News Archive - Page 108 of 146

In Mézilles, dog breeding and the State pair up against dogs

In Mézilles, dog breeding and the State pair up against dogs
05.12.2018
Mézilles
In Mézilles, dog breeding and the State pair up against dogs
Animal testing

Thousands of dogs suffer behind the walls of the Mézilles breeding farm. Their future is cold and stinks of laboratory formaldehyde. However, the State has just agreed the expansion of this place, and the owners don’t stop there, they want to remove the evidence, appealing against the court decisions that are in our favour. We will not abandon these poor beagles and golden retrievers.

The Prefecture takes sides with the breeder!

Last spring in the Yonne, the largest breeder of dogs intended for animal experimentation (the CEDS) made a request for the expansion of its premises. We launched legal proceedings against this opaque breeder, for acts of cruelty, ill-treatment and lack of care, and obtained a report from a bailiff that confirms the presence of irregularities.

As always, we denounce, alert, propose solutions, and act! We conducted a local awareness campaign where many citizens were unaware of what was happening next to their homes (on the ground in Auxerre, pulling in the area, holding a conference with an expert veterinarian). We launched a petition that strongly which mobilized many: more than 75,000 signatures in just a few months for the closure of this breeding centre. And we met the chief of staff for the Prefect of Yonne.

So, what does the Prefect do? It has just authorized the order to increase the capacity of the holding area of this breeder. We have challenged in the courts this shameful order! This order authorizing the increase of the capacity of reception is a demonstration that here again the representatives of the State go against current progress towards change and the expectations of the population.

For the second time this breeder wishes to erase all evidence!

Our bailiff’s report – ordered by the judge and validated in first instance – is again attacked by the breeder, who does not want us to use this evidence. We had won, but the owners are appealing. They seek impunity, it is very clear. They remark that our complaint is unreliable due to the unfound words of the bailiff. We will defend our right to use this authentic document on February 21^stat 2.00 pm in the Court of Auxerre. Evidence cannot just disappear!

Animal experimentation is a scientific model to be replaced by another method, more reliable, and without cruelty. In the area of Souches de Mézilles, the Golden Retrievers and Beagles are already far too many to be suffering in their cages, the prefecture should not have authorized the order to allow their breeding, as the file presents many irregularities. We will continue to defend these poor dogs without family and without love, despite the attacks from this breeding.

A science that must become more reliable and more ethical

What future can we hope for science, in a society that is stubborn and performs so many tests on animals, a huge part of which is not only avoidable but whose usefulness is even scientifically unjustified? Is this still science?

The funders of research, the State and business owners must invest heavily in other methods more reliable than those which have been used for so long! Medical and health scandals are the signals that must alert us and there have been so many … The use of animal life for this purpose must be drastically decreased!

Please sign our petition to close down the facility located in Mézilles that breeds dogs for laboratories!

Resilience through Banana Oils, Kadalys’ Ethical Entrepreneurship

Resilience through Banana Oils, Kadalys’ Ethical Entrepreneurship
05.12.2018
Martinique
Resilience through Banana Oils, Kadalys’ Ethical Entrepreneurship
Animal testing

Shirley Billot is the creator of the company Kadalys, who is very committed to the fight for both human and non-human animals and for the planet, in our own image. Its organic and vegan products based on banana oils, have received the One Voice label, a sign of quality and commitment. A first meeting.

How was your brand Kadalys born?

The very first trigger was when my son was 6 months old, the conventional products that I was advised to treat his skin problems with only worsened his allergic reactions. It was only by resorting to traditional medicine from Martinique that he received relief, and also in the long run! It was enough just to use the fat part of the banana skin … I have always been interested in the cosmetics and pharmacopoeia of the Caribbean, but there I could see how good and bad they were…

«Kadalys is a brand of cosmetics based on banana oils, totally organic, vegan, not tested on animals, and which has just been labelled by One Voice!»Shirley Billot

But more concretely, after several years in the metropolis where I studied, I decided to return to live in Martinique. On the spot, an impression of waste, both social and economic: the only possibilities open to people are either to undergo a system that is not profitable to them, or to leave.

« Neither to give in nor to leave »

The banana industry is doing extremely well in Martinique, it is our first source of income. But everything is exported. As often, one exploits at one place, and the riches do not return to those who create them. As the 2009 strike against the high cost of living lasted more than a month, people were and still are, for many, stuck between inequality and exports, without dreams or prospects.

It does not correspond with my idea of the world. I could not do it. In the Overseas, we represent diverse issues for France and Europe, anyway! I do not know what stirred in me first, but I found the way to get involved in the transformation and the future of our society, with my roots and with these vital forces.

You have managed to link sustainable development and a circular economy, is that it?

Yes! This banana growing industry creates a lot of losses. It’s an incredible mess: 40,000 tons of bananas are thrown away! Whether single bananas, or those slightly damaged, the sector is not discrete either in their actions. To joke, I call them the ugly ones and the singles ones. They will not sell on the shelves of the supermarkets or grocery stores. And yet, realize, at one euro per kilo, they are wasted with very high added value! From there was born my idea of transforming this waste into wealth, using it and to give it value right on the spot.

« finding value in the ugly and the singles »

My ecological awareness and my sense of enterprise merged at that time, for the benefit of my region. Everyone must act to their measure, for the planet, for animals, for us: to avoid waste, unemployment and poverty, and to respect others. This is my contribution. It was necessary for me to launch this idea.

We then carried out a study as part of a thesis at the faculty of pharmacy of Montpellier, in partnership with CIRAD (the French organization for agronomic research and international cooperation for the sustainable development of tropical and Mediterranean regions) and banana producers in Martinique. It lasted five years. At the end of it, we knew exactly what virtues banana oils retained, and their variations by variety. Subsequently, either I had a future in an industrial group or I started my own business. I did not hesitate for a long time. We have found authenticity and traditional knowledge to enrich with current knowledge.

What are the qualities of the banana oils that you use in your products?

Depending on the part of the plant and the type of banana used, different uses are possible. But banana oils, green, yellow or pink with purple skin, are more or less fat, and are full of various qualities depending on which one chooses: soothing, depigmenting, detoxifying, anti-aging … They are very rich in antioxidants (up to twenty times more than argan oil or olive oil, fifty times more than rose oil), DHEA, phytosterols … They are perfect for skins that are sensitive or allergic which need to be hydrated and soothed (eczema, psoriasis), they are restorative (burns, scars, stretch marks), detoxifying (antipollution, acne). All products of Kadalys start from this beautiful plant, the banana.

Why have these natural virtues remained so poorly known so far?

In fact, in Australia, banana molecules have always been used in medicine against eczema, psoriasis, scars, burns, age spots, acne, and so on. There, this medicine is not described as traditional, with all the suspicions of charlatanism or superstition that can be put there. For a long time in Cuba, the active ingredients of plants growing on the spot (like guava for example) have been exploited.

But in Martinique, this is explained by a rooting about in the history and culture of the Caribbean. At the time of slavery in France, the royal ordinance of 1736 forced every slave owner to plant 25 banana trees per slave and to give them the opportunity to cultivate them, to prevent them from starving. That’s why we learned to exploit everything in the banana, to the leaves for cooking or weaving hats, bags, and of course it has become the most important plant in our region! But on the other hand, traditional medicine was forbidden, from the period of slavery until 2011! We could not practice it or even write recipes on it, it was only passed on as through the family. No wonder I did not even know about the virtues of bananas until adulthood. It is the resilience of a people of a French department we are talking about here.

Why did you seek the One Voice label?

My mother has always been part of a strong environmental lobby on Martinique. On the water, the environment, animals, and I have always sympathetic. It’s common sense for me. It is important that my products are both organic, have no negative impact on animals, that even the packaging is thought of.

For me, the One Voice label reassures the consumer even more about my commitment and that of the brand. Yes, Kadalys makes wealth from waste, is based on the circular economy, and sustainable development, but that’s not enough to say this, it has to be proven. Many customers asked for an extra guarantee on our word. This label is a validation of absence of tests on animals. And the tiger of One Voice is an image that I like especially as it is voluntary and biting, it does not pity!

Pet shops? I refuse!

Pet shops? I refuse!
03.12.2018
France
Pet shops? I refuse!
Domestic animals

Are puppies and kittens’ products that can be sold in « glass containers » on the shelves of supermarkets? One Voice strongly protests against this live trade, especially as the shelters are already overflowing with loving animals. Time to Stop!

Under those neon lights, a life?

Like those fruits shipped too early on boats where they finish ripening before reaching the stalls, Tao was quickly ripped from his mother, barely weaned. Thrown in a plastic crate and stacked in a van, he was transported in the cold on the roads of Europe to end up being negotiated over in a yard of a pet shop in France. Tao is a Spitz, poor little thing from Poland, who is not a beautiful dog but his eyes shed a tear: it’s ideal. What of his papers, his health? In a pet shop, we will not always talk about lineage, family, care. If the « product » is enticing, you will even get best price for this little being, who is already damaged. But if Tao does not please everyone in his first few months, who knows what will happen become of him: recycled perhaps, like the others who are unsold? How do you say, putdown?

Tao

Attention, dangers …

Christmas is a dream period for pet shops. So many parents want a small living being which is so cute and fluffy at the foot of the Christmas tree to delight their children. It’s so convenient to go shopping, like in the toy department, and say, « Oh, I want that one! « , when coming across a sad looking ball of fur nestled in the synthetic straw… But finally, choosing a companion should not be as mechanical and cold as buying a beautifully packaged item! We are campaigning so that this type of trade, which is so easy, does not become a permanent feature…Yet this is the case, while so many animals are stray and exposed to diseases, mistreated or subjected to a systematic euthanasia program!

The refusal of pet shops is for One Voice a matter of principle. On the one hand, because all our partner shelters are overflowing with cats and dogs just waiting to be welcomed to a new home. Here at the shelters, they will not cost thousands of euros, they have been examined, treated, sterilized and everything will be explained as to their origins, with nothing to hide. Having already unravelled several illegal trafficking operations, we now know the living conditions, from birth to resale, animals are the victims here.

A juicy scandal

Yes, several shameful providers supply these young lives to these licensed sales, which are so badly regulated. The exact origin, certificates, history health? Labelled as offering companionship and indeed often at exorbitant prices, inaccurate information concerning essential points about who you will be sharing your life with. In pet shops, you don’t have to be so demanding… The pet market is such (almost 5 billion euros a year in France), including materials, toys and of course the food, the purchase of these animals is decisive and all for profit…

Refuse with us!

On the point of these sales, One Voice tracks the excesses of this juicy trade. And we have to say enough is enough, I refuse! Yes, I refuse to be a customer who feeds the system which exploits these canine mothers from past or future tragedies. The commercial life behind the shop window is unthinkable in regards to nature. In shelters, you will be carefully guided to a suitable future companion and not to go and buy a stuffed toy, with other stocks arriving soon… We fight for a truly protective status of animals, we investigate pet shops, perform legal actions and also rescues, fight against small ads and the real scammers. How then can they end up being nothing less than supermarket products? Help us defend them, starting by saying, you too: I refuse!

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Pictures: Jo-Anne McArthur/One Voice

Justice has been made for foxes, a landmark decision

Justice has been made for foxes, a landmark decision
30.11.2018
Nancy
Justice has been made for foxes, a landmark decision
Wildlife

Wednesday November 28th a hearing was held by the Prefectural for the interim suspension of the from Meurthe-et-Moselle, authorizing the night shooting on 500 foxes in the last three months of 2018. The decision of the court is in the favour of the foxes. An exemplary decision. Even if a hundred of them have, despite this verdict, have already been massacred at night in Meurthe-et-Moselle this fall, fortunately this is not the original five hundred wanted by the local federation of hunters who had almost guided the Prefect’s hand in creating the text.

Time was running out

One Voice acted very quickly to present the technical and legal arguments to the judge. The time was running out, the decree was in place, the foxes were being killed every night…

We were there to defend the foxes, restore their reputation and fight the false arguments of the hunters. By the admission of the representative of the prefecture, the decree was published at their request, and motivated according to their argument. In Meurthe-et-Moselle as often, federations of hunters carry strong political weight, and do almost what they want with nature, with the approval from the public authorities. This state of affairs has become unbearable for the population, which is becoming more and more aware of the reality, namely the alarming state of the biodiversity, which is constantly being harmed. This has been proven by the presence of several citizens, who came to attend the hearing on their own initiative, which is not always the case. Like a subliminal reminder to 90% of the opinions given during the public consultation that were opposed to this decree.

Red foxes are important individuals to the biodiversity!

We have reminded the representative of the Prefecture and the judge that foxes, even before constituting them as a species, who are a multitude of living individuals. Each of whom has a desire to live for themselves. Their usefulness for biodiversity has also been underlined by our lawyer for those who today still refuse to take into account their sensitivity, and their intrinsic worth into consideration.

The animals of our countryside are part of the common heritage of the nation. As such, foxes must be protected. They are hunted down, sometimes as game and sometimes as pests likely to cause damage, which makes them vulnerable to shooting, traps that kill and unearthing from their homes … all year round, at least 2 % of our national population. More than half a million of them are massacred annually, more than 6,000 in Meurthe-et-Moselle alone. However, foxes are also and above all likely to bring benefits! The fox’s natural regulation of the vole population in the fields prevents both Lyme disease from spreading and the need to spray the fields with chemical pesticides. A very important role in biodiversity.

An exceptional audience in Nancy

During the hearing, the Prefecture’s defence went on about approximations, absurdities and even errors, unable to say how many foxes had already been shot at night since early October, arguing that the more foxes killed is a sign that their population is increasing, and counting only two months instead of three for the validity of the decree…

The collusion of the hunting world with the representatives from the State is worrying. Their arguments are that there would not be enough hares or partridges to kill in the pursuit of their deadly and bloody hobby… in short, a question of competition. But neither the local federation of hunters nor the Prefecture have been able to prove the figures in the increase of the population of red foxes. Either that of the decrease in the population of the partridges and hares (which were not even mentioned at the hearing) that they seek to « regulate » with their shot gun cartridges. Perhaps we should rather look at the decline of the natural spaces around France which have been affected by urbanization or that of intensive agriculture … Moreover, it is now scientifically proven that the fox population does in fact self-regulate.

This decree is the last in a long series, the surrounding departments in the North and East of the country having decided not to resort to it, after losing or giving up against One Voice and its partners on all previous occasions! During the proceedings, our lawyer also represented the associations ASPAS, Flore 54 and GEML who also attacked this decree.

This victory date will mark a milestone!

We can only rejoice that once again justice restores the damage done to foxes, and enforce what the population expects of its public authorities. We continue our fight for them everywhere in France, and we will support this decision of justice, exemplary, thanks to our suspension because it takes place before the end of the decree, which is exceptional.

To give us all your support in this fight at the national level, please sign our petition for red foxes (with Anymal and ASPAS). They must be removed from this revolting list called « pests ».

Kiska, Ontario’s Latest MarineLand Orca

Kiska, Ontario’s Latest MarineLand Orca
29.11.2018
Ontario
Kiska, Ontario’s Latest MarineLand Orca
Exploitation for shows

Emaciated, toothless, isolated for 7 years at MarineLand in Canada, Kiska lost her five children, her companion and her friend. The brain gnawed by memories, she gradually immerses herself into madness. One Voice calls for its immediate handling and transfer to the closed bay of the Whale Sanctuary Project, which will be operational next year.

The whole world was able to watch the live drama unfold of the orca Tahlequah for weeks during the death of her new-born baby.

And the whole world has been able to understand that for orcas too, losing a child is an atrocious event. But around this desperate mother, a whole tribe gathered to feed her and share her pain by carrying her baby. Kiska had to face alone each of the bereavements that hit her.

It all started well though.

Kiska was born free in Iceland, in a small community of killer whales’ expert in sardine hunting. Like so many others, she was kidnapped in 1979 off Ingolfshofdi and found herself in the filthy pools of the Saedyrasafnid Aquarium along with King, Caren, and an unnamed female. All were waiting to be delivered body and soul to their various buyers. Kiska was sent to MarineLand of Canada, while her misfortunate companions left for Japan, where they died quickly. In the early 1980s, three unfortunate orcas were captured in the same Icelandic waters. Nootka V, Kandu VII, and Junior shared with Kiska the King Waldorf Theater Pool, one of the three sordid buildings where MarineLand shuts up its orcas, along with Friendship Cove and the sinister Warehouse.

Kandu did what was expected of her.

On August 24^th, 1992, Kiska gave birth to her first child, a small male registered as MLC-OO-B9202. He drowned 62 days later. Her second boy was Kanuk. Born in August 1994, he was passionately pampered by Kiska, who was very worried that she would see him die. MarineLand, however, decided to transfer it to the Warehouse. The Canadian park then decided to store in these dark and poorly ventilated pools dolphins in a bad condition too poorly to be exhibited, old walruses at the end of their career and juvenile orcas separated from their mother.

It was there that Junior, considered too slow during his training apprenticeship, waited in vain for a buyer, until he died after several years, exhausted with despair and loneliness. Kanuk did not support being the Warehouse better than Junior. There he died of suffocation under that same roof, his airhole blocked by candidiasis. He was only four years old. Nova, the third child of Kiska, was born in good health on November 6^th1996. He was also placed in the Warehouse, and finally returned to his mother. Not for long, alas, because of a case of rampant pneumonia which prevailed as early as August 2001.

Hudson, the last son of Kiska, was born in September 1998.

As he lived longer than the others, his mother, still weeping, became very much attached to him. Despite his early age, Hudson had been trained to give his sperm for future inseminations. He did not leave behind any samples that MarineLand could sell. He was often seen playing with Algonquin, Nootka’s son, but he died in 2002. In August 2004, Kiska gave him a little sister named Athena. Hudson had little opportunity to share his games with her, since a meningitis got the better of him in October that same year … And Kiska’s mourning only got worse.

Kandu died of malignant cancer during Christmas Eve in 2005.

Nootka then joined Kiska and her daughter Athena, whom she tried desperately to steal from her mother. One can understand her: she had just lost the last of her eight children and her sanity was beginning to waver. In 2006, Marineland obtained from SeaWorld a « reproductive loan » in the form of a 4-year-old male killer whale named Ikaika. Ike spent some time in good relations with Kiska, Athena and the sad Nootka, until she died without a known reason two years later. The very young Athena then followed her into the great mass grave under the lawns of MarineLand in the spring of 2009, killed according to the park by a generalized infection. Ikaika was Kiska’s last companion, but as he grew older, he harassed her more and more. In 2011, after a long legal battle, the impetuous breeder was returned to the San Diego SeaWorld, who were fearful for his health, given these series of deaths.

Kiska was left alone in the Friendship Cove pool, where only ghosts were swimming.

Kanuk, Nova, Hudson, Athena … It’s not just the single corpse of an infant that she pushes in front of her in the black waters of her madness, but five bodies at a time! How was such a massacre possible? Why did no one react? The answer may be delivered to us one day from Canadian justice. In the immediate future, the urgency is still there: we must save Kiska right away! Sixteen orcas have died in the hell of MarineLand of Ontario. Do not let Kiska become the seventeenth!

For a telethon that turns towards the future

For a telethon that turns towards the future
26.11.2018
France
For a telethon that turns towards the future
Animal testing

The 32nd edition of the Telethon will be held on December 7th and 8th. Since its creation in 1987, this event has raised more than two billion euros. A colossal sum to help and cure patients with « innovative » therapies. One Voice is calling on researchers to develop alternative methods to that of dog experiments and to make the Telethon the spearhead of a science that is reinventing itself.

Extreme media cover and praiseworthy reviews, the Telethon annually raises an immense surge of solidarity around rare genetic diseases to offer support and hope to those who suffer from it. The millions of euros collected during each edition are used to feed the resources of the French Association against Myopathies (AFM) which pursues a triple mission:

Healing (research and development of innovative therapies),
Help the sick (care, support, citizenship),
Communicate knowledge to families, professionals and the general public.

Animal experimentation

Since 1987, this unifying event has raised more than two billion euros and subsidized a lot of research in the field of biotherapies. But there is a but « . During all these years, a large part of the sums allocated has also caused a lot of suffering by including the deliberate birth of puppies with illnesses. Placed into isolation in a completely sanitized space in the laboratories, victims of the degeneration inflicted upon their bodies, most of them underwent repeated experiments before dying, eventually carried away by their pathologies or to be put down.

Promote alternative methods

Can we consider that the few advances in research are sufficient to endorse this? For One Voice, the answer is obviously no! Let’s not forget that effective therapies for dogs must still prove to be conclusive and safe for humans! So why « tinker » with an experimentation model based on a species that is completely different from us, rather than resolutely engaging in a modern, ethical and reliable science? Can we not develop an experimentation model that is directly transposable to that of a human? Alternative methods just need to be developed. The scientists who are interested in it are very confident in the possibilities they offer.

Capitalizing on these advanced techniques would bring much safer answers in research to help the sick. It is on these new techniques that the funds of the next Telethon should be invested. Real medical advances would then be possible, and this time without torture or sacrifice. It is here that we must focus, it is in this approach that lies the real solution to heal these atrocious diseases and not to suffer any longer, nobody.

One Voice in the court of Nancy, to rescue 500 foxes destined to be hunted by the Prefecture!

One Voice in the court of Nancy, to rescue 500 foxes destined to be hunted by the Prefecture!
21.11.2018
Nancy
One Voice in the court of Nancy, to rescue 500 foxes destined to be hunted by the Prefecture!
Wildlife

A claim concerning an abuse of power and a suspension order were filed by One Voice against the Prefect of Meurthe-et-Moselle. One Voice will be at the administrative court in Nancy on Wednesday November 28^that 11 am, alongside ASPAS, FLORE 54 and GEML.

« Foxes must stop being used as scapegoats for anything and everything! Hunters have no limit; they will go so far as even to want to kill them at night! And unfortunately, even if this illegitimate Prefectural decree is cancelled as it should, we could never reanimate foxes being killed at this very moment. » Muriel Arnal, Founding President of One Voice

90% of the people who took part in the public consultation are on the side of the foxes and their defenders. This almost unanimous opinion from the population is however despised by the Prefect of Meurthe-et-Moselle, who published on October 2^nd2018 an order authorising the « cull » – in other words the slaughter – of 500 red foxes, by shooting carried out at night, in the department by December 31^st. What are his justifications? Fallacious arguments in support of the shootings whispered in his ears by the hunters.

The current status of these foxes, the all year-round relentless tracking and the Prefect’s abuse of power

In the North and East of France, foxes are hunted even more than elsewhere. Relying on their status as a « species likely to cause damage » (previously « pests »), the Prefectures are constantly publishing orders to expand the range of possibilities to kill these small canines, yet even though they are useful to the biodiversity and having their rightful place in the ecosystem.

Foxes are considered game throughout the hunting season, whether with guns or with dogs. Because of this special status, they are trapped and dug up all year, including during the breeding season. Hunters can indulge in their « sport » 12 months a year.

The prefects take orders so that the game keepers of the Louvre, paid by the State, can shoot them even at night, all this to appease the peace of the hunters who want to be able to kill hares and partridges without any competition from foxes. But here, nothing proves the question against foxes.

Red foxes must be defended and protected!

What does it mean to kill more than half a million of them each year without even knowing their state of conservation?

It is irrational to attack an animal that protects us from Lyme disease through its presence, by naturally regulating the populations of voles that carry this disease. In the absence of red foxes, other forms of harm to nature and to health (including that of farmers) takes place: toxic pesticides spread into the crops in the fight against voles … In a single act, that of protecting foxes who we respect and their ecosystem, we can save crops, we can protect against Lyme disease, we can regulate the population of small rodents and we evade a dose of dangerous pesticides into our daily diet !

One Voice will continue to sue the legitimacy of such orders, the damage of which is irreversible. It is urgent to take action. When this decree will be cancelled, like so many others before it in the East and the North of France, the countless foxes being massacred since its application will always be the case.

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Trafficking of Beluga Whales and juvenile Orca Whales discovered in Russia

Trafficking of Beluga Whales and juvenile Orca Whales discovered in Russia
19.11.2018
Russie
Trafficking of Beluga Whales and juvenile Orca Whales discovered in Russia
Exploitation for shows

11 orcas and 90 belugas were huddled together in floating pens at the bottom of a bay in the Okhotsk Sea, between Sakhalin and Kamchatka … A crane lifts one of the orcas into the sky which is bound for China … These terrible images relayed by the international press show us how much this industry of captivity has become a goose with golden egg under the reign of Vladimir Putin. We cannot let the Russian government sell orcas and belugas to the 72 giant dolphinariums that will soon be all over China! Along with us, call the authorities responsible for this crime against wild life!

Following the international scandal that followed the discovery of this detention of cetaceans, Russia has just announced the ban on the capture of orcas and belugas from 2019. It is a beautiful victory! Let us fight for the release of these individuals held in the floating prison of the Russian Far East.

Today, the fate of 25 of these small beluga whales is still pending because they are less than a year old and should never have been captured under Russian law. As for the orcas, whose price may exceed one million dollars per individual, their sale abroad is also assumed to be prohibited: only catches intended for the domestic market, in the name of research and pedagogy remain authorized.

The four companies that manage this regrouping camp in the Russian Far East are already being investigated for previous sales of cetaceans to Chinese customers. But some companies seem too close to power to be concerned, according to the Russian media that accompanied the commission of experts who were dispatched to the scene by the prosecutor’s office in Vladivostok.

They discover an astonishing spectacle: in the lost bay of Srednyaja covered by the fog, dozens of enclosures lined up along the pier. Orcas move into the shade of the awnings that cover their floating cages, eleven juveniles are divided into groups of three or four. All were caught near the Chantar Islands during the summer. The population of these seal hunting orcas is now reduced to less than 300 individuals. Their food culture is totally carnivorous, so it is necessary to rehabilitate the captives so that they agree to swallow dead fish. In Shanghai, four killer whales captured in the same sea of Okhotsk have already started their shows under the applause of an enthusiastic crowd.

In the open-air enclosures for belugas, the stunned inspectors see sparrows flocking around them, dozens of juvenile belugas still with their infantile grey skin. Their toothless mouth opens miserably to beg for food. A single enclosure keeps up to thirteen of these unfortunate infants with very young faces. One of them starts spitting water awkwardly, a trick learned to amuse the visitors. Further away, a non-weaned beluga, quite tiny, waits alone in a transport container. What will become of all these little ones? Can we ever bring them back to their homes?

As in a nightmarish loop, the commercial success of dolphinariums that we suffered from the 1960s is repeated here in Asia. Dolphins savagely captured and stored in floating pens in Florida before sale, tiny ponds, early deaths, vulgar and noisy shows, etc. All these cruel practices that our marine parks try to forget, suddenly resurface in the face of the world. The only glimmer of hope for Russian orcas and whales is the handful of brave scientists and activists who are struggling tirelessly and not without risk to save the wildlife of their beautiful country.

Let’s help them!

Write to the Russian ambassador asking that his country stop the trafficking of orcas and belugas to China!

For the attention of his excellency Mr. Mechkov,
Ambassador of the Russian Federation to France
40-50 Boulevard Lannes
75116 Paris

Twitter @ambruspresse

Facebook : www.facebook.com/ambassadeRussieFrance

In Yulin, veterinarians discover that dogs are not just objects

In Yulin, veterinarians discover that dogs are not just objects
16.11.2018
Yulin
In Yulin, veterinarians discover that dogs are not just objects
Other campaign or multi-campaigns of One Voice

In China, the idea that an animal is a sentient being is barely emerging! Notably in Yulin, where every year there is a huge killing of dogs. Thanks to the fabulous work of our partner association ACTAsia, veterinarians in the region now realize that canines feel pain and fear.

One could believe in a satirical « scoop »: in 2018, Chinese veterinarians learn that dogs feel fear and pain! And yet, this is a reality. In some remote areas of the far East, professionals in charge of animal health did not know this, until recently that they were treating sentient beings!

This is the sad truth for the local association ACTAsia, of which we are partners in the Fur Free Alliance and we have also been supporting them for the last 10 years, in particular financing the education and teaching of “empathy” vis-a-vis animals in Chinese schools. Like this NGO, we are indeed convinced that the raising of awareness is a long-term job and that to sensitize them at an early age to certain truths will make it possible to complete the teaching process, one day or another, with the notion that an animal is not just a machine.

Training the professionals

But taking comfort in the knowledge that changing mentalities in a few decades is just not enough. Too many innocent victims endure, every second, torture that could be avoided if humans, already adults, agreed to question their beliefs and behaviours.

But how can the supposed holders of knowledge nevertheless have enormous gaps in the field of neurology? How to act when Chinese veterinarians still consider that animals do not feel physical pain or mental anguish? Many of them still do not use anaesthetics, even for sterilization! And that is just because of simple ignorance …

In its fight against obscurantism, ACTAsia has also embarked on the development of a training scheme for Asian veterinarians with the Australian NGO Vets For Comparison (VFC). Objective: to encourage the practice of using anaesthetics for all operations and through this new approach to change the way professionals look at animals and their suffering.

Reaching out to the areas of Yulin

This year, the program « Train the trainer » has been accepted by the poor and remote province of Guangxi in southern China. This is an unprecedented progress in a rural area known for its appetite for dog meat and its lack of understanding of animal welfare.

The road to Yulin Animal Disease Control Centre and the veterinarians attending it has proved difficult. This city is sadly known for the festival held every year. Every 21^stof June, the summer solstice is celebrated in a bloodbath at the Yulin Dog Meat Festival. In question here is the well-established superstition that consuming canine meat, especially during the longest days, would promote good health. Thousands of dogs, and also cats, are regularly transported there – with a rise in numbers this season and in appalling conditions. They endure hell: piled on top of each other in cages, on the verge of asphyxiation, they wait to be scalded and then cut into pieces, sometimes still alive, then to be devoured.

In 2017, no less than 11 million people worldwide signed petitions, including One Voice, to try to abolish this festival of horror. Despite a brief hope of respite, the gigantic killing has unfortunately seen no truce as yet. Worse still, a second market has emerged under the impetus of some associations that buy dogs to save them. Rather than putting a stop to these atrocities, this has only led to an explosion in supply and trade: merchants continue to sell these « beautiful » dogs for meat, while still obtaining others, sick ones who are destined for the defence of animal centres. But they find themselves overwhelmed with animals and unable to properly care for these poor survivors.

Wining the spirits

In this difficult context, ACTAsia was not discouraged. Their trainers, from Australia and New Zealand, were able to work with Chinese veterinarians and say they were very impressed and moved by their willingness to learn. They were able to teach them how to vaccinate dogs against rabies, how to use the latest sterilization techniques to control the number of stray animals and perhaps most importantly to have respect for the animals and treat them as sentient beings.

Better still, ACTAsia has found that by offering practical solutions to professionals and by demonstrating the importance of compassion, their eyes are being opened and are changing the way citizens around them think as well.

One Voice salutes the remarkable work done by their partner and the perseverance from all its staff in the field. A long way still remains to go before their message wins all of the minds and hearts. But we will support their tireless efforts to promote a real common revolution.

The timing of Morgan’s pregnancy raises many questions

The timing of Morgan’s pregnancy raises many questions
15.11.2018
Tenerife
The timing of Morgan’s pregnancy raises many questions
Exploitation for shows

Captured and locked between four walls, Morgan has just given birth to a baby. And despite their claims, SeaWorld and Loro Parque dolphinariums, which hold all 3: her, the father and the little one, knew perfectly well what they were doing. Dates do not lie; the facts are there.

Morgan, the free orca captured in the Netherlands and trapped in the Loro Parque basin by SeaWorld, should never have gotten pregnant. Why?! Because from the moment SeaWorld announced the end of its orca breeding program, all those captives at Loro Parque – then the « property » of SeaWorld – should have been subject to the same conditions.

Since the announcement of Morgan’s pregnancy, all her supporters – as perfectly described by Ingrid Visser and her lawyer this summer at Superpod – want to know when the date of conception was. Only one possibility: deduct it from the date of birth of her daughter! Oh surprise, the conception takes place a month after the stop of the reproduction of orcas in captivity, and the orcas of Loro Parque still belonged to SeaWorld at that moment, including the male who fertilized her!

Second important point to prove, that the dolphinarium directors Loro Parque and SeaWorld were aware of this pregnancy during their affidavit that no orca was pregnant on October 9th. The Free Morgan Foundation,
member, as One Voice of Dolphinaria-Free Europe, defends Morgan since its capture. They announced that her pregnancy was in no way a coincidence: it was not an « accident » as claimed by Javier Almunia (head of the Loro Parque Foundation and « in charge » of Morgan) but an attempt by the dolphinarium to still and always make money on the backs of animals, whatever the cost, even bypassing the rules. We don’t put two orcas of different sexes, without contraception and of age to breed into the same pool by chance.

So, whether it’s for Morgan or the father of the little orca born on September 22 2018 in a pool, and who will never see the ocean, it’s
hard to deny the obvious: both companies knew and did indeed act with full knowledge of the facts!