In Arfeuilles, the "goose neck" game will not take place this year!
Thanks to the efforts of One Voice, the “goose neck” game planned in Arfeuilles was canceled two days before the event. This violent practice, in which a dead animal is decapitated in front of an audience that sometimes includes children, was considered sufficiently problematic by the authorities to warrant this decision. The association condemns these cruel “traditions” that are still tolerated in certain municipalities, notably Beaux and Saint-Bonnet-près-Riom (where the association had documented the “festival”), and continues its fight to have them banned nationwide.
Beating and decapitating an animal killed specifically for the occasion in front of an audience that includes children, whatever the reason given, is not a celebration. It is a violent, degrading and outdated practice.
And as the Allier Departmental Directorate for Protection of Populations (DDPP) reminded the municipality after our report on August 5, it is also, above all, illegal!
The prefecture has taken responsibility by banning the event scheduled in two days’ time, as announced by the festival committee.
That same afternoon, however, the mayor of the city sent a letter of protest to the prefecture.
One Voice remains fully committed to fighting all forms of cruelty to animals, even those that are disguised as “tradition”, particularly in Saint Bonnet-près-Riom (Puy-de-Dôme) and Beaux (Haute-Loire), where this practice still takes place, and for which we referred the matter to the authorities in each region at the beginning of last week.
The future of our society, our youth, deserves better.
We call on the public to join us in protesting against the “goose neck” game by signing and sharing our petition to have it banned at the national level.
Photo: @Sylvain Neron (source: La Montagne)