Controversy over a dog without a muzzle on a train: “it has taken on excessive proportions” judges former MP Anne-Yvonne Le Dain

Anne-Yvonne Le Dain a été députée de 2012 à 2017. Midi Libre – RICHARD DE HULLESSEN

Last Sunday, the former Hérault elected official denounced, on the social network X, the non-compliance with SNCF regulations. His remarks generated such controversy that many media outlets took up the matter. Anne-Yvonne Le Dain maintains her position.

The media have never talked so much about Anne-Yvonne Le Dain, even when she was still a Member of the Nation. Since Sunday and her "tweet" showing a dog peacefully dozing on a Montpellier-Paris train to denounce the breach of SNCF rules, the former Hérault elected official has sparked debate on social networks and on many television sets. Well helped, it is true, by the intervention of the journalist Hugo Clément, defender of the environment and the animal cause, who brought him the contradiction. 

#LaFrance… Etre pris au sérieux, nous autres français qui râlons tout le temps mais acceptons tout. Ici très gros chien dans le train: pas de muselière, or c’est OBLIGATOIRE (pour ceux-là). Les contrôleurs juste avant, nada! Les passagers non plus. ⁦@SNCFVoyageurs⁩ #nous pic.twitter.com/AWvn1c5L8w

— Anne-Yvonne Le Dain #EnsembleCitoyens #AvecVous (@Ayledain) February 25, 2024

The Mowgli Affair

The show "Quotidien" by Yann Barthès even devoted three minutes, in his show on Wednesday, February 28, to "the Mowgli affair", named after the dog shown in a photo by the' former MP. Especially to make fun of all the subjects that have animated journalists and columnists since Sunday: should dogs be muzzled on trains ? Should the MP show the animal on social networks ? Le golden is retriewer a nice dog ? Even the Minister of Agriculture was questioned on the subject on France 5.

On France Bleu Hérault, Wednesday morning, Ms. Le Dain said she was "stunned" by the ;#39;scale taken by the affair of his tweet now seen more than 16 million times. "It took on excessive proportions", she supports.

"A carelessness of the SNCF"

However, the Montpellier woman does not budge: this dog should have worn a muzzle."I take the train regularly, I have "frequent traveler" status. and I never see dogs wearing a muzzle, despite the regulations (which require it for those over 6 kilos, Editor's note). There is a lack of care from the SNCF. However, there are new models of muzzles, easy to put on, which prevent the dog from biting while allowing it to breathe and drink".

Anne-Yvonne Le Dain, in all her media interventions, insists on the fact that every year in France, "60,000 people move to the' hospital after a dog bite, sometimes we cannot even repair the facial nerve". She also considers that the fact that the dog seems peaceful and kind, as is the case with Mowgli, does not change the matter. “People say he's nice. Certainly. But already, some people are afraid of dogs and others don't know how to pet a dog. A child can touch it in the wrong place and cause a bad reaction from the animal, she defends.

She has no intention of returning to politics

Beyond the subject, Anne-Yvonne Le Dain still denounces the fact that "everyone considers that they have the right to… But he there are rules, they are made to be respected". On the other hand, she assures us, she did not seek to create buzz to return to politics. "I have no idea' 39;intention, neither at the national level, nor at the local level", affirms the one who was a socialist deputy from 2012 to 2017, beaten in the 1st round after having lost the' inauguration of the PS for having supported Emmanuel Macron in the presidential election. She adds, still on the microphone of France Bleu Hérault: "I'always have a public action, I like to think, reflect, exchange with others about what is happening in our society". Including on trains.