Carnage in Red Frogs
One Voice leads a nonviolent fight to defend animal rights and respect all life forms. The organization operates independently and is thus free to speak and act freely.
On September 25th, we will defend the red frogs at the Charleville-Mézières TGI. We are filing a complaint against a poacher who slaughtered thousands of them in defiance of the regulations protecting their species and multiple acts of cruelty.
How
many frogs does it take to satisfy this guzzler? In
Beaumont-en-Argonne (08), on March 16th
2018, a single search of a poacher’s home was enough to discover
nearly 5,000 common frogs (Rana temporaria), dead or alive, about to
be devoured, frozen and / or sold under the counter. The inventory
made by the environmental inspectors is shocking: 19 traps, 2 large
pairs of scissors, 35 pots containing 70 pairs of legs, 32 kilos of
amphibian eggs (officially intended to be returned to their natural
environment ), 19 green frogs (Rana esculenta, officially caught in
error) and 1679 live red frogs (“to be consumed much later”), as
well as… 2954 others already amputated from their hind legs but who
were still breathing!
Endless agony
Indeed,
the owner of the premises, looking like a “peaceful pensioner”,
did not even bother to kill his victims before butchering them. To
the investigators, he presented his technique as follows: “I take
the frog. I knock them out and then use scissors to cut them up.
Then, I hold them in a cloth and with a fork I prick them in the
crotch to be able to remove their skin. Then I tie it up and cut the
flaps of skin off with the scissors. “A master in this dreadful
operation, often assisted by his wife, he thus managed to”
prepare “100 frogs per hour … And at the same time fill
buckets and bags with the”waste“, in this case mutilated
animals, which often took several days before their last breath,
after an abominable period of suffering.
Such a nice grandfather
If
during his hearing on May 19th,
2018, the man denied any commercial inclinations (when he had already
admitted selling the frogs legs during the investigation), he
confirmed his attachment to this “family” traditions.
Besides, this is not the first time he has been fined for amphibian
captures and it is therefore with full knowledge of the facts that he
has continued his misdeeds so far. After learning to fish for common
frogs with his father, he has poached them all his life, making fun
of regulated hunting periods and favouring spawning periods when they
run down streams to reach breeding areas. To capture them more
reliably, he uses callers: “I catch 5 or 6 males, I place them
in the traps, and the others catch themselves“. Once the animals
are trapped, make way for the big knives and crazy gustatory
festivities for those who consider themselves as “nature
lovers“! Regular guests, his sons refused to participate in the
massacre but admitted that they sometimes accompanied their father
during his hunts and that they regularly took from the refrigerator
their catch to treat their wives and children. Ironically, one of
them added that his father took care to do what was necessary for the
preservation of the species by ensuring that the eggs were always put
back in the water!
One Voice civil party
Immediately
informed of this sinister affair, we have brought forward a civil
action to defend the frogs, their vulnerability and their extreme
sensitivity. We will be representing them this Wednesday September
25th
at the high court of Charleville-Mézières, during the trial of the
poacher and his sons who have also been summoned. All three knowingly
violated animal welfare rules, as well as those relating to the
keeping of non-domestic species. We will fight to ensure that they
will receive exemplary punishments and that they are unable to
continue their slaughter any longer!