Micha, Glasha, Bony, Mina ...: the overwhelming evidence of inertia shown by the Prefecture of Loir-et-Cher

For animal welfare, it is not enough just to order visits !

In
summary, at each inspection, the non-conformities are repeated again
and again, but nothing happens in the way of sanctions against the
Poliakovs. Since their authorization to open, and the first check in
2010, when they do not have the correct papers in good order for
their two dozen animals, they are simply asked to apply for them.
These animals could come from illegal channels, or even stolen from
private individuals, no investigation is carried out.

An
aviary took twelve years to be finally built, so the birds had to
live in tiny cages filled with droppings and food, left in the
darkness at the bottom of a trailer. Again, the administration did
not act as it should have. The bear den and their enclosure took a
decade to be partially- built and is not maintained properly …
Again, despite the notices piled up on the Prefecture shelves, none
of this is followed up.
Reading
the documents in the file, it is impossible to follow the animals
since they are not declared or disappear (a doe, a monkey), their
health leaves something to be desired (horses and ponies with
untrimmed hoofs that are too long, a mare covered in abscesses, a
dromedary which died without an autopsy in a climate of mistreatment
…), nothing happens. The years pass without the slightest sanction.
And yet the suffering continues.

These bears have a miserable life

The
bears have been living in a partitioned cage inside of a truck
trailer since at least 2004, the year of our first investigation. At
the time, the Poliakovs hired their services to circuses. But it was
not until 2011 that the administration gave them four months to
complete a building with an enclosure to house the bears, because
they were in breach of their authorization to open in 2007. In the
meantime, the bears survive in a 4 m² space.

In
2017, the facility was built and in order, the bear’s health was
declared satisfactory … But after our complaints, in September
2019, change of tone in the reports: the cells required the removal
of rats and the windows have never been finished, the troughs are
non-compliant. In November 2019, when Micha had just died, veterinary
experts had finally attested to what our experts had denounced as
«the presence of nauseating stagnant water in the bowl of the female
Glasha», that Bony and Glasha’s teeth are causing chronic pain and
that she had developed a tumour so large that it forms a mass near
her eye.

The veterinary certificate is superfluous

At
the beginning of September, unaware that images had been filmed a few
days before, and whereas Micha should never have been trained or
moved (his papers were in order for the category of “zoo”
and not for a “traveling show”) a veterinarian certified
that the bear was in good cardio-pulmonary health and that its weight
was correct, the only point to review according to him being the
length of its claws. He therefore gives his authorization for Micha
to be shown in public. We
now know that the bear was beaten and invaded by ubiquitous tumours
that were even in the brain, that cartilage had blocked his nostrils,
that his larynx was deformed by the chain by which his captors held
him, that he weighed two thirds of the weight of a healthy bear and
that maggots gnawed at him from the inside of his legs … a strange
certificate. But this one does not concern the Prefecture… until it
needs to clear itself.

Mina, 6 years old in a 50 cm2 cage in the dark

The
papers of Mina, the little Guenon monkey have never been in good
standing since at least December 2010. Where does this monkey come
from? Is there any evidence that it belongs to the Poliakovs? Yet it
will never be removed. Another monkey disappears, without
consequence.
In
2011, the inspector wrote that Mina was detained in the bear truck,
in a 50 cm by 50 cm cage, in the dark, in “unacceptable”
conditions. The inspector asked for a place to be built for them to
live in. Four months later. When finally, in 2017, the monkey has a
space of adequate size, it is empty of enrichment though, requested
by the authorities only after our complaints were filed in September
2019. Similarly, the stinging nettles and waste left on the ground
are not identified in the last reports …

In September the tone got tougher, but in November it was time for a pass through

In
the month of November 2019, when Micha’s death had wrenched our
hearts out and checks are finally diligent, we observe once again
that the Poliakovs benefit from a strange benevolence from the
authorities: many points were raised during the time the inspectors
were on site or were not respected because they had “not read all
the terms of the order”… You think to yourself that you’re
dreaming when you read this.
Dirt
and rubbish still lie in Mina’s enclosure, they will be removed in
front of the inspector. She still has no papers in good standing;
however, she is still used for films or reports. And the Prefecture
gives them a few more days to comply!
A
Parrot’s papers are also not compliant, they don’t have the right
ones. The report suggests that the steps were not taken properly,
since 2007. Who in our society benefits from such delays in getting
things compliant?

We
are entitled to wonder why captive wild animals are not better
protected by the authorities who should guarantee them this. It is
not enough to order checks. Penalties must be punished. Micha’s
withdrawal, and then Bony and Glasha’s withdrawal order are proof
that this is not impossible to order. You still have to want it. We demand accountability from
the Prefecture of Loir-et-Cher this Thursday, November 28^th
2019 at 2 p.m. at the Administrative Court of Orleans.