Animal Activist SLAN Selects Bethesda for U.S. Branch
Bethesda emerged on top of fourteen finalist cities vying for the U.S. branch of Paris-based SLAN International, Société pour les Libertés des Animaux à Naître (Society for the Liberties of Unborn Animals). The global animal activist group has offices in Paris, Guangzhou, Caracas, and Christchurch.
“Highest among our criteria was a host city passionate about animal liberty, a community where an unborn animal’s right to life is sacrosanct,” said SLAN President and founder Bud Foretasté. Bethesda is home to more than two dozen non-profits dedicated to animal issues.
SLAN was founded in 1984 out of a successful effort to stop kill shelters in France from euthanizing pregnant cats and dogs. Grassroots lobbying led to laws preventing euthanization until after females give birth and guaranteeing their newborns the standard 21-day waiting period before they can be put down too.
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Among SLAN’s principal tenets is the right of all animals to copulate and their offspring to be born. Members believe it is a crime against nature to interfere in the natural order.
SLAN’s activism in the U.S. has already been felt. Recent egg shortages in the U.S. are connected to SLAN infiltration of the industry, according to officials from the American Chicken & Egg Council. Last year a referendum in France that would have banned the production and sale of eggs was narrowly defeated. “Were it not for the soufflé, I am convinced it would have passed,” Foretasté told Le Parisien.
“It doesn’t matter which came first. The chick deserves to hatch. Chicken processing is up because investors see what’s coming,” Foretasté told the Montgonion. “In 2023 America it will be easy.”
Some local animal advocates aren’t welcoming SLAN to Bethesda. They warn that SLAN’s TCR (trap-clip-release) program is intended to confuse feral colony caregivers and trappers who would otherwise spay or neuter unclipped animals. “If you have ever heard alley cats at night, you know the sound of l'amour. Who are we to stand in the way?” says Foretasté in response.
SLAN International takes occupancy of its new office on Bethesda’s Cordell Avenue in July, in the space formerly occupied by Just Puppies in the Fairmount Shopping Center.
