Traveling with peace of mind with your pet: a promise from the SNCF in 1980

NEWS.

On January 2, 2023, at Paris-Montparnasse station, a woman and her daughter witnessed the death of their cat, which had escaped from its carrier to hide under a TGV. The case was revealed by The Parisian 20 th January. According to our colleague, the tragedy took place despite twenty minutes of negotiations to recover the animal. By refusing the SNCF to delay the departure of the train, the cat Neko was crushed to death in front of the eyes of his mistresses. “ We saw him, running under the train, that’s the last time I saw him alive, he looked me in the eyes, because he must have heard me, he kept running then it was over “He told one of the owners of BFMTV.

The 30 million friends foundation filed a complaint on January 23 against the SNCF for “serious abuses and acts of cruelty resulting in the death of an animal”. ” Beyond the abominable cruelty of the facts, the animal was in good standing because his mistresses had paid for a ticket to be able to travel legally. It is therefore a SNCF passenger who was knowingly run over! denounced the president of the Foundation, Reha Hutin.

The SNCF deplored a “ sad accident “.

This case contrasts with the image of the SNCF. In particular, in the early 1980s, the national transport company was one of the first railway companies in Europe to welcome animals on board its trains. He then announced that all pets, cats, dogs or rabbits can travel with their owners.

THE ARCHIVE.

The TF1 television magazine “30 Millions d’amis” had boarded a train with two large dogs to verify that the animals were indeed accepted. It is this archive that we present to you at the beginning of the article. It dates back to June 1980, a few days before leaving for the holidays. The pet magazine specified that the SNCF provision concerned “ the 16 million owners of the 8 million dogs and 9 million cats of the hexagon. This approach has been quite well received as every year, unable to travel with their pets, between “ From 300 to 400,000 families » has abandoned his pet to go on vacation. Being able to take them with you on the train represented a real evolution, a way to combat abandonment in the summer period.

Jean Ravel, the passenger commercial director of SNCF, estimated that “ The animal policy of the SNCF is very benevolent. Pets are tolerated as long as other travelers allow it “. In the images shot on board a train, dogs and cats, sometimes cumbersome, seemed to travel as comfortable as their owners. The person in charge explained the methods of transport, as the animals were placed in a “ containing or kept on a leash, they were welcome. And indeed, for the two enormous dogs transported by the journalist, everything seemed to be going well in the carriage, except for the angry looks of some travellers.

A ticket like any other

To travel with the SNCF the master paid” 8 francs » for small sizes, on « less than 100km ” And ” CHF 13 for journeys over 100 km “. The highest paid half the price of a second class ticket “. Jean Ravel stressed that this legislation was “ the most liberal in Europe, France is the only country to authorize animals to travel in both classic compartments and sleeping cars, provided that other travelers do not see any inconvenience. It is up to the controller to find another compartment in the opposite case.

In the archive below, Jean Ravel described Zen travels, even with animals” wise and kind compared to their masters.

The magazine “30 Millions d’amis” then welcomed this commercial policy of the SNCF by facilitating ” understanding between animals and people » and specified that the number of animals transported had doubled in 4 years, going from 500,000 to one million, specifying that he had received fewer than 500 complaints.

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