Love your cat? Have it neutered or spayed

It's surely a lesson the French animal welfare organisation Société protectrice des animaux (SPA) could learn from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to All Animals (SPCA).

screenshot from SPCA video

It's not enough to neuter male cats and dogs or spay females once they land in a refuge for whatever particular reason.

Rather the message has to be drummed home in every way possible to pet owners who somehow still don't seem to be aware of just how important it is to have an animal neutered or spayed.

To that end, the SPCA's Montréal section has released a simple 30-second spot reminding, in this particular case, the need there is to neuter Tom cats.

It features Sultan with accompanying text demonstrating in feline terms at least, what a total sex machine he is - or at least has been allowed to become.

It's amusing, instructive and would surely work just as well in France.




So, time to spread the word - not only to the converted but also those who insist on...well doing absolutely nothing.

Pass it on.

Wedding party procession brings to Paris ring road to a standstill

A word of warning if you're ever invited to a wedding in Paris.

Make sure you don't get too carried away in the festivities by infuriating other drivers in the capital or worse still the police by joining in the potential havoc of the procession of vehicles making its way from the official ceremony to the reception.

Le Boulevard Périphérique, Porte Maillot (screenshot YouTube video)

You could end up facing a prison sentence, a fine and the suspension of your licence.

That's a lesson two guests learned the hard way after they attended a wedding at the end of April.

After tying the knot, the newlyweds and their cortège made their way on to the four-lane ring road le boulevard périphérique, creating a two-kilometre tailback.

It's a practice which according to police has become "more and more frequent in Paris" and one which "frustrates other motorists caught up in the congestion."

As the accompanying video posted on YouTube last year of a similar marriage cortège on le boulevard périphérique attests, the wedding party might be having fun, but is sure doesn't help the flow of traffic - far from it.



April's celebrations all proved too much for one motorist who put in a call to the police to put an end to the festivities after being caught up in the jam,

When they arrived, the police arrested two guests who had been "weaving from lane to lane without warning"  apparently "unaware that their behaviour constituted a criminal offence."

They now face a court date at the end of May, a possible two-year prison sentence and a €4,500 fine as well as the withdrawal of their licences.

A wedding some certainly won't forget in a hurry.

Sexual harassment laws scrapped in France

Oh what a cruel and ironic twist.

In a country which seems to have a law - admittedly often virtually inapplicable - governing just about everything and anything - isn't it refreshing to see the Conseil constitutionnel (Constitutional Council) getting rid of one that actually serves a purpose!

screenshot from TF1 news report

Apparently for the "wise men" - well actually there are also two women as well among the 11-strong Council - the law in its current form is "too vague" in its definition of sexual harassment as a "crime".

Their decision, was based, as RFI Internationale reports, on the outcome of an appeal in the case brought against French parliamentarian Gérard Ducray.

He had been fined €5,000 and been given a three-month suspended sentence for sexual harassment in 2011, but argued on appeal that, "The law was too open to interpretation and could lead to convictions for 'acceptable flirting'."

The court’s decision 'not only makes the law invalid, it also means that all cases currently being pursued will be dropped."

That is until a new law - acceptable to the Conseil constitutionnel - can be drafted and passed. Both presidential candidates have - as you would expect from a so-called "modern" democracy promised to introduce a new law.

In the meantime the justice ministry will take a look at "redefining" current cases that will now have to be dropped but to all intents and purposes there now seems to be a legal void in France when it comes to sexual harassment in the workplace

But it sure looks like a step back in time as far as women's rights are concerned in the country of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.

As they say here in France - especially the candidates at the end of election campaign rallies, "Vive la République, vive la France!"