Mina dead at the start of 2022 and Kamala taken abroad. But what are the authorities doing?!

Social networks have related alarming information on one of the two elephants being kept by the Medrano Circus settled in Aimargues and whose opening order we have tried to have cancelled : Mina, who was presented to us as being in good health by both the establishment keeping her and by the DDPP services (Prefecture) within the framework of the proceedings taking place before the Rennes Administrative Tribunal, was in fact dead and had been for several months! And Kamala had re-joined the Skanda Vale Centre in the United Kingdom that welcomed Lechmee. A Centre which we had warned the Ministry of Ecology about since 2018 so that they did not let Maya be sent there because it is in no way an acceptable place for elephant welfare. All of this while Elephant Haven, in France, is an available, adequate, and welcoming sanctuary!

A law giving the illusion of action

The law on the mistreatment of animals passed in November 2021 is a huge farce for the animals being kept in circuses, especially for the elephants who are dying one after another or are being sent abroad. Because only travelling circuses are targeted, leaving those who want to settle down and to thus continue to exploit the animals at their leisure, as is the case with the Medrano circus. But this law has also still allowed the breeding of big cats for years... in addition to the fact that no application decree has yet been issued.

The authorities must show their accounts!

We are asking for the accounts and factual findings from the Côtes-d’Armor Prefecture.

The Association is particularly worried about Mina’s fate, who is now deceased. We would like to understand the circumstances of her death and have access to all of the related documents, especially the veterinary autopsy report carried out and the rendering certificate. With regard to Kamala, the Association is asking for the CITES or CIC document and the handover date.

We have also written to the Rennes Tribunal, because if it turns out that Mina is indeed dead and Kamala has been given away in England, our complaint could be considered as ‘unfounded’ and therefore do absolutely nothing (as happened for the Barbary Macaque kept by the Poliakovs)... Because instead of ruling on problems at the time of the complaint, justice abandons legal proceedings as soon as the animals die from the consequences of the mistreatment they have received... and those who inflicted it on them get away with it. Incidentally, the Medrano Circus boasts, after so many years of cracking the whip and wielding an ankus, about now putting on a show without animals.

Finally, and as always (equally for Lechmee), the exploiters felt that the tide was turning and divested themselves of the elephants to avoid a withdrawal being imposed by the law after more than five years of One Voice’s legal proceedings.

Our incessant campaigns — proceedings, making the public aware, and pressure on the authorities with our investigation footage in particular — got the better of the resistance from the civil service, but too late for Mina who is most likely dead... We are doing all we can so that those responsible will pay.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice