in school cafeterias or the place of wild animals in city circuses.
The city of Grenoble was awarded this Thursday by the animal defense association L214 for its efforts in terms of animal welfare, in particular the promotion of vegetarian meals in school canteens.
Mayor Eric Piolle and the city councilor responsible for animal status, Sandra Krief, both received from the association a “City for Animals” scarf which symbolically recognizes the progress of the municipality, the most advanced in this sector according to a classification evolutionary established by L214.
“It is a pleasure to see a city like Grenoble integrate the animal condition as an act of public order in its own right. (…) Today it acts very concretely for animals, for humans and for our environment”, he underlined during The ceremony Brigitte Gothière, one of the founders of L214.
“Still a Long Way Away”
If L214 is best known for his denunciations with often very harsh images of the plight of animals in France, a lesser known aspect of his work has been speaking with companies and elected officials since 2020 underlining the “many levers” that must act, he recalled Brigitte Gothiere.
Thus, the decision of the Grenoble town hall to establish vegetarian menus as the standard meal in school canteens from the start of the 2022 school year constitutes “truly a paradigm shift”, he stressed.
Eric Piolle expressed his “pride” at receiving this recognition, while acknowledging that his municipality is “still far from the mark”.
“A real expectation of the population”
The first efforts had already been made during his first municipal mandate on issues such as the place of wild animals in circuses or the establishment of contraceptive eco-ducts, nests or dovecotes. They have intensified since the start of her second term in 2020 with the creation of an animal welfare delegation, assigned to Sandra Krief, she stressed.
He believed that it is “the duty of every community to fight against the invisibility of animal suffering by concretely integrating consideration of their existence into all public policies”.
Improving the conditions of the animals is “a real expectation of the French population, especially young people,” he insisted.
Eric Piolle confided that he himself “has moved on many topics”, including bullfighting – he is now part of a group that is calling for its ban – or food, becoming a vegetarian himself for just over a year.
