Our ongoing legal actions to release wild animals from circuses
One Voice is more than ever determined to end the slavery of wild animals in circuses. Here are our most recent actions.
One Voice is more than ever determined to end the slavery of wild animals in circuses. Already engaged in actions on the ground, One Voice increases the administrative and legal steps to follow-up on animal’s cases against the circuses and their illegal actions. Here are our most recent actions.
Every day, One Voice asks the competent authorities for many documents: prefectural control reports, prefectural authorizations, capacity certificates, accident registers, etc. But it regularly runs into a wall of silence, forcing One Voice to summon the Commission of Access for the administrative documents and to enforce the right to communicate and try to obtain the requested documents.
We lodged a complaint of ill-treatment against the circus William ZAVATA, while he was parading with his felines on April 28th , 2016, in the commune of Creutzwald and using a truck with a loud speaker, which is contrary to Article 17 of the decree of 2011 on the conditions of detention of wild animals in circuses. The complaint was forwarded to the public prosecutor for the Republic of Paris, then filed for lack of sufficient evidence on October 20th2016 by letter of November 2nd 2016. One Voice requested a copy of the investigation file and it turned out that the file only contained our complaint …
On May 19th 2016, a complaint of ill-treatment was lodged against the La piste aux étoiles circus during the occasion of the grand parade using sound at the Boeuf Villé Carnival. The latter took place Sunday April 3rd 2016 in the town of Montlucon, with camels, dromedaries and elephants on trailers. This complaint has also been closed.
On May 12th 2017, One Voice asked the agriculture and environment ministers to rescind the 2011 decree on animal holding in circuses. The request is still being processed and if One Voice does not get an answer, the Council of State will be seized before September 12th.
The Controller for places of deprivation of liberty was seized at the beginning of May for a request for transfer of the elephants Lechmee, Kamala, Mina, Maya and Samba and a hippopotamus Jumbo, due to the unsuitable conditions of their detention. This independent authority however considered that the animals were not covered by these protective measures.
An application for interim relief was also filed to free Lechmee, Kamala and Mina, but the judge of the Toulouse Administrative Court dismissed the request on 22nd May 2017, considering that the laws protecting animals could not be considered as fundamental freedoms…
At the same time, One Voice brought to the Departmental Population Protection Directorate claims aiming at cancelling the opening permits for the owners holding Samba, Maya, Lechmee, Kamala, Mina and Jumbo. Without any answer, appeals will be brought to the administrative courts with effect from 12th July 2017, based on the superior interests of the animals and their ability in respect of sensitivity / sentient capacity.
An application for a referred suspension will also be made for Jumbo and Lechmee, Kamala and Mina, for whom the conditions of detention are contrary to the 2011 decree.
A complaint of ill-treatment was also filed against the circus holding Jumbo on May 17th2017 with the prosecutor of Valencia. This complaint is still being processed.
And to discover our actions and past victories, uncover the history of a fight conducted for 18 years!