Heatwave: an additional ordeal for animals

The appalling living conditions of captive animals are exacerbated during hot weather

While they endure harsh living conditions all year round, animals held captive in circuses suffer even more when temperatures reach their peak: water becomes scarce, and they suffocate on the tarmac of car parks or in metal trucks. We have alerted public opinion to the plight of a donkey without water or shade in a circus.

The absurdity of captivity reached its peak when Marineland subjected the bear Rasputin to the extreme temperatures of the French Riviera. Cruel confinement knows no bounds when it comes to “entertainment”, regardless of the suffering it causes. The intense heat also has a violent impact on the orcas Wikie and Keijo, so far from the Icelandic waters where their parents were captured. The water in their pools would have to be cooled to a maximum of 15°C, which is not the case even under normal circumstances.

In breeding facilities for animals destined for experimentation, such as those for dogs in Gannat or Mézilles, or for primates in Rousset, hundreds of animals are confined in cages or aviaries, often without sufficient thermal insulation. Deprived of a natural environment, they endure the heatwave with no possibility of cooling down or finding effective shelter. It’s an extra punishment on top of the experiments…

For individuals left to fend for themselves, such as stray cats, this furnace only exacerbates their already dire situation.

Transport to slaughterhouses is unbearable, but it becomes downright suffocating in extreme heat. Circus animals are also transported from city to city in overheated cage trucks.

Primates used for experimentation are imported from Mauritius or Asia for twenty hours or more, in tiny cages, without access to food or water.

Free-roaming animals, the first witnesses to climate change

Wild animals are the first victims of climate change. They see their territories go up in smoke and have to face fires they cannot escape. Those who avoid being trapped in the fires struggle to find food and water. There is an urgent need to preserve their habitats: the 6th mass extinction is underway. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights describes the climate crisis as a “human rights crisis”. But what about all the animals and ecosystems that are suffering as a result of our species’ actions and now our almost universal inaction?

The last few days have been unspeakably violent for animals, with temperatures well above seasonal norms. The care centres that come to their aid are overwhelmed.

For their survival, it is time to rethink our practices towards nature. They are bearing the brunt of the consequences of climate change, while hunters and excessive urbanisation are dealing them the fatal blow.

Yet eight out of ten French people agree with the principle of banning hunting in regions that have suffered from drought (Ipsos/One Voice survey, October 2023).

We call on the authorities to take responsibility rather than giving in to the destructive desires of the lobbies of intensive agriculture and hunting. It is our duty to protect the world in which we live, and the multitude of flora and fauna that inhabit it. These extreme weather events remind us that we are dependent on the very nature that humanity is destroying. For nature and all those who inhabit it, we will continue to fight!