News Archive - Page 11 of 124

Arche de Noël: the person responsible to be tried on May 27, 2024, One Voice present at the trial

Arche de Noël: the person responsible to be tried on May 27, 2024, One Voice present at the trial
23.05.2024
Arche de Noël: the person responsible to be tried on May 27, 2024, One Voice present at the trial
Zoe Cell

Following our months-long undercover investigation into the fake shelter known as l’Arche de Noël, the authorities, accompanied by animal protection associations, finally moved in on November 30, 2023 to rescue the animals. Two months after the rescue, the man in charge, Noël Azzopardi, was again taken into police custody and placed under judicial supervision pending trial. He will be tried by the Béziers judicial court on May 27, 2024 at 2:00 pm. We’ll be there to demand justice for all the animals who have suffered at the hands of this torturer.

Update 06/18/2024

Noël Azzopardi and his association “Arche de Noël” were found guilty of the charges. He received a suspended prison sentence of twelve months, fines totalling €400, and a ban on working with animals. His association, as a legal entity, was fined €10,000, and is permanently closed. A very light penalty, when he was facing up to 3 years’ imprisonment and a €150,000 fine. As proof of his mistreatment of the animals, a mass grave containing no less than eight dead dogs was found on the day the authorities went to the premises in November 2023.

Update 05/29/2024

After a 4-hour hearing at which we made our arguments heard alongside numerous other animal protection associations, the prosecutor in charge of the case requested :

a 12 months’ suspended prison sentence
a 200€ fine for the defendant and his association
a 5-year ban on keeping certain types of animals, in this case only those seized;
a permanent ban on working with animals.

These are mild sentences given the seriousness of the events. On the day the animals were rescued, a mass grave had been discovered, with no less than eight dog corpses. We are disappointed, but unfortunately not surprised: for years, Noël Azzopardi had openly circumvented the law and mistreated animals for all the world to see. Veterinary reports drawn up ten years earlier had already identified a number of shortcomings. At least since 2019, the authorities have been aware of the existence of a mass grave. However, it wasn’t until 2023 that things finally got moving, following the broadcast of our undercover investigation. The verdict will be delivered on June 17. Almost a hundred dogs, 9 tortoises, 8 Florida tortoises, 2 snakes and numerous birds had been rescued from this hellhole on November 30. Unfortunately, one snake had already died.

Undercover investigation into the heart of horror

In October 2022, we arrived at the Arche de Noël for the first time. Our months-long investigation confirmed the many reports we’d received about this place. In truth, the place that had been called a “refuge” hid an entirely different reality. There, we saw horror and death. Dogs beaten and slaughtered; disastrous hygiene with serious consequences: puppies left to die one after the other of an epidemic, bitches treated like uteruses on legs locked up in rabbit hutches, a site infested with rats who were themselves victims of atrocities; dogs sold under the counter with no guarantees whatsoever, while exotic wild animals were illegally kept in terrible conditions.

We filed an initial complaint in February 2023, accompanied by videos, followed by a supplement in June. However, despite our numerous reminders, it was radio silence, forcing us to publicize the case in November with a petition and a report on TF1.

On November 30, 2023, a seizure of the animals was finally ordered, putting an end to years of mistreatment and animal suffering. At the same time, Azzopardi, the man responsible, was taken into custody and a judicial inquiry was launched.

Trial on May 27, 2024 at the Béziers judicial court

The investigation, which was completed two months later, at the end of January 2024, led to a second police custody, during which the defendant continued to deny the facts despite the evidence we provided thanks to our images.

He was placed under judicial supervision pending trial. He will be tried for several offenses: undeclared work in the sale of dogs, abandoning domestic animals or animals held in captivity by failing to provide them with adequate care and accommodation, opening an establishment holding non-domestic animals without authorization, operating an unregistered environmental facility, and illegal dumping of garbage.

According to the prosecutor’s statements, Noël Azzopardi faces 3 years’ imprisonment and a €150,000 fine, in addition to a ban on practicing or holding animals. His association will also be tried as a legal entity, and faces a fine of up to €750,000.

We will of course be present at the hearing to obtain justice for all those animals who have suffered in this sordid place for years, and to ensure that Noël Azzopardi and his association are never again allowed to hold animals or engage in any activity related to them.

In Lyon, we cohabit with coypus rather than slaughtering them all the time

In Lyon, we cohabit with coypus rather than slaughtering them all the time
22.05.2024
In Lyon, we cohabit with coypus rather than slaughtering them all the time
Wildlife

Every year, hundreds of thousands of coypus are killed in France. To attack them and make the most of their “hobby”, hunters like to resort to an old-fashioned method: archery. As always, the animals pay a high price so that these amateur aspiring Robin Hoods – more like cavemen… – can have a few hours’ fun in the forest. And this despite the fact that alternatives do exist, such as in Lyon, where the city council will be launching sterilization campaigns. Proof that, with the right will, it’s possible to put a stop to the mortiferous approach that too often prevails!

Hunters’ logic: kill!

Kill with a rifle, kill by digging up, kill by trapping…! In the Isère department, we learn that hunters prefer to shoot coypus with a bow! For these animals, it’s a real ordeal: the arrow is rarely lethal on the first shot, and many end up wounded and die after a slow agony, sometimes next to their young.

Beyond its cruelty, the whole approach is absurd. By slaughtering nearly a million foxes a year, who are the coypus’ predators, hunters are upsetting a fragile balance. Then, as always, they come running and claim to be repairing the damage they themselves have caused, by “regulating” the species, as they put it. QED.

More animal-friendly alternatives

Sometimes, political courage can bend this deleterious logic. In the Lyon area, where a few years ago coypus’ bodies were pierced with arrows and their heads crushed with clubs by hunters, the town council has radically changed its approach as part of an “action plan to improve the condition of animals“.

In particular, an experiment is planned to sterilize coypus. This is proof that barbaric measures aimed at killing animals arbitrarily considered to be a nuisance can be replaced by a more respectful approach to these sensitive beings, even if it means still imposing our rules on the wild world, provided the authorities give themselves the means to do so.

Because it is never justified to make animals suffer and kill them, join us in demanding a radical reform of hunting by signing our petition!

Foxes killed and abandoned in a Jura river: hearing on May 23!

Foxes killed and abandoned in a Jura river: hearing on May 23!
21.05.2024
Foxes killed and abandoned in a Jura river: hearing on May 23!
Wildlife

Every year in France, nearly a million red foxes are slaughtered. Hunters, trappers, poachers… all have just one wish: to kill more and more of them, using methods each more appalling than the last. Last March, a lieutenant of louveterie and pests, commissioned by the prefect to carry out yet another massacre, simply abandoned dozens of fox corpses in a river. Together with the Centre Athénas, we filed a complaint. On May 23 at 9am, at the Besançon judicial court, we will be present to ensure that justice is done.

Update of May 23, 2024:

In a decision dated May 23, 2024, the Besançon judicial court sentenced the lieutenant of louveterie and pests who had killed dozens of foxes and dumped their bodies in a river to a €1,000 fine, of which €500 was suspended. A weak penalty, but one that sends a clear message to all those who consider nature to be a dustbin and animals to be waste!

In the Jura department, a lieutenant of louveterie and pests takes foxes for garbage and nature for a dustbin.

In March 2023 in the Jura department, a lieutenant of louveterie and pests, not content with killing foxes, piled their lifeless bodies on the banks of a river and left them to decompose on the spot. Quickly identified thanks to the complaint we filed with the Centre Athénas, the culprit, who acknowledges the facts, will be tried on May 23 at 9am at the Besançon judicial court.

Such actions show a blatant lack of respect for animals. What’s more, their decomposition in a waterway poses a serious pollution risk for all the creatures living there, as well as a major health hazard. We expect an exemplary sentence to send out a strong signal to all those who use nature as their garbage can and morbid playground.

A relentless attack on these cousins of dogs

The foxes of our forests are targeted from all sides: in addition to hunting and administrative beats – which are often illegal – they are victims of underground hunting. Hunted down where they think they’re safest, they are killed with pliers, among other things, after hours of stalking, as we showed in our undercover investigation. As if that weren’t enough, the State has classified them as “ESOD” in dozens of departments. With a simple authorization from the prefect, anyone can ask to have those present on their land killed! We have challenged this iniquitous classification.

While awaiting the decision of the Besançon court, and to say stop to this relentlessness, sign our petition to remove foxes from the “ESOD” list and demand a radical reform of hunting.

Badger digging: suspensions in Aveyron and Cher, new hearings in seven other departments!

Badger digging: suspensions in Aveyron and Cher, new hearings in seven other departments!
21.05.2024
Badger digging: suspensions in Aveyron and Cher, new hearings in seven other departments!
Hunting

While the hunting season has just opened in several departments, administrative courts are once again suspending one after the other the decrees authorizing the supplementary underground venery period (PCVST) for badgers. In the Aveyron department, where we were attacking with AVES, and in the Cher department, where we were alone, the courts ruled in our favor. Nearly 400 individuals will have their lives saved. And this is just the start of a new marathon to save badgers! On May 23, the courts in Rennes and Rouen will examine the tracking operations starting this month in the Eure and Côtes-d’Armor departments at 10.30am and 3pm respectively. On May 30 at 9.45am and June 6 at 10.45am, the courts in Limoges and Orléans will hold hearings to give final rulings on previous years’ orders in five departments (Corrèze, Cher, Loir-et-Cher, Loiret, Eure-et-Loir).

No underground venery in the Aveyron and Cher departments!

Every year at this time of year, nearly 200 badgers are killed in each of these departments. But once again, the judges ruled that there were young badgers in the burrows, and that digging them up endangered them, even though the law protects them.

After our victory, with AVES, in the Finistère department, badgers will now be able to care for their young in three departments without the risk of being hunted down for hours and killed in cold blood. On May 23, in front of the administrative courts of Rennes (at 10:30 a.m., for the Côtes-d’Armor department) and Rouen (at 3 p.m., for the Eure department), we will be doing our utmost to obtain further suspensions.

Meanwhile, files from previous years are in the process of being definitively settled.

Last year, we launched no fewer than 37 emergency appeals against the supplementary period. The result: 31 victories, and nearly 4,000 badgers saved! For these cases, once the emergency period is over, the courts must give their final verdict. On May 30 in Limoges (Corrèze 2023 PCVST decree) and June 6 in Orléans (Cher 2024, Loir-et-Cher 2023, Eure-et-Loir 2023 and Loiret 2023), they will be able to confirm their position against all these decrees, which they have already suspended.

If they rule in our favor, then the message sent to the prefects will be crystal clear: stop authorizing the supplementary underground hunting period! Enough is enough, stop adopting year after year orders that everyone knows to be illegal! It’s high time that the authorities, instead of systematically taking the hunters’ side, finally sided with the general interest, the law… and the animals.

For all badgers, support us, sign the petition to ban digging and demand protection for badgers, and even more widely, for a radical reform of hunting!

The documentary produced by Terra Mater studios, Orca – Black & White Gold, by Emmy award-winning screenwriter Mark Monroe, will be screened at the Cannes film market

The documentary produced by Terra Mater studios, Orca – Black & White Gold, by Emmy award-winning screenwriter Mark Monroe, will be screened at the Cannes film market
15.05.2024
The documentary produced by Terra Mater studios, Orca – Black & White Gold, by Emmy award-winning screenwriter Mark Monroe, will be screened at the Cannes film market
Press release

On the occasion of the launch of the film Orca – Black & White Gold in France on May 20 (entry by free registration or accreditation), One Voice is joining forces with the impact campaign for this documentary film, whose team supports the French animal rights organization’s long-term work for the orcas in the tanks of Antibes.

What struck the filmmaker in particular about One Voice’s tireless work was their previously unrivalled success in blocking the departure of this family to another dolphinarium (as early as 2020 in China, then more recently just a few months ago in Japan), to enable the orcas exhibited and trained at Marineland to discover life in a marine sanctuary, as close as possible to a life worth living, after having known only captivity and the repeated deaths of their loved ones in the tanks.

Today, Terra Mater Studios announces its new docu-thriller Orca – Black & White Gold from Emmy Award-winning screenwriter Mark Monroe (The Dissident; The Cove). The film marks the debut of Terra Mater producer Sarah Nörenberg as a filmmaker. Orca – Black & White Gold will screen next week at the Marché du Film during the Cannes Film Festival, after winning several festival awards, including Best Film at the Jackson Wild Media Awards, and the HP Social Impact Award at the Blue Water Film Festival.

The film is being screened on May 20, 2024 from 2:30 to 4:00 pm at the IMAX Cineum Cannes, 13, avenue Maurice Chevalier, in cooperation with the Blue Water Institute. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Sarah Nörenberg and Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice (free admission with registration).

Orca – Black & White Gold offers an unprecedented look at the international trade in endangered orcas, with unprecedented access to activists, former orca trainers and the captors themselves. With a unique 360-degree perspective and access to the mafia businessman behind this multimillion-dollar global trade, this gripping and topical film shows how the export of an American business model is influencing the illegal trade in endangered wild killer whales on every continent.

Screenwriter Mark Monroe won the Emmy for Best Writing for a Non-Fiction Program in 2022 for Lucy and Desi, and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2021 for the documentary The Dissident. Monroe also wrote the Oscar-winning films The Cove and Icarus. Sarah Nörenberg, from Terra Mater, is known for Yours in Freedom, Bill Baird, Tarzan and Sea of Shadows. Composer Sonya Belousova created the original score for Orca and is known for Netflix’s The Witcher and One Piece.

Terra Mater Studios is implementing a hybrid strategy to maximize the film’s distribution and reach audiences worldwide. The studio is actively interested in partnerships with distributors, while retaining educational rights for private and virtual events, with organizations such as One Voice, to share the film with audiences worldwide.

To release captured orcas into marine sanctuaries, Terra Mater Studios actively works with organizations such as The Earth Island Institute, which was responsible for the release of Keiko, the star orca of Free Willy.

Many orcas are still in captivity around the world, making this film an urgent call to action for the public to join the campaign against this trade and help save these animals from a life of forced breeding and captivity. Currently, the world’s only family of orcas in captivity lives in Antibes, France, and is threatened with being sent to another marine park. One Voice has led a successful campaign to ban the orcas’ relocation until an independent expert assessment has been carried out.

“I made this film after realizing that even 31 years after Free Willy and 11 years after Blackfish, we still have just as many orcas in captivity around the world. The market is simply moving from West to East. ORCA – BLACK & WHITE GOLD shines a spotlight on the realities of orca capture and captivity in the Far East, continuing to rally public support for the rejection of a morally bankrupt international market. The commercial value of orcas (originally around $10 million per animal) only increased after the Russian trade was seized. This business of displaying marine mammals for show began in the West with SeaWorld and is still active today. We have a moral duty, as a society and as a role model for the children who visit these parks, to pass on an education based on ethics and allow these sentient and intelligent beings to reach marine sanctuaries whenever possible.”

Sarah Nörenberg, director and producer of Orca – Black & White Gold “Russia has been a major player in the captivity industry, generating millions of dollars and immense suffering for orcas, as the film so aptly shows. In France, the only family of orcas in captivity in the world is threatened with transfer to another dolphinarium. I truly hope that audiences who see Sarah’s film will open their eyes and their hearts, as it must be the final nail in the coffin of this abominable industry.”
Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice

About Orca – Black & White Gold

Chronicling the capture and release of 100 orcas and belugas in the Russian Far East and their rescue from a tragic fate in one of China’s SeaWorld-inspired aquariums, the film follows the captured animals’ journey through urban Russia, the frozen Kamchatka Peninsula in the Sea of Okhotsk, and the thriving Chinese marine park industry. While investigating the marine animal entertainment industry that emerged in the West decades ago, Orca – Black & White Gold documents the ongoing battle between a network of Russian businessmen, mobsters, orca capturers and bureaucrats who now run the global captivity trade, and the formidable resistance of journalists and activists who take great personal risks to protect the animals.

The outcome will determine whether the animals can survive the damage done to their population by the global marine park industry and spend the rest of their lives in a coastal sanctuary – or whether the fate of this threatened population is already sealed.

www.orcafilm.net

Notes on the film’s impact

ORCA – BLACK & WHITE GOLD is the latest in a series of films that have raised public awareness of the plight of orcas in captivity. But even 31 years after Free Willy and 11 years after Blackfish, there are still just as many orcas in captivity around the world. The market has simply shifted from West to East. ORCA – BLACK & WHITE GOLD shines a spotlight on the realities of orca capture and captivity in the Far East, continuing to rally the public to reject an unethical international market.
Today, 22 orcas are in captivity in China. All were captured in the wild by the capture team featured in ORCA – BLACK & WHITE GOLD, or were born to these captive orcas.

About Terra Mater Studios

Terra Mater Studios is a Red Bull subsidiary based in Vienna, Austria, with an additional office in Berlin. In 2024, the company was ranked by Realscreen as one of the world’s top 10 producers of factual films. Terra Mater Studios produces documentaries, fiction, factual programming, formats, digital content, media labs and much more. Terra Mater is committed to the highest production values of visual excellence, innovative technology and powerful storytelling. The company’s diverse portfolio includes over 300 hours, rewarded with more than 450 international film festival awards and over 1200 nominations. Ecological production guidelines are applied to all projects.

In the tradition of its feature-length documentaries – including THE IVORY GAME (Netflix Original, Oscar-nominated) and SEA OF SHADOWS (National Geographic Documentary Films, 2019, Sundance Audience Award), for which Leonardo DiCaprio is executive producer – Terra Mater Studios places great importance on a powerful story that resonates more deeply with audiences.

Project credits:

Directed by : Sarah Nörenberg
Producted by : Walter Köhler, Sarah Nörenberg, Michael Frenschkowski
Executive producers : Laura Nix, Dinah Czezik-Müller
Written by : Mark Monroe

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Atrocity and abundance of animal experimentation projects in France: the banality of everyday life

Atrocity and abundance of animal experimentation projects in France: the banality of everyday life
14.05.2024
Atrocity and abundance of animal experimentation projects in France: the banality of everyday life
Animal testing

Starting today, we will be presenting projects selected on the basis of the number of animals used or the severity of the tests they undergo. All have been validated by the French Ministry of Research. We’re calling for a real wake-up call that will bring about a change in practices. For this, we need your help!

Every day in France, a multitude of animals are subjected to experiments. These projects may be linked to research (fundamental and applied), or to regulatory and toxicology testing.

The transition to animal-free science is massively supported by the French (Ipsos/One Voice poll, April 2023), by nearly 150 European scientists from 19 member states, by European elected representatives in 2010 and 2023, and by French parliamentarians*.

Thus, between April 10 and May 10, 2024, the following projects were published in the database listing projects authorized at European level:

Concerning monkeys :

Blood and cerebrospinal fluid sampling: 400 monkeys used, of whom 80 will undergo procedures without awakening (i.e., slaughter at the end of the project).
72 monkeys will undergo surgery to implant a telemetry transmitter, blood samples, take medication and be placed in metabolism cages for over 6 days.
Sampling, surgery, gavage treatment, brain stimulation, etc. 60 monkeys will be euthanized as a result of these invasive tests and surgical procedures, which make it impossible for them to survive further experiments.
1 to 3 neurosurgeries involving cranial electrodes, multiple samples and injections: 12 monkeys will be used, 4 of whom will be euthanized.

Injection into the brain, followed by several surgeries to implant electrodes delivering different intensities of electric current into the brain. They will also undergo the administration of parkinsonian syndrome through daily intramuscular injections: 6 monkeys will be used and undergo pain of a severe degree of severity until euthanasia.

For dogs :

Blood and cerebrospinal fluid sampling: 200 dogs will be used, of whom 40 will undergo procedures without awakening.

For rabbits :

Tissue samples taken from 3,000 young rabbits, who are then slaughtered at weaning.

Concerning fish :

Severe experimental infections: 13,680 fish will be euthanized.

Concerning rodents :

Severe pain following spinal cord injury: 554 young mice euthanized.
Ear or tail tissue sampling: 158,000 mice and 1,000 rats, some euthanized and others “reused” (number not specified).
Biopsy and blood sampling: 79,950 mice, some euthanized and some reused.
Administration of various compounds by gavage or other means, the mice will undergo stress and pain and be housed in metabolism cages: 50,600 of them will be put to death at the end of the procedures.
Tumor transplants involving severe pain, inability to move, etc. 30,000 mice will be used and euthanized, 2,000 of them will undergo experiments of severe severity and the remaining 28,000 of moderate severity.
Tumor implant insertion: 27,500 mice will be killed at the end of the operations in order to recover and analyze their tissues.
Tumor cell transplantation: 20,500 mice will be euthanized, either during or at the end of the study.
Injection, blood sampling and bone marrow harvesting, following which the 19,959 mice will be euthanized.
Intracerebral injections generating pain and neurological disorders: of the 13,500 rodents used, 6,400 will undergo experiments of severe severity, the others of moderate severity. All will be killed at the end of the study.
Auditory hyperexcitability is tested by means of sound exposure that can generate reflex epileptic seizures. Surgery and painful injections are expected: 15,385 mice will be used and then euthanized at the end of the procedures, as these animals “cannot be reused, replaced or adopted, being genetically modified organisms“. We have already asked the judge to prohibit a similar project.
Administration of colitis generating intense pain and of severe severity: 10,000 mice and rats used, all to be euthanized.
Cutting off the end of the tail: 8,500 mice will then be euthanized. “Animals that do not contain the mutation of interest or are too old (to be used for mating or included in a research protocol) or have not given birth to litters for 2 months will be euthanized, even if they show no signs of ill-being“.
Surgery and implantation for adults and cerebral injection and substance injection that induce neurodegeneration in young mice, with severe pain and behavioral and dietary stress: 6,050 mice will be killed, 3,540 of whom will undergo procedures of severe severity.
Heavy surgery resulting in hypothermia and motor disorders that prevent the animals from moving: 5,402 mice will be killed, 2,520 of whom will suffer severe pain.
Bacterial infection resulting in severe pain: 5,160 mice will be euthanized.
Heavy surgery to alter brain function, resulting in a risk of severe pain in some individuals: 3,374 rats will be put to death.
Hypoxia for several days with severe pain: 2,475 mice will be euthanized.
Administration of products that induce convulsions leading to death: 1,100 mice will be used and 1,000 of them will suffer severe pain.
Inducing a stroke, which inflicts intense pain of severe severity: 1,000 mice will be euthanized.
Amphetamine and anesthetic injections that induce severe pain: 360 mice will be killed.
Lesion of the spinal cord causing paralysis for several weeks and severe pain: 25 rats will be euthanized.

We call on laboratories to systematically use alternative methods when they exist, as required by law. We also encourage professionals to train in animal-free testing methods. In addition, we urge our political representatives to vote in favor of much greater funding for research into alternative methods. Although the majority of them agree with this principle, it is now imperative to have real political will to make progress. Stagnation is a significant obstacle, and we need to adopt an innovative approach and invest more in this field.

The number of animals who are still victims of animal experimentation is colossal and their numbers are not decreasing, be they monkeys, dogs or any other species, despite the passage of legislation calling for a reduction.

To put an end to these methods, which have had their day, join us in calling for an end to animal experimentation, and write to the Minister of Higher Education and Research:

Download the standard letter (in French)

* Sources :

Decree no. 2013-118 of February 1, 2013 on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.
Order of February 1, 2013 setting the conditions for approval, layout and operation of establishments using, breeding or supplying animals used for scientific purposes and their controls.
Order of February 1, 2013 relating to the ethical evaluation and authorization of projects involving the use of animals in experimental procedures.
Order of February 1, 2013 setting the conditions for supplying certain animal species used for scientific purposes to approved user establishments.
Order of February 1, 2013 relating to the acquisition and validation of skills of personnel from user establishments, breeders and suppliers of animals used for scientific purposes.

300 lives saved. In the Finistère department, badgers will spend the summer of 2024 in peace!

300 lives saved. In the Finistère department, badgers will spend the summer of 2024 in peace!
13.05.2024
300 lives saved. In the Finistère department, badgers will spend the summer of 2024 in peace!
Hunting

In the Finistère department, the diggers were ready for action: on May 15, the prefect authorized them to kill badgers in their own burrows. But that was without our action: together with the Ligue pour la protection des oiseaux (LPO) Bretagne, we urgently appealed against this decision, and the Rennes administrative court has just ruled in our favor! A first victory against the supplementary underground hunting period for 2024, which will save almost 300 lives.

Photo : Nicolas Bazerque

A massacre narrowly avoided

Every year in the Finistère department, hundreds of badgers are cornered by dogs, hunted down by diggers, then pulled out of the ground by metal pliers, before being executed with knives or guns. And the prefecture itself has admitted: of these 300 individuals, almost 20% are youngsters, even though the law forbids the killing of young badgers!

As usual, the State blames them for everything. So-called damage to crops, to road infrastructures, it tries everything and there’s never a shred of evidence on the horizon, with the exception of a few purely declarative “damage reports”, each more fanciful than the last. And with good reason: they are not subject to any controls! All this did not fool the interim relief judge, who suspended the decree even before the hunting season opened.

The first of many hearings to come

After a historic year in 2023 in the fight against underground venery, with the rescue of almost 4,000 badgers, the long-distance race continues in 2024. In the coming days and weeks, we’ll be attacking dozens of decrees authorizing this cruel practice: from Nantes to Toulouse, via Rouen and Orléans, everywhere, we’ll be defending badgers’ right to live without fear of being put to death in the name of a small group of people’s hobby.

Support us in this fight! We look forward to seeing many of you on May 15 for World Badger Day and beyond, as part of our nationally coordinated action. And in the meantime, if, like more than 8 out of 10 French people, you are opposed to this deadly practice (IPSOS/One Voice poll, October 2023), sign and share our petition for the abolition of underground venery and the protection of badgers.

Six hearings to come and twelve towns invested in our action for badgers!

Six hearings to come and twelve towns invested in our action for badgers!
06.05.2024
Six hearings to come and twelve towns invested in our action for badgers!
Hunting

Despite the victories that came one after the other, prefects are persisting, and One Voice is going back into battle. On 15 May, the day that underground hunting with hounds will be reopened in numerous departments, we will be present throughout France to spread awareness of these animals who are hunted down into their setts. And, like last year, we will refer to the legal system to get the illegal decrees authorising massacres suspended. The first hearings are on 7 May at 11am at the Rennes Administrative Tribunal (Finistère), 13 May at 2:30pm in Nantes (Mayenne and Loire-Atlantique), 14 May at 2:30pm in Orléans (Cher) and Toulouse (Aveyron), 16 May at 11am in Rennes (Morbihan), and 23 May at 3pm in Rouen (Eure).

On 11, 12, 18, and 22 May, we are organising action to raise awareness in several towns against digging out (NB: check the event on the day). In Aix-en-Provence (on the 18^th), Amiens, Angers, Bar-le-Duc, Bourgoin-Jallieu, Brive-la-Gaillarde (on the 22^nd), Gap (on the 12^th), Flers (on the 18^th), Lille, Limoges (on the 12^th), Metz and also Nice, join our activists against this practice that has been rejected by more than 8 in 10 French people year after year since 2018 (IPSOS/One Voice survey, October 2023)!

The objective: show who these animals truly are, who just want to live. And show the fate reserved for them, documented thanks to our infiltration investigation among badger, and also fox, diggers, and which allowed this subject to enter into public debate in 2020.

On 15 May, as part of International Badger Day, we will also be participating in a conference organised by the local branch of ASPAS in Grenoble. We will be waiting for you there!

We will also continue to defend these animals before public authorities. The fight is tough as hunters are so influential. In Limoges, they have even decided to organise a day in honour of underground hunting with hounds, to interfere with our action.

But things are changing! We are calling on the National Forestry Office, a collective that we are part of, who recently committed to encouraging a ban on the hunting of badgers and foxes in its area from 2025.

One Voice’s action is decisive in the change that is happening against digging out!

The year 2023 will have marked a turning point in the fight against underground hunting with hounds outside of the hunting season: in more than 30 departments, it has been urgently suspended thanks to the association’s legal actions! Judges have confirmed this decision after decision: digging out in the spring and summer constitutes a major danger for badger cubs, who are in fact protected by law. These same badger cubs who, in Eure-et-Loir, have been killed by hunters despite the ban, and have had their stomachs analysed as part of a “study” by the National Federation of Hunters. Weaning does not constitute proof that the young are autonomous, for their species any more than for us humans. We are attacking for them too.

But prefects prefer to purely and simply brush aside the 37 rulings in favour of badgers in 2023 and the dozens from previous years to better satisfy hunters. Our first emergency interim proceedings for 2024 will be looked into in the weeks to come:

With the LPO for Finistère (Rennes Administrative Tribunal on 7 May at 11am).
On our own for Mayenne and Loire-Atlantique (Nantes Administrative Tribunal on 13 May at 2:30pm) and for Cher (Orléans Administrative Tribunal on 14 May at 12:30pm).
With AVES for Aveyron (Toulouse Administrative Tribunal on 14 May at 2:30pm), for Morbihan (Rennes Administrative Tribunal on 16 May at 11am), and for Eure (Rouen Administrative Tribunal on 23 May at 3pm).

More than ever, sign our petition for a radical reform on hunting, specifically for a ban on digging out, and for the pure and simple abolition of underground hunting with hounds and the protection of badgers, and join us from 11 to 22 May throughout France for our actions to raise awareness of foxes and badgers who are victims of hunters!

Rats and mice experimented on: One Voice condemns Inserm to reveal its forced swimming footage

Rats and mice experimented on: One Voice condemns Inserm to reveal its forced swimming footage
06.05.2024
Rats and mice experimented on: One Voice condemns Inserm to reveal its forced swimming footage
Animal testing

In April 2022, we asked a laboratory linked with Inserm (French National Institute for Health and Medical Research) to provide us with its videos of forced swimming. Two years later and despite opposition from this organisation, the Paris Administrative Tribunal has just compelled them to send us the footage within one month. A decision that is consistent with transparency, which we have been fighting for for a long time!

Photo credit : Understanding Animal Research

To justify their refusal to send us the videos of forced swimming filmed on their premises, the Neurocentre Magendie mentioned… copyright! We were outraged that they would use such an argument to hide the footage from the public, which results from standardised tests that, naturally, are fairly typical. Although the Committee for Access to Administrative Documents (CADA), who we referred to, refused to go along with us, the Paris Administrative Tribunal has made an unambiguous decision.

Following the hearing on 12 April 2024, the Paris Administrative Tribunal ruled that Inserm’s recordings:

“Were carried out with bias with a fixed camera connected to a computerised tracking system to register the data resulting from subjecting laboratory mice and rats to common and standardised tests with a view to collecting and automatically processing them in order to produce reports on the basis of predefined settings. Therefore, these recordings cannot be considered as an original creation reflecting the creator’s personality, and thus cannot be qualified as intellectual property.” Extract from the ruling issued by the Paris Administrative Tribunal.

In favour of more transparency

Based on these conclusions, the legal system ordered Inserm to send us their footage before 3 June. A significant result to highlight these experiments that are extremely stressful for rats and mice who are plunged into containers of water, having no way of knowing if they will survive, and which the Ministry of Research and Higher Education persists in authorising. And all of this while a growing number of businesses and universities are moving away from these practices. Faced with resistance from an industry that prefers to make statements in place of revealing the actual facts , we will continue to reveal what is happening in laboratories for the animals.

Sign our petition to call for the end of forced swimming tests!

Victory for birds: traditional hunting banned for good!

Victory for birds: traditional hunting banned for good!
06.05.2024
Victory for birds: traditional hunting banned for good!
Hunting

It was a long and difficult battle, from the administrative courts to the Conseil d’État, via the European Court of Justice. Years later, after dozens of legal actions and hundreds of thousands of skylarks saved, we finally got the courts to put an end to traditional hunting. One Voice and the Ligue pour la protection des oiseaux (LPO) have appealed to the Conseil d’État, which has annulled the decrees authorizing capture with “pantes” (nets) and “matoles” (cages) in the South-West of France. For the first time in decades, no bird in France can be subjected to these particularly cruel “leisure activities”.

No more pantes and matoles!

Every year, in the Landes, the Lot-et-Garonne, the Gironde and the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments, hunters were allowed to kill tens of thousands of birds with matoles and pantes. They used individuals as “decoy-birds” to attract the skylarks before activating their traps: cages and nets that collapsed violently, pinning the animals to the ground. All the trappers had to do was pick them up and finish the job.

Every year since 2021, we’ve managed to get the Conseil d’État to urgently suspend these outdated practices. This time, we went even further and, together with the LPO, demanded the definitive repeal of the decrees authorizing the very principle of these devices. And, once again, the courts ruled in favor of the birds!

Will the State continue to persist ? We won’t let our guard down!

This decision is the fruit of a long struggle against these traditions, which cause thousands of animals to suffer for the sole purpose of entertaining a handful of individuals. After our victory before the European Court of Justice in 2021, we had already obtained a ban on glue, then on “tenderies”, which trapped the birds using strings, then on “tendelles”, which crushed the birds under a rock. All that remained were matoles and pantes. With this decision, for the first time in decades, traditional hunting is no longer authorized in France!

But as we all know, the State will do anything to satisfy hunters, as demonstrated by its authorization of “scientific experiments” in autumn 2023, the sole aim of which was to justify these archaic practices (and whose suspension we largely succeeded in obtaining)… Despite this victory, which marks a crucial stage in the fight, we will not drop our guard: if the government continues to be relentless, we will be there!