Dolphins die ... For justice system: Move on, there is nothing to see!
On
November 24th, Nantes Tribunal de Grande Instance (TGI) granted the
request of Parc Planète Sauvage and ordered One Voice to pay €
1,000. The TGI also cancels the order of justice having authorized
the association to investigate with the help of a bailiff the
conditions of detention for the dolphins in this park … which has
just recorded the death of the young Aikko!
His
decision was based on the report prepared by the Departmental
Direction of the Protection of the populations of Loire-Atlantique
(DDPP), following a visit to the zoological park of Port-Saint-Père
in February 2016, indicating that “The animals’ health status
and their conditions of detention are in accordance with the
regulations in force, no danger having been noted for these
dolphins”. The judge also denied the urgency of the application
for the court order, obtained by One Voice to carry out this summer,
a bailiff ‘s report on the living conditions and health of the
eight dolphins in the Park.
Muriel
Arnal, President of One Voice, who was received at the Ministry of
the Environment on 24 November to plead for the closure of
dolphinariumins in France, commented on the decision: “This
judgment could be understood if the young dolphin Aikko who was sent
to Park Asterix early 2015, did not die in Port-Saint-Père on
November 6th. We did our work as whistle-blowers, with two successive
reports produced this year by eminent marine biologists (Dres Naomi
Rose and Ingrid Visser) to highlight the dysfunctions of the park,
and with this lawsuit to obtain a bailiff’s report. Such a decision
masks a reality that now weighs on the future of other dolphins of
Planet Sauvage, including the half-brother of Aikko, the young Galéo.
How many deaths will it take before something is done? “
The
association does not give up, far from it: The Commission for
access to administrative documents, the CADA, gave a favourable
opinion on 3 November 2016 to One Voice’s request that the refusal of
the DDPP to provide a copy of the control report relating to the
Planète Sauvage dolphinarium was not justified. One Voice has
therefore reiterated its request for a copy of the DDPP control
report and remains committed to shed light on the causes of Aikko’s
death and to put the other dolphins in the park out of harm’s way.
For Muriel Arnal: “The
report of the DDPP, giving an endorsement to the park on its
compliance with the regulations cannot fail to note the lack of
adequate shade for the pools, as well as the presence of algae, this
criterion alone should not allow such a positive conclusion.
Moreover, since the passage of the DDPP, Planète Sauvage has
recorded the birth of two dolphins. The conditions of detention and
the coexistence between cetaceans have nothing more to do with the
report, as today one of the three pools is used to isolate infant
dolphins with their mothers … This reduces the other dolphins to an
untenable confinement. I recall that last year, the birth of a
dolphin in Port-Saint-Prère resulted in the death of the baby,
victim of a fight between depressed dolphins. “
The
One Voice association therefore maintains all its ongoing proceedings
against the Parc Planète Sauvage: the complaint filed with the
public prosecutor, the request addressed to the prefect for formal
notice to comply with the regulations on pain of suspension of its
activity, and finally an interim procedure to assess the causes of
the death of Aikko.
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