One Voice is at the administrative court in Marseille on Wednesday 26 May at 10am for Samba the elephant
After years of exploitation, Samba deserves to retire. One Voice summoned the Prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône to trial at the Marseille Administrative Court of Appeal.
After years of exploitation, Samba deserves to retire. The poor elephant has suffered beatings with a stick and isolation for far too long. However, One Voice are the only ones to have been worried about her well-being for around 20 years. The Association summoned the Prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône to trial at the Marseille Administrative Court because the Prefecture has a responsibility regarding all captive wild animals in their jurisdiction.
On Wednesday 26 May at 10am, the hearing took place at the Marseille Administrative Court of Appeals against the ruling of 12 July 2019. On this date, One Voice’s complaint, which condemned the Prefect’s refusal to proceed with Samba’s retirement from the circus that was keeping her, was rejected. For the Association, removing the elephant from a life in a circus must happen as soon as possible, whether it be the circus belonging to Max Aucante (Cirque d’Europe) or any other. Giving up is not part of their vocabulary. A life is at stake.
Samba experienced traumatising incidents and One Voice has fought for her for 19 years. The African Elephant was captured from where she lived peacefully surrounded by her mother and aunts. She suffered violence from the trainers from a very young age. She was beaten in front of children… and the one time that she rebelled, she bolted, taking the life of a man with her. We managed to ensure that she was not slaughtered, but she remained in the possession of the trainer, Max Aucante, and was renamed Tania. Since, our fight has not stopped.
In this case, the Ministry for Ecological Transition was trying to avoid the truth: in his submission, he tersely concluded that he “was referring to observations presented in the first instance by the Prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône, which he agreed with”. And nothing since. However, the announcement of measures to stop touring circuses from keeping animals in September 2020 could have since led to another standpoint…
We claim that Samba is deprived of all contact with her own kind, in violation with the by-law of 18 March 2011 regulating that circuses require satisfaction of behavioural requirements. This need for socialisation is all the more prominent among mammals defined as “socially complex”, such as elephants, apes, and orcas. On this point, the 23rd
resolution implemented during the 11th Conference on the Conservation of Migratory Species under the umbrella of the United Nations, is very clear: “a certain number of socially complex mammalian species, such as many species of cetaceans, great apes, and elephants, show that they have a non-human culture”. Samba needs to be taken out of the circus to finally live surrounded by her own kind, because, as for all herd animals, isolation makes them mad with despair.
We would also like to refer to our investigative videos, as is customary for us, because in these cases, justice often needs additional tangible proof as well as expertise. In October 2019, one of our investigators attended a circus performance in Saint-Pierre-lès-Nemours. These images were submitted to Dr. Willem Schaftenaar, an elephant specialist who is totally independent from the Association, for his opinion. They gave rise to a further complaint, enriched by his expertise. For him, Samba-Tania should be left to rest.
For us, and this is what we are again asking the court: her state of physical and mental health, as well as her confined conditions, should be evaluated; the Cirque d’Europe and Max Aucante should no longer be able to show Samba-Tania to the public (we request that the opening rights of the circus are repealed in relation to this); and she should be retired from the circus and entrusted to us. As soon as possible.