Arche de Noël: a museum of horrors for ‘exotic’ birds

According to the manager himself, Arche de Noël keeps more than one hundred birds. For an organisation functioning solely with volunteers, who are untrained and do not hold qualifications, it is impossible to correctly care for all of these residents. If the dogs are mistreated and exploited for breeding, the birds and reptiles do not get left out.

Exotic birds kept in abominable conditions

During the investigation carried out between October 2022 and February 2023, we were able to observe a horrifying number of birds - more than 60! - piled up in minuscule cages, who in the wild would travel several kilometres per day. They hop around on the miserable and only perch in their cage and grip desperately to the bars, but they are not able to spread their wings or fly.

Although some of them are ‘lucky’ enough to be sheltered from the bad weather inside the house, the majority of them are outside, exhibited by the side of the swimming pool. The daily routine is simple: they are fed a handful of grain and that is the only interaction with the outside world that these birds have any right to. A hand that enters the cage and then closes it again, before replacing the plastic cover that serves as a windbreak over the mesh, even depriving them of simply being able to see the outside world. They are condemned to perpetually stare at the bars of their cage. As we were able to see with each visit, the cages are never cleaned and are full of droppings.

These animals are not offered up for adoption by this so-called association. They only serve to boost the dishonest boss’ personal collection and he makes no secret of selling them on without following legislation.

Trafficking parrots, budgies, zebra finches, boa constrictors...

Azzopardi’s birds are not here as a result of being abandoned but from exchanges with his friends. He even admits to selling them completely illegally without even flinching! When asked how he does it, he responds bluntly: “Well, off the books! You have to do it off the books”.

In his dining room, a boa constrictor is kept in a vivarium that is hardly any bigger than she is... a female that he wants to get rid of but he cannot since he knows that she is unofficial: “The shit thing is that I don’t have the papers”.

After a life of imprisonment, when death comes to finally free these prisoners who are guilty of nothing, they are disgracefully stored in a freezer containing food, in violation of the most basic hygiene rules... Unsurprising when we know that deaths due to disease are the norm in this organisation, that dogs are kept in surplus to breed with the sole aim of making a profit, and that there are so many rats that the manager traps them to torture them.

Following our investigation, we have obviously filed a complaint against the owner to put an end to these animals’ ordeals.

To find out more about Arche de Noël

• Arche de Noël: a factory-breeding farm camouflaged by deceptively being called a ‘rescue centre’
• Arche de Noël: an adoption process that is unbelievable… and totally illegal
• Arche de Noël: children subjected to the spectacle of animal abuse
• Arche de Noël: puppies sacrificed so as to not spend money
• Arche de Noël: Aria killed because the boss didn't want to help her

Translated from the French by Joely Justice