News Archive - Page 10 of 122

Inouk was born and died in Marineland’s pools; a life that was ruined by 25 years of captivity

Inouk was born and died in Marineland’s pools; a life that was ruined by 25 years of captivity
28.03.2024
Inouk was born and died in Marineland’s pools; a life that was ruined by 25 years of captivity
Dolphinariums

We have just found out about Inouk’s death. For more than five years, his harmful state of health has outraged us, and we have not stopped sounding the alarm. We have moved heaven and earth so that the State will take responsibility after the 2021 law was voted in, which is full of holes and does not protect animals in reality. We oppose the dolphinarium that wanted and still wants to send them to Japan or another place to be exploited, both in legal terms and among the public. We have established good working relations with a marine sanctuary, the construction of which has already progressed, and which will represent the best way out for this family of orcas. International experts specialising in cetaceans, who we have appealed to, have given perfectly clear statements and reports on the urgency of helping them.

One Voice have planned action in front of the park on Saturday 30 March due to training shows being expected to start again at Marineland. In fact, after it was announced that the ticket price was reducing, testimonies from the keepers, the removal of stuffed toy orcas from the marine zoo shop’s shelves, and footage of the stress test that the orcas have had to undergo since the beginning of January until the day before it was closed to the public, which we broadcasted almost live and which ended up convincing the Grasse legal tribunal to ban moving these sea giants until an expert report on their state of health had been carried out, there was no longer any doubt that this was indeed a despicable project by these captivity industrialists.

Our activities as activists will now be an homage to Inouk. We are calling on as many people as possible to join us.

The expert report that we obtained from the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal was on Moana and Inouk’s state of health, both of them now deceased, but also on their environment, to find out about their interactions with the other orcas and the park’s facilities. Marineland has just appealed the Grasse tribunal’s decision, once again proving more than ever that they did not want to give them to chance to experience anything other than endless exploitation and that they wanted to get rid of them as quickly as possible. Moana died when he was just a teenager; the complaint we filed on his behalf following his death was closed. A few weeks ago, we silently celebrated 25 years of Inouk. He will not have even reached his parents’ age, who also died in these pools where he was born. Marineland is said to be in mourning, but the park, who cultivates a lack of transparency, knowingly created the conditions for this massacre.

We were interviewed by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition on sanctuary solutions, and the Ministry, after having made an initial call for a feasibility study, has just published another. There was a long time between Ms. Pompili’s announcement and any action… the Ministry obviously waited until it was too late.

Before finding out about Inouk’s death, we were confident that the expert report would continue. We are now uncertain on this point. And beyond the expert report in progress, there is now an urgent need for Wikie and Keijo to be taken out of Marineland.

With these two orca deaths in barely six months, and since the time we alerted public authorities of the imminence of a tragedy, we are filing a complaint against Marineland. We are doing everything we can to get the dolphinarium to respond for its actions and so that it cannot wriggle out of it once again.

The conditions that chicks are being kept in at Jardiland and a new example of pet shops’ deadly trade

The conditions that chicks are being kept in at Jardiland and a new example of pet shops’ deadly trade
28.03.2024
The conditions that chicks are being kept in at Jardiland and a new example of pet shops’ deadly trade
Zoe Cell

We exposed the alarming situation of the baby birds at Jardiland in Bonneuil-sur-Marne at the beginning of the week. Piled up in awful conditions, incapable of moving around, and dying from suffocation under the weight of their brothers, sisters and unfortunate cousins: this is what we are still finding in pet shops in 2024. We have reported the situation and are joining forces with State services to get an investigation underway. To put an end to animals being sold in pet shops, we need you: join forces with us and write to the Ministry of Agriculture as well as to Jardiland!

An unacceptable situation that must stop immediately

On 22 March 2024, at Jardiland in Bonneuil-Sur-Marne, dozens of baby birds were being kept in extremely overpopulated conditions. They were so piled up that they were unable to move properly which led to them suffering and, in some cases, death by being crushed. How can we tolerate this blatant lack of respect for their lives?

Moreover, it is unacceptable that there is just one single place to get water from available for almost 80 individuals. How can we tolerate such negligence? These animals must be treated with dignity and consideration, not as simple goods to be pushed to the back of a section in the pet shop.

Let’s ban the sale of animals in pet shops!

It is about time that the authorities take strong measures to put an end to these practices. While waiting for a definitive ban on sales in these establishments, the laws and regulations surrounding animal welfare must be applied strictly and regular inspections must be carried out.

How can we believe for one minute that our leaders are going to worry about the fate of birds, rodents, fish, and other small animals, even though the laws protecting cats and dogs – which are stricter in theory – are already trampled all over? Despite the safeguarding that has been implemented, business has been merrily continuing since 1 January this year.

We are calling for an immediate end to the sale of living beings in pet shops where they are still being treated as simple playthings or decorations. Even though this dramatic event for the chicks that were crushed may be regretted by the shop representatives and would not have followed the company’s procedures in terms of animal welfare, the events did in fact take place. What happens out of sight when no one is filming? We have written to the State veterinary services and are asking that an investigation be carried out.

You can act too:

By calling on the Minister of Agriculture. We are offering a letter template here.
By calling on the Minister of Agriculture. We are offering a letter template here.

The 20 November 2021 law aiming to fight against animal abuse: a clear failure!

The 20 November 2021 law aiming to fight against animal abuse: a clear failure!
27.03.2024
The 20 November 2021 law aiming to fight against animal abuse: a clear failure!
Multi-theme
Legal

The law of 30 November 2021 against animal abuse set numerous objectives to fight against domestic animals being abandoned, to reinforce sanctions against abuse, and even to put a stop to wild animals being kept in circuses and dolphinariums. Since the initial announcement, we have blown the whistle: at the time of the meetings that we participated in with the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, but also during discussions at the National Assembly and the Senate, where the law was amended until it lost its original intention.

Vague proposals left the door open to abuse, under pressure from lobbies. At the time, we felt that we were the only ones who had read between the lines: an ambitious project that was passed on the cheap and which has become illusory in the face of those in the sector ready to do anything to circumvent the law.

Domestic animals ‘protected’ by a ministry that makes fun of them

Neutering, the only solution to feline straying, was not imposed

When it comes to cats or dogs, the implementations that are supposed to protect them are largely pushed aside.

We have been fighting for years for the implementation of an urgent national plan to come to the rescue for millions of cats without a family. At the time when this law was debated, there was a glimmer of hope: an obligation for towns to neuter stray cats was brought up. This was quickly suppressed under pressure from local elected representatives… Instead, there was a report that the government was supposed to submit within the next six months following the enactment, on 1 June 2022 at the latest. But the Ministry of Agriculture, more worried about protecting the interests of a certain agricultural group who have nothing to do with our pets and those who try to help them on the ground at great cost, have still not handed in their copy more than a year and a half later. We have therefore submitted a plea against the State.

A meaningless certificate

To slow down impulsive purchases and abandonments, legislators decided to impose a seven-day period between meeting and officially adopting the animal. This had good intentions, but in reality, the ‘commitment and knowledge certificate’ is totally useless. Intended to ensure that the reflection period is respected, it is nothing but a piece of paper, easily backdated as we have been reporting for months, and the sanctions for doing so are ridiculous. How can anyone think for one moment that a signature on a document will get in the way of abandonments?

A gaping hole: online sales are largely forgotten by this law

Although a ban on the sale of cats and dogs in pet shops was brought in on 1 January 2024, puppy show type events remain authorised.

And for pet shops, a scheme was served up on a platter by the Ministry of Agriculture itself: online sales! These establishments can thus continue their lucrative trade, encouraging people to buy animals on the internet without having even met them or having spoken about families’ wishes, their lifestyle, and the conditions that the animals will be brought into. A quickly made purchase, like a piece of furniture that will decorate our home.

When it comes to the specifics, they can also continue to dedicate themselves to trading living beings on the internet with no respect for legal standards and with no sanctions, nor any against them or the platforms. In 2021, a new measure was imposed on classified advert sites to implement a system to check the identity of the animals before publishing the adverts in particular to avoid trafficking. However, just as strange as this may seem, the big brands did not seem to be concerned and unlawful adverts were put up daily. This was why we filed a complaint against Leboncoin in 2023.

Pounds: places of mass slaughter and an unhappy relay of full rescue centres that are full to bursting

This law could have been an opportunity to put a definitive end to online transfers. This is not the case. We are continuing to fight to get it banned for these animals to be sold or given away on the internet, which is a source of abandonment, misery for stray cats, and mass slaughters in pounds, whether they be managed by public or private stakeholders.

From trompe l’oeil to sleights of hand, all to the detriment of captive wild animals

A new form of exploitation: settled circuses

Since 1 December 2023, circuses have theoretically been banned from acquiring, selling, and breeding from their wild animals. However, we will still need to wait until 1 December 2028 so that no more lions, tigers, or even hippopotamuses can be transported and exhibited in travelling establishments!

Since this law was announced, we have been asking the question: was it public decision makers’ aim to grant wild animals with a peaceful retirement or to benefit from the popularity associated with the announcement?

For almost twenty-five years, we have been relentlessly fighting so that Jumbo, Samba, Valentin , and all of the others will be entrusted to us or placed in partner sanctuaries. Incredible but true: the 2021 law is holding us back in this mission!

In fact, the law allows circuses to keep their animals if they decide to settle or in the absence of a place capable of ensuring the ‘welfare’ of each individual. In both of these cases, circus performers can therefore continue to keep their animals prisoner in minuscule cages, train them, and exploit them.

Tragic consequences for wild animals

Since the law was published, things have rapidly racked up among circus performers. Thus, numerous tiger cubs and lion cubs have come into the world and their exploiters were happily able to trade them before the ban. Some of them have quickly got rid of their animals by sending them to die in overseas establishments. While others are playing for time while patiently waiting for 2028 to be able to say that no solution to place them exists and that they therefore have no other choice but to keep them.

A huge clear-out in French dolphinariums

A long-term fight that is far from being over

Since the cancellation – due to a technical detail – of the 2017 Ministerial decree that foresaw the closure of dolphinariums in France when the cetaceans came to the end of their lives, by banning breeding and swaps, we have continuously begged for a new law to be passed. We have even brought our request before the State Council. Unfortunately, the 2021 law does not prohibit keeping cetaceans, as long as the park follows a scientific programme. Additionally, it does not impose any ban on immediately breeding from them. And to this day, no implementing decree has yet been issued.

Hell continues for cetaceans…

Regardless of which dolphinarium, a minuscule pool constitutes a harmful environment for marine mammals. These remarkably intelligent animals, for whom, coming from the ocean, the notion of walls is strange, find themselves permanently constrained, deprived of the slightest bit of choice in a sterile environment that is void of any activity. The consequences on their health are numerous: stress, sub-dermal lesions, self-mutilation, dental pain, and even death (Aïcko, Moana, and recently Inouk). Our investigations, spread over more than twenty years, and scientific knowledge indicate that it is impossible to improve this very degraded living environment for the animals.

Femke: a symbol of life in captivity in amusement parks

She survived in the Parc Astérix dolphinarium, which is currently closed. After having been torn from the ocean and kept for several years in a concrete pool, unwell, she was separated from her son, Ekinox. She then let herself waste away. Despite our requests for an expert report and our numerous alerts, the dolphin had to be euthanised without us having access to the autopsy to this day. A death that happened after years of suffering due to illnesses that were never treated. Her companions continue to be exploited in other countries.

Aïcko and Galéo, very young dolphins sold far away from their mothers whose protection they lost

In the pools of the Planète Sauvage [Wild Planet] animal park, the dolphins could not escape conflicts, inevitable in these overpopulated places where violence is exacerbated by boredom and where stress reigned. Some lost their lives prematurely, like Aïcko, who drowned and asphyxiated at the age of 6 after months of aggression and weight loss that did not worry the veterinarian that we ran into at Marineland in 2023, appointed by the Ministry of Ecology. His half-brother Galéo who suffered like he did, without his mother’s protection, remained at Parc Astérix.

The last French orcas at Marineland are still suffering and being threatened with a transfer

Also, at Marineland, marine animals are losing their lives. We have never stopped sounding the alarm for them. We have also initiated multiple proceedings for Wikie and Keijo, of which several are still underway.

Let’s once again remind ourselves of the 2021 law allowing marine parks involved in scientific research programmes to continue to keep cetaceans. Incidentally, Wikie has learned to repeat the sound of English words… We wonder what concrete knowledge in favour of wild animals can come from these research programmes involving captive animals that are so far from the culture and languages of the tribes that their parents were brought up in.

Today, after an unrelenting fight to propose a real solution for orcas in a sanctuary rather than in another dolphinarium, the legal system has banned Marineland from moving them before the end of the independent legal expert report. This report, also obtained after a hard struggle, should allow the cetaceans’ state of health and the facilities, as well as the water quality, to be assessed before considering any kind of movement to another dolphinarium, or separating them which could prove fatal.

Wild animal fur production banned: what is reward without risk? An inglorious victory

The ban on mink breeding farms has had mixed success with the 2021 law. Despite parliamentarians and even the Ministry of the Ecological Transition claiming a notable victory in this matter, let’s not forget that two years before the law there were still 11 breeding farms; this number went to 4 during discussions about it, finally reducing to just one at the time of the law being enacted. Therefore, the majority of exploitative farms disappeared before the signing of the law. The incessant work to raise awareness that we have been leading over time and among the public and public decision makers, including in Brussels, ended up reaching a consensus in both chambers. And there are no real opponents against parliamentarians. We note, however, that thanks to our investigations and our commitment, MPs have expanded the ban outlined for mink farms to all other wild animals!

Despite this, domestic animals are still exploited, such as angora rabbits, with their trade and export still being possible. The fight continues and One Voice, the French representative of the international Fur Free Europe coalition, has participated in the European Citizens’ Initiative aiming to ban not only the production, but also the importation and sale of fur within the whole of the European Union.

Some sure steps forward that are certainly very real for those concerned, but minor against the scope of what could be and remains to be done

It is time that we establish solid mechanisms to monitor the law and ensure that it is respected, including regular inspections as well as severe and dissuasive sanctions that we have the right to wait for. It is imperative that the authorities act in a resolute manner and revise and reinforce the current law in order to go further. Concrete measures must and can be taken to guarantee animal welfare. The current inaction is unacceptable and we are waiting for firm commitment in their favour.

Although the ban against “pony school” types of attractions and the hardening of sanctions against zoophilic acts must be highlighted, we must, unfortunately, keep in mind all of the missed opportunities.

That of tackling the problem of domestic and intra-family violence, also known as the Link. For us, the creation of a file listing those who have been convicted or reported for violence towards animals would be a useful tool in the fight against numerous femicides and other tragic events.

But also the entire sections of those who needed it: animals destined for the food industry have been totally excluded by this law and are slaughtered, more often than not after terrible suffering. Laboratory animals were also automatically excluded. When it comes to bull-fighting, a type of torture that we have been fighting against forever, it is still legal in some areas, an unsufferable exception.

We will continue to fight for all of these victims! We will never be satisfied with these farcical measures.

Zoophilous dog sitter: two years after One Voice’s complaint, the guilty party is going before the Nièvre judge

Zoophilous dog sitter: two years after One Voice’s complaint, the guilty party is going before the Nièvre judge
27.03.2024
Zoophilous dog sitter: two years after One Voice’s complaint, the guilty party is going before the Nièvre judge
Zoe Cell

In June 2022, we uncovered the vile actions of a zoophilous dog sitter. Sadistic and proud of his actions, he recorded and posted videos on the internet. We immediately filed a complaint. The trial will take place on 2 April at the Nevers legal tribunal. We will be there to demand justice in the name of all of the dogs assaulted so that this man will be imprisoned and will undergo a psychological follow-up, and above all so that he can never again keep an animal or work with them.

Having moved numerous times, regularly changing department, the suspect has continued to abuse animals for months, thinking he was untouchable and protected behind his mask.

Eventually, it was at the beginning of February 2024 that he was finally arrested, following new reports: one from a woman who was asked by the culprit to get involved in his activities, and one from a man whose dog was abused by the dog sitter. For these crimes, he will be ruled on for “sexual proposition and abuse of an animal”. He faces up to four years of imprisonment and a fine of 60,000 euros.

Our complaint – based in particular on elements given by a whistleblower and our partner Mi-chien Mi-loup* – went from one tribunal to another according to reports and is still awaiting trial.

Another victim of classified advertisements

At the time of his arrest, the police discovered a Pyrenean Mountain dog called Tokyo, who they rescued and took to safety at a partner association that we contacted. Identified by his microchip that was registered in a department very far away, he was in fact given to the accused via Leboncoin, a platform that we have already condemned due to the illegal adverts that swarm their site. These sites are full of malicious people: and here is more proof, if any is needed… How many other dogs were passed through this torturer’s hands, who used the web to satisfy his criminal impulses?

Tokyo, who is currently being cherished by volunteers, is slowly recovering from what he experienced, without an ounce of aggression towards humans. For him and all the other victims, like Léa, on 2 April in Nevers, we will demand justice.

*Updated 2 April 2024: addition of the name of our partner who alerted us to establish the complaint in 2022

A polecat and a rat killed by traps: hearing on 2 April in Lorient!

A polecat and a rat killed by traps: hearing on 2 April in Lorient!
26.03.2024
A polecat and a rat killed by traps: hearing on 2 April in Lorient!
Hunting

A few months ago, in a small town in Morbihan, the lifeless body of a polecat and a rat were found inside cages out in the countryside. Having been abandoned there, these two animals had died of hunger and thirst. A case which once again shows (is there still any need…?) the cruelty of these traps and those who set them. Thanks to our complaint, the person responsible was identified and will be ruled on at the Lorient legal tribunal on 2 April 2024 at 9am.

Shut inside a cage, dead from hunger and thirst: these two animals’ ordeals

In April 2023, walkers came across, out in the countryside, the corpses of a polecat and a rat shut inside a cage. These animals had lived through a real ordeal, dead from hunger and thirst, prisoners of these traps for several days.

Following our complaint, the investigation quickly allowed the person responsible to be identified. Because, as well as being cruel, this practice is illegal: polecats, after having been killed and trapped for years, are now considered as ‘near threatened’ by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), to the point where the State Council, referred to by associations, took them off the list of ‘species likely to cause damage’…

Traps: torture instruments that litter the ground in the countryside

The least we can say is that hunters/trappers are not lacking when it comes to the vilest of imaginations. Cages, foot snare traps, killing traps: the worst atrocities are allowed when it comes to killing those belonging to a species classified as ‘likely to cause damage’ –a decree which we attacked.

Animals are taken every day in these torture instruments that are supposed to be ‘selective’, but which mutilate all those who cross their paths. After Cooper and Mani, recently, it was Red Collar who had to have her leg amputated after falling victim to a device with metal clamps.

We will be at the Lorient legal tribunal on 2 April to demand justice for these animals. While waiting, sign our petition for a radical reform on hunting!

No to weakening wolves’ protection status

No to weakening wolves’ protection status
26.03.2024
No to weakening wolves’ protection status
Wildlife

Although the new ‘Wolf Plan’ came into effect a few weeks ago, facilitating slaughter conditions and revealing that the government’s wishes totally oppose these animals, wolves are getting no respite and are now threatened following announcements by the European Commission. The latter wishes to weaken wolves’ protection levels, taking the species’ status from ‘strictly protected’ to simply ‘protected’, a position that France supports through the Minister of Agriculture. A downgrade that we fiercely oppose. We will continue to fight for them for as long as they are not able to live in peace.

According to TF1, the Ministry of Agriculture, which does not care about animal welfare and works hand in hand with agricultural lobbies, is on the verge of announcing France’s support for this revision project and consequently the weakening of the protection status for wolves.

Those who have already been exterminated non-stop throughout the whole year, even during the reproduction and cub feeding periods, could be hunted down and killed even more easily if this proposition is accepted. If France encourages this initiative that goes against wolves, what will it be like for the other animals that disturb farmers and hunters such as lynx and bears? Will they be the next victims of an intensive agricultural system that wants to eliminate anything that disturbs it and continues to send more than a billion animals to the abattoir every year?

No, wolves do not attack herds for pleasure, contrary to what those who disparage them try to make people believe. These are wild animals who no longer have somewhere to live serenely, without interaction with humans, just like lions and tigers in Africa and Asia. Human activities take place in the mountains where a multitude of the animals bred are not protected, while hunters hunt down and slaughter stags, does, wild boars, deer, foxes, Galliformes, badgers, hares, marmots, and millions of other victims in the forests to occupy their free time, incapable of going out for some fresh air without killing living beings.

Along with us, demand an end to the persecution of wolves and demand that France opposes the weakening of their protection status.

A chain of hearings against badger digging: Orléans and Châlons-en-Champagne on 28 March and Pau on 4 April!

A chain of hearings against badger digging: Orléans and Châlons-en-Champagne on 28 March and Pau on 4 April!
25.03.2024
A chain of hearings against badger digging: Orléans and Châlons-en-Champagne on 28 March and Pau on 4 April!
Hunting

Will badgers end up finding peace? Additional periods for underground hunting with hounds are in the spotlight more than ever. Although the courts are now ruling largely against this archaic practice that decimates thousands of individuals each year and adds to the already deadly hunting season, our hearings continue. On 28 March at 9:30am, the Châlons-en-Champagne administrative tribunal will study our plea on the Aube, Haute-Marne, and Ardennes prefects’ decrees for the 2023-2024 season. On the same day at 10:15am, the Orléans judges will examine the case of the 2020-2021 decree in Loiret. And on 4 April at 8:45am, the Pau tribunal will examine the Pyrénées-Atlantiques decrees for 2022-2023.

Updated 12 April 2024

Two new victories! In Loiret, the additional periods for underground badger hunting with hounds from 2020 and 2021 were in fact illegal. This is what the Orléans administrative tribunal has just confirmed once again. While many prefects prepare to authorise this cruel hunting from 15 May, we are appealing to them: respect court decisions and ban badger digging in spring and summer!

Now the badgers have been saved, we are on the road to cancelling the decrees!

In these five departments, prefects authorise digging out in spring and summer in the middle of the reproductive period. Families are terrorised: with no way to escape, the young and their parents are massacred down in the bottom of their setts. For several years, we have been systematically attacking these decisions, with or without our partners (Loiret Nature Environnement for the 2020-2021 decree in Loiret, and AVES for the 2023-2024 decrees in Aube, Haute-Marne, and Ardennes).

In spring 2023, One Voice also obtained an urgent suspension on hunting in these departments as well as in around thirty others, allowing thousands of individuals to be spared !

Let’s give badgers a voice in the face of prefects’ persecution!

Slowly but surely, the legal system is taking its course and confirming the illegality of these decisions throughout France. Recently, the Caen, Limoges, Nantes, and even Amiens tribunals definitively cancelled these decrees, recalling that underground hunting with hounds puts the badger cubs in danger.

And if prefects continue to authorise these massacres despite all of these rulings, they have been warned: we will always be there to give a voice to these true underground architects, killed in their thousands for the sole pleasure of a small number of people who are looking to keep themselves occupied outside of the hunting season.

To send a strong message to all prefects, sign our petitions to insist that badgers be protected and for a ban on underground hunting with hounds, as well as a radical reform of hunting!

Appeal hearing in Rouen on 26 March for ‘Caresse de Tigre’ who trafficked wildlife with Masson

Appeal hearing in Rouen on 26 March for ‘Caresse de Tigre’ who trafficked wildlife with Masson
25.03.2024
Appeal hearing in Rouen on 26 March for ‘Caresse de Tigre’ who trafficked wildlife with Masson
Circuses

One of the people involved in wildlife trafficking with trainer Mario Masson is none other than the ‘Caresse de Tigre’ breeder, for whom our case was rejected in the first instance. We refuse for such acts, uncovered by AVES France and Four Paws, to be taken lightly and for the associations involved in these subjects to be dismissed. On 26 March at 9:15am, we will be at the Rouen court of appeal to contest this decision.

Photo credit : AVES France / Four Paws

Updated 30 January 11:15am

Initially set for 30 January 2024, the hearing was deferred to 26 March 2024 at 9:15am at the request of Caresse de Tigre’s lawyer.

Uncovered in 2019 by the AVES France and Four Paws investigation, the so-called rescue centre for captive wild animals in Seine-Maritime was in fact a breeding facility welcoming the public in without authorisation or even the slightest notion of safety.

And it was the little felines that resulted from this breeding that the bosses based their business on. For 50 euros for ten minutes of playing with the lion cubs, they had found the goose that laid the golden eggs! This handling, which is extremely stressful for the baby animals, is just as dangerous for them as it is for humans.

But for the couple in charge, it does not matter if visitors are regularly bitten or scratched: the animals will quite naturally be punished, like Nala the lioness who was beaten in front of the public for not being docile. Retired circus performers think they can do whatever they like…

Close links with trainer Mario Masson

If these wild animals are not condemned to live their entire lives in this initial place of exploitation, it is only to be shamelessly sold to other circus performers, under whose whip their ordeal continues. Among the many names that have emerged from this lucrative trafficking is Mario Masson, the trainer who was found guilty in 2022 after our almost two-year investigation and the rescue of ten tigers who were locked in the circus trailer day and night.

Wildlife trafficking is still and will always be a no!

The irony: although the twelve animals behind bars at the property in Normandy have since been placed under the responsibility of legal authorities, the 2023 conviction for illegal exploitation nevertheless saw it fit to entrust their care to their torturers themselves! Not only did the Rouen magistrates’ court rule the suspended fines sufficient, but they also declared our participation as a civil party alongside AVES France and the Robin des Bois Association inadmissible. An incomprehensible decision given our mission and our fights.

Today, wildlife trafficking is still on the podium for international trade, along with weapons and drugs. In 2023, we have not given in at all to this illegal trade carried out off the backs of animals and have succeeded in getting the ministerial decree that facilitates it cancelled by the State Council. Still this year, we are demanding that this subject be treated seriously and that associations be allowed to work on this colossal project.

On 26 March at 9:15am, we will be at the Rouen court of appeal to have our legitimacy recognised in the case involving ‘Caresse de Tigre’. Hand in hand with other associations, we will assert our right to defend the lions and tigers being exploited so that animals will finally stop being treated like common merchandise.

Red Collar, taken by a leg-hold trap, has lost a leg. One Voice is filing a complaint for the little cat.

Red Collar, taken by a leg-hold trap, has lost a leg. One Voice is filing a complaint for the little cat.
24.03.2024
Red Collar, taken by a leg-hold trap, has lost a leg. One Voice is filing a complaint for the little cat.
Companions

Red Collar was found badly injured by a leg-hold trap set up illegally. Suffering from a double fracture, the young cat had to have her front right leg amputated up to her shoulder. For this new collateral victim of a device that targets thousands of animals every year, who are unjustly perceived as being bothersome, One Voice is filing a complaint.

The list of our companions who are victims of traps keeps getting longer. After Cooper and Mani in 2023, then Snooky just a few weeks ago, it is now Red Collar who has paid the price for hunter-trapper-poachers.

On the morning of 7 March, the young cat had not come back from her walk the day before in a small town in Centre-Val de Loire. Worried, her family started looking for her. A few hundred metres from their home, having been in agony for hours, their bloodied pet was imprisoned by a leg-hold trap. The mother and her daughter had to be helped by a neighbour, a local worker, and the deputy mayor to free her. She was immediately taken to a veterinary clinic where they found that she had a double fracture and extremely significant tears to her flesh. With the injuries being so severe, she had to sacrifice her whole limb to be saved.

Hunters who trap animals indiscriminately and completely illegally

If Red Collar had been able to return home and regain her strength, she would never have had to have her leg removed. The trap in question, by definition already cruel and non-selective, was not even linked to a number allowing it to be identified. Nor had it been declared to the town council.

Not content with completely legally trapping thousands of foxes, stone martens, martens, and weasels every year, hunters and other enemies of nature do not hesitate to illegally install these deadly devices, indifferent to the risks that they can run for all other animals. Sometimes some people even attack cats in particular! Until when will these practices be tolerated? For all of their victims, whether they be wild or protected, as well as for our pets, impunity must stop.

We are joining Red Collar’s family and filing a complaint ourselves too. Demand a reform of hunting along with us by signing our petition.

Animal trafficking: Leboncoin is back publishing adverts from a wild cat skin seller

Animal trafficking: Leboncoin is back publishing adverts from a wild cat skin seller
22.03.2024
Animal trafficking: Leboncoin is back publishing adverts from a wild cat skin seller
Wildlife

On Leboncoin, three adverts offering wild cat skins for sale have been put online like they are simple objects, even though they are borne from illegal trafficking. They have no place on this platform, which has once again turned a blind eye to animal trade and cannot even manage to follow their own rules. We are filing a complaint for these victims of poaching.

A few days ago, on the Leboncoin platform, a seller clearly acting under a pseudonym put three adverts online in the hope of selling wild cat skins. It is therefore possible for any buyer whatsoever to acquire a “rug”, stolen off an animal’s back, for no more than 10 or 20 euros. And all this in total peace.

Even though the victims of these acts belong to a triple-protected species. This far from stops traffickers: globally, the illegal trade of wild animals and their ‘derived products’ can reach up to some 20 billion euros per year. And France is included in this since it is one of the European Union countries where the majority of these exchanges are concentrated.

Leboncoin is complicit in animal trade

Did the company already forget about the statement that they published in September 2023, announcing that they would (finally!) ban the sale of these animals? We have to believe that they have… Behind the advert results, checks seem to still be non-existent.

At the end of 2023, with the help of our partner, the École du Chat Libre de Toulouse [Toulouse School for Stray Cats], who are also working with us in this new proceeding, we filed a complaint against Leboncoin for thousands of our companions being given away un-microchipped and sometimes even before the legal age. A completely illegal and irresponsible lack of checks, while thousands of animals continue to be slaughtered in pounds every year and rescue centres more and more desperately lack spaces.

We are referring to the legal system

For the animals who try their best to live far away from humans, we also condemn these failings that facilitate trafficking and allow poachers to do their trade off the back of their victims. And for the felines who have paid the price for these practices, we are filing a complaint against the seller.

To demand an end to the trade of living beings online, continue to write to the managing director of Boncoin by using their contact form or by sending them our template letter to the postal address shown on it.