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South African lions slaughtered for so called miracle cures

South African lions slaughtered for so called miracle cures

South African lions slaughtered for so called miracle cures
10.08.2018
Afrique du Sud
South African lions slaughtered for so called miracle cures
Wildlife

In South Africa, lions have been stalked by poachers and trophy hunters in a perfectly legal way for years, as high as 500 individuals per year. This number does not appear to be sufficient since the South African government has just decided to double its annual lion bone exports to China! What an abominable sadness. Protest your anger to their president!

This increase in export quotas has an obvious economic role, so that money from illegal trafficking enters the coffers of the state and benefits the whole country … and not just the smugglers and poachers. Lions are also bred in captivity specifically for this purpose!

The placebo effect is only a dream in the far east but devastates the lion populations of the rainbow nation.

When you see the lion’s magnificence & beauty, you wonder why anyone would want to kill him for ‘medicine’ that doesn’t work.
South Africa has doubled their annual quota of lion bones exported for traditional Chinese medicine. RT to ask @CyrilRamaphosa to reverse this. pic.twitter.com/oeZYsAQM8X

— Bella Lack ? (@BellaLack) 10 août 2018

There is nothing that has been allowed so animals can be slaughtered for so called miracle cures! « Love Potions », « Tiger Wine », the skin and head of lions serve as carpets or stuffed for trophy hunters or the carcass is sent to China to be crushed and serve the financial windfall of farcical quackery to be elevated to the rank of medicine …

This is all the more serious as lions are endangered.

When we see the magnificence of the lion and their solar beauty … some, like us, are filled with a sense of fullness and satisfaction when contemplating this calm and majestic power, for others, jealousy and envy, who want to appropriate this. These are very sick societies, like those of humans, who want to appropriate the wealth of others, and that of animals, for their deepest gain: their very lives, through their fur, their skin, their flesh and their bones….

Let’s lobby the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa on social networks (@CyrilRamaphosa on Twitter and @MyANCza on Facebook), to cancel this unbearable decision!

Against the decline of animal welfare at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo!

Against the decline of animal welfare at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo!

Against the decline of animal welfare at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo!
10.08.2018
Tokyo
Against the decline of animal welfare at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo!
Other campaign or multi-campaigns of One Voice

On the occasion for the preparations of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Animal Rights Centre Japan, a long-time partner of One Voice in Japan, launched a major national campaign against animal cruelty, Tokyo Olympic Cruelty. To amplify the requirement to improve the living standards of animals living in the worst of conditions, Olympic champions, call on Japanese officials to claim at least the guarantee that the supply of eggs and pigs for athletes do not come from battery farms. One Voice joins their request.

While the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London and Rio had shown a modicum of consideration for animal welfare, the Tokyo committee seems to be totally indifferent. To reduce the production costs of eggs, meat and milk for the next « Games », the standards in force will be lowered than those of previous levels for the so-called farm animals! However, the cages and battery stalls are vilified, and the general public is turning away more and more. Who was not stunned once informed of these unbearable practices? But in Japan, as reported byAnimal Rights Centre Japan, there is still a lot of work to be done, education about empathy and caring for animals.

We know that this type of intensive breeding deprives for example pigs of their freedom of movement, even preventing them from turning around or even taking a step … Sows are subject to breastfeeding, care is not provided or rarely given to their infants, a broad-spectrum of antibiotics are the rule, as for hens called « layers », in tiny cages in which their wings get stuck and where they hurt their claws. They are forced to live in a stressful environment, where pain and suffering are imposed on them. All these animals end their miserable lives to robots, which kill them on the production line, in a system where we deny them any sensitivity from the humans who work there. In Japan, 96% of respondents do not even know what « animal welfare » means, or have ever heard of it! 97% of Japanese do not know that pigs are born and grow in intensive breeding programs …

On Wednesday, August 1st 2018 Dotsie Bausch, a member of the US cycling team and 2012 Olympic silver medallist, as well as nine other athletes, one from the United States, Canada and New Zealand, sent a letter to the Mayor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike and to the Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, to request a guarantee that the eggs from chickens and pigs will not come from battery farms for the whole event. Their « Legacy for Animals » campaign, supported by One Voice, is part of the larger « Tokyo Olympic Cruelty » campaign.

« The Olympics is the highlight in the career of a top athlete – the best in the world come together to compete, so the best food is needed, » says Dotsie Bausch. In her letter, she provides scientific evidence, facts and examples to argue about the harmful effects of intensive livestock products on the physical and mental health of athletes. The champion is also worried about the image of Tokyo: « If Tokyo is not able to provide quality food, the city will be behind in a world moving forward, towards a better treatment of animal farming. »

It is absolutely necessary to make everyone’s voice be heard! You can act to raise awareness about the sentience of animals. In Japan, Asia and around the world, sign the petition « Tokyo Olympic Cruelty » by Animal Rights Centre Japan.

Noise and fury in the oceans

Noise and fury in the oceans

Noise and fury in the oceans
07.08.2018
Canada
Noise and fury in the oceans
Natural habitat

Over the last sixty years, the ocean has been subject to increasing levels of noise, and in parallel, cetacean beachings. One Voice is asking for a higher level of sea protection before it is too late.

Imagine a deep screeching sound, like iron claws running across a giant blackboard. The noise doesn’t stop, and repeats itself on increasingly unbearable frequencies pounding the eardrums. Far away on the horizon a US Navy vessel creeps along the coast. A nearby group of orcas hug together nearly touching the beach, trying to escape the noise. They keep their heads above water and slide as close as they can to the bank, risking stranding. This was filmed at Puget Sound in 2003. Fortunately, the J Pod orcas escaped unharmed.

Military fleets from many countries have since upped their military operations in the open sea and on the coast. Bombs have been dropped in scare-tactic strategies, missiles have been launched, and dark stealth submarines survey the depths with their damaging signals. In order to track them, the American Navy’s super-sonar Low-Frequency Active (LFA) sweeps the ocean with a sonic roar the equivalent of three Boeing 747’s taking off. Whales don’t have anti-noise protection to shield them from 235 decibels, and in the aftermath of these operations, numerous cetaceans die on the beaches with broken eardrums and bleeding eyes.

Elsewhere, in calmer waters, it’s the oil seekers who initiate research operations, surveying the ocean bottom with air gun blasts to uncover hydrocarbon. Once discovered the platforms sound the gongs morning, noon and night, resonating in the Norwegian Sea and changing the course of sperm whales.

Jacques Cousteau’s « Silent World » is actually quite the opposite. The sea has always been a concert of rumbling, tapping, calls and songs exchanged by fish. The coral reefs are as noisy as the jungle and sometimes this chit-chat can only be drowned out by the triumphant whistling of an orca, the infrasound of a blue whale, or the far away thunder of an underwater volcano.

But there has never been as much sonic assault as destructive to marine life as that inflicted since the arrival of humans: Endless marine traffic, luxury marinas, cruises, water sports, intrusive whale watching, offshore wind farms sinking their piles using hydraulic hammers etcetera. Considering we know that small Great Barrier Reef fish are eaten twice as fast by the larger fish when motorboats are present, what can we say about the cetacean suffering; whose world is first and foremost made of sounds, as ours is of images? If the sonar noise becomes too powerful, they can no longer feed themselves, reproduce or socialise. Small boat traffic alone reduces the range of sounds emitted by the big dolphins by 26%, and by 58% for the pilot whales. Imagine living in a nightclub, constantly shouting to be heard!

One Voice is asking that the European Commission, under its Marine strategy framework directive (2008/56/CE), devote more research into sound pollution in the different marine regions within its jurisdiction, and that the member states deploy all the necessary means to limit the principal noise factors as quickly as possible.

 

 

Emergency for Scarlet, the youngest orca of the clan J is dying from starvation!

Emergency for Scarlet, the youngest orca of the clan J is dying from starvation!

Emergency for Scarlet, the youngest orca of the clan J is dying from starvation!
04.08.2018
Canada
Emergency for Scarlet, the youngest orca of the clan J is dying from starvation!
Wildlife

A little angel is dying before our eyes, surrounded by her mother Slick (J16) and her big brother Echo (J42). Scarlet is not sick. Finally, though… She is sick from certain human aggressions on her planet, this blue planet that we all share.

A population weakened by the captivity industry

Scarlet (J50)’s family have lived here in Puget Sound, off Seattle and Vancouver for hundreds of years. In the 70s, armed men came, hungry for money, to capture these resident orcas, easy to track down. Nets, fast boats, dynamite, 13 of them were captured and sent to dolphinariums. How many died during these indescribably violent hunts ? Lolita was one of those little ones captured and taken away… Now after 48 years, still going around in circles under the tropical sun of Miami.

Their super pod of three family clans could never really recover, despite their solidarity, despite the active and benevolent watch from their matriarch Granny, who died in January 2017 at the age of 105. Granny had experienced hardships, catches from industry, pollution, tankers and fishermen… But the worst was yet to come: to see her grand children die from hunger and thirst. A slow agony, a constant stress. If the disappearance of this species is a tragedy for all of us, then it is above all a martyrdom for the individuals concerned.

Scarlet is in immediate danger

Scarlet, is the last born of the J pod, she is still a child, but her birth dates back to 2014. Granny had watched over her as a godmother for her first three years. If only she knew… At four, Scarlet should be growing. She shows all the signs of severe dehydration! One of the specificities of cetaceans is to extract from their solid food the water they need. Now we can discern the shape of the skull under the skin of Scarlet, to the point that we are, like the specialists, extremely worried about her survival, estimated in days if nothing is done. She urgently needs salmon! Scarlett is dying… from hunger and thirst.

The situation is all the more dramatic because ten days ago her clan had just lost a little one having lived only half an hour after its birth; her mourning mother, Tahlequah (J35) and her group cannot bring themselves to leave the body of this lifeless baby, taking turns to carry her since then. The pregnancies of orca mothers are no longer viable. The main cause: nutritional stress.

Overfishing and dams are the cause

Overfishing and large dams are killing chinook salmon, large fish that live in the northern Pacific Ocean and which feed the resident orcas of the Salish Sea… some even say they have already disappeared, as their numbers are now very small…

There are more than eight dams on the Snake River. For the specialists, to each dam, we can lose up to 10% of the chinook salmons. But for these fish, a long journey is necessary for their reproduction. It is a pilgrimage to the places of their birth. But this upriver journey to the spawning ground is so difficult that they lose their reserves, their bodies are transformed and the future parents die, exhausted, as soon as they have spawned. For them too, the Salish Sea becomes their tomb…

To save these resident orcas is to repair a little of this Earth that is suffering. Because the return of salmon would be good news for these fish, kings of the rivers and the ocean of the Pacific coast. Biologist Ken Balcomb, head of the Centre for Whale Research, of which One Voice is a member, has devoted his entire life to the South Resident Killer Whales, the SRWK, as he calls them; he has been studying them for 43 years. And when he goes out to sea with his boat, they come to greet him by bringing him fish, they who do not already have enough to survive. Because these orca people are not just only majestic, but, they are the best thing in all of us, this small patch of true and fragile humanity that we should stand up and support while there is still time.

Ken Balcomb fights tirelessly for the reopening of the dams. Let’s all support his call on social networks using #FreeTheSnake in our publications on this topic!

Photo: Slick (J36) and Echo (J42) surrounding Scarlet (J50) on July 2015.
Credit: Heather MacIntyre / Nature’s Keeper Photography / Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching.

Photographer Laurent Baheux supports One Voice

Photographer Laurent Baheux supports One Voice

Photographer Laurent Baheux supports One Voice
02.08.2018
Monde
Photographer Laurent Baheux supports One Voice
Wildlife

Thanks to his photos, the talented Laurent Baheux immortalizes rare and precious scenes of nature. This self-taught photographer, who claims to feel « less of a danger to the intimacy of wild animals than to live among men », engages, through his art, in the protection of nature and the defence of animals. He invites the public to discover the last vestiges of a wild world in reprieve.

First attracted by journalism and the profession of editor, Laurent Baheux quickly discovered a passion for photography. Always fascinated by Africa, this regular sports and news photographer went on a trip to Tanzania in 2002, where he began a personal work on wildlife. His striking photos, in black and white, reveal all the beauty, strength and individuality of the free beings that he photographed. Thanks to them, Laurent Baheux transports the public to territories where wild life can still flourish freely.

Through these animal encounters, which testify that of a wild world in peril and thus raises the question humans in its environment. His photos, touching with their authenticity, lead those who admire them to feel the emotions and fragility of animals in the face of a world turned upside down by human activities. They beautify their subjects, raising humility and respect for life. With his pictures, Laurent Baheux calls to us to engage in the protection of wild animals and nature.

In 2013, thanks to his photographic commitment, he became Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program on the international anti-poaching campaign Wild & Precious. He actively campaigns for conservation organizations and has chosen to support One Voice’s fight for animal rights.

On the occasion of his birthday, Laurent Baheux organized a collection on behalf of One Voice, which received more than 1500 € of donations. A huge thank you to him and to those who contributed!

Find his news and his wonderful work on his website:

http://www.laurentbaheux.com/

Young mother in mourning, orca J35 Tahlequah had been carrying her baby for more than a week.

Young mother in mourning, orca J35 Tahlequah had been carrying her baby for more than a week.

Young mother in mourning, orca J35 Tahlequah had been carrying her baby for more than a week.
31.07.2018
Canada
Young mother in mourning, orca J35 Tahlequah had been carrying her baby for more than a week.
Wildlife

The orca J-35, named Tahlequah, lost her baby on July 24th, born for only half an hour, and now cannot bring herself to let her go. She has been swimming, gently pushing the body for more than seven days, swallowed up in her grief. This drama brings to light the unwavering love that binds orca mothers to their calves and their degree of evolution. This indirectly brings us to a double realisation: humans are entirely responsible for their disappearance, and are quite able to remedy to this. Let’s rally together and fight!

Edit:It’s only 17 days after the calf’s death,
than Tahlequah and her pod have eventually been seen without the little body.
A mourning so long had never been observed before.

The breeze is blowing gently, cool, the young bald eagles learn to fly clumsily, they have not yet mastered their large wings. The feathers on their heads are brown, they will soon turn white. Their father, perched on high, screeches out as he defends the nest, and watches his surroundings. Some young harbour seals born this year are warming themselves on the rock at the edge of the water with their parents. Above them, cormorants and guillemots rest between dives. The sun rises gently on San Juan Island, the western border between the United States and Canada. All is calm, there are no waves, boats have not yet begun their daily commute. Kelp sways along in the water, like indolent hair. A sea lion passes in front of the seals, lifts his head out of the water, and goes off again, where he crosses a Minke whale.

In this area of the Pacific, the orca whales of Pod J, are preparing to celebrate a happy event. Tahlequah is 20 years old, and will give birth to her second baby, the labour has begun. The orcas of her family group (pod), are ready to become the godmothers of this eagerly-awaited little one. With the two neighbouring pods, K and L, also managed by the matriarchs, their super pod has only 75 individuals left1, sharing the same dialect and the same territory. 50 years ago, humans attacked their grandparents and aunts, ripping apart families, capturing 45 calves, and brutally killing 13 other orcas in the process, taking them away from the Pacific and their native waters to find themselves in the tiny pools of the dolphinariums. Part of the Endangered Species listed since 2001 in Canada and 2005 in the United States, each birth is a renewal of optimism amonst them (and amongst their supporters)!

Despite this protection, Tahlequah and her family are constantly hungry. Chinook salmon, which they eat almost exclusively, is increasingly difficult to find, disappearing also because of human activities. The body of these large magnificent cetaceans has lately been transformed, feeling the effects of this famine.

For twenty years, only one pregnancy in four proves viable in the Salish Sea … Worse, Scarlet, the last born is already three years old! No birth has yet resulted in a baby surviving. These seventeen months of pregnancy had raised all hopes. It’s the baby of the future, the one that will allow this resident group to perpetuate here. Dreams can come true, she will love this little one, like her mother, Princess Angeline J-17, whom she is so close to, and the same as she loves Notch, J-47, her eight-year-old son.

This black and white baby is so beautiful when she comes to the world! Tahlequah’s heart fills with love, she feels infinite joy. She then becomes this little being totally dependent on her, breathing the air she breathes, swimming at her own pace, looking at what she sees, and rediscovering the world through her eyes, fully maternal. Yet now the unthinkable happens. The little female dies before her eyes, barely half an hour after being born. Tahlequah’s heart breaks … The six females look at the future of the pod, lying in front of them, inanimate. How can one accept that such a drama is possible? Once again…

Then Tahlequah, gently, as in a death march, supports her baby’s head, and pushes it in front of her, delicately so as not to leave marks on her little body. The other orcas surround her. For seven days she has been unable to let her go. Day and night, constantly, this young mother carries the body of her baby, orphan of her. Her family shared a fish, only one, but has she even fed yet?

The impossible mourning of Tahlequah puts us in front of our responsibilities. Amazed but worried about their future, we had met Tahlequah and her pod just two days before the tragedy.

We are determined to take action!

In San Juan Island, we met Ken Balcomb, who has dedicated 43 years of his life to defend these resident orcas. And we also met Lodie Budwill, who together with Ken run the Centre for Whale Research, of which One Voice is a member. They explained to us the drama occurring in this community of cetaceans, the extreme cause being the absence of Chinook salmon – also disappearing – because of dams positioned upstream of the Canadian and American rivers, which prevent the salmon from reproducing by blocking access to their birthplace, the only possible place of spawning for these oh so special fish.

We need you to request the reopening of the dams, including Snake River. Talk to politicians via social media by attaching #FreeTheSnake to your message!

On Twitter: @GovInslee @SenatorCantwell @PattyMurray

On Facebook: @WaStateGov @senatorcantwell @pattymurray
Or write directly to them: Governor Jay Inslee, Senator Maria Cantwell and Senator Patty Murray

1 Estimate from the Center for Whale Research on 1st July 2018

Picture by Michael Weiss, Center for Whale Research

Wallonia, in the leading pack of animal welfare

Wallonia, in the leading pack of animal welfare

Wallonia, in the leading pack of animal welfare
26.07.2018
Wallonie
Wallonia, in the leading pack of animal welfare
Other campaign or multi-campaigns of One Voice

In 12 chapters and 109 articles, the animal welfare code adopted in Wallonia on Thursday 17th July is the most complete and progressive in Europe. All subjects are discussed, the advances are effective in all areas and for all animals … First, it states that any animal is « a being endowed with sensations, emotions and a certain level of consciousness « .

While in 2015, during the revision of the Civil Code, the French legislation stated that animals were sentient beings, in fact, absolutely nothing has changed in France: animals remain property. Wallonia sees them differently.

This global text – supported by the Regional Minister for Wallonia, Carlo Di Antonio – lays down in law new regulatory bases on welfare and respect for animals. Therein it has talked about their detention, their trade and transportation, their death, the experiments they are subjected to, and so on.

Animals are no longer things

The pony rides are one of the pernicious activities of human entertainment, where, as at the circus or the dolphinarium, our young children are conditioned to look upon living ponies like wooden horses, in other words not to distinguish between an object and a being endowed with sensitivity. It will not be the case with our neighbours to the North.

Delphinariums and circuses with forbidden animals

Major advances include the total ban on circuses and dolphinariums holding and exploiting wild animals for human entertainment in French-speaking Belgium.

In France, on the other hand, the so-called « dolphinariums » decree issued in 2017 by the Ministry of Ecology, was cancelled for a technical detail by the State Council, and the current ministry has sided with the captivity industry.

We are very worried that the next decree will be made of « trivial measures » that block progress for the next 30 years, for dolphins and orcas. The decree initially prohibited the reproduction and exchange of cetaceans between water parks. It did not go to an immediate closure, as is now the case in Wallonia.

Circuses with wild animals are banned from the Walloon country. In August 2017, on the other side of the border, just named, Nicolas Hulot had taken a clear stand against the captivity of wild animals, whose place is not in circuses. Since, nothing has happened! It’s like frozen.

Worse, in March 2018 we attacked the decree of 2011 called « circuses » before the State Council but the ministry replied in writing taking the side of circuses with animals! It is a shock to see a minister of Ecology, who is a former activist, behaving in that manner.

Towards the end of animal experiments

When we are fighting right now, in the spirit of European regulations, to close the biggest Beagle and Golden Retriever dog breeding farm in France, which is destined for animal experimentation and wants to double its capacity, Wallonia greatly restricts the cases where it is allowed, including in research! By 2020, no more dogs, cats or primates will suffer on laboratory benches, and in 2025, the ban will affect all animals in education. It is an immense progress!

Measures on animal experimentation:

  • authorization only if there is no alternative,
  • with the authorization of a local ethics commission,
  • and only for basic research, protection of the natural environment, human or animal health or welfare, research for the conservation of species, higher education or training.

Strays and cruelty on pets

While we fight alongside our associative partners, against stray pets, and our Cell Zoe organizes rescues and takes legal action to combat cruelty, it is the Belgian political world itself that takes its responsibilities on the other side of the border.

The article on animal rights « to move freely » will have immediate consequences for the life of the poor dogs, which are kept alive for the rest of their lives, at the end of a two-meter-long chain, in a makeshift shelter. It is inhuman but still quite legal in France.

Measures of animal welfare code on strays and cruelty:

  • introduction of a pet license issued at the age of 18, which can be withdrawn from anyone who is known to be involved in animal abuse.
  • registration of this person in a database in case of proven abuse.
  • abandonment, neglect and abuse of an animal will have far greater legal consequences than before (fines up to EUR 100,000 and increased prison sentences, up to 15 years).
  • management of sales and exchanges against impulse acquisitions,
  • obligation to identify and sterilize dogs and cats

Other concrete measures will be real progress, such as:

  • the drastic control of animal trafficking (through the control of the introduction or transit through the territory of certain species)
  • improved and better supervised transportation conditions
  • the end of battery farming for laying hens
  • the obligation to perform anaesthesia or stunning before any animal killing, and only by an accredited person
  • the obligation of video surveillance in all slaughterhouses (a promise from Emmanuel Macron’s unfulfilled campaign, if we still remember it?)
  • banning animal and animal fighting (strong signal sent to bullfighting aficionados)
  • the restriction of the cases of authorizations of shooting at animals (hunting)

This is a strong signal for all European neighbours. So … what are we waiting for?

Scandal around the death of the dolphin Aïcko!

Scandal around the death of the dolphin Aïcko!

Scandal around the death of the dolphin Aïcko!
24.07.2018
Port Saint Père
Scandal around the death of the dolphin Aïcko!
Exploitation for shows

We now know more about the death of Aïcko. The poor little dolphin was drowned, asphyxiated, his larynx dislocated. The mental images of this abominable agony are with us. They inspire us to shed more light onto this drama that we will not accept as just a consequence of an unfortunate accident…

On November 6th 2016, we learned of the death of a young dolphin Aïcko, which occurred while we had filed a complaint for him and his brother Galéo. Since then, we have continued with our efforts. So, we had an expert evaluation done, at our expense. Because what had happened to him had to be known! It will have taken a year… If the suffering of Aïcko remains incontestable, some conclusions from the expert leave us completely perplexed.

The terrible death of Aïcko

We cannot put into words on how to describe the suffering of Aïcko in his last minutes of life.

He had just been force-fed, with whole fish, when he should, as he was weak, been fed from a tube with minced food. He was vomiting through the blowhole when he was put back in the water – against all logic! – and began to drown, then he threw himself against a wall.

The autopsy showed that his larynx was dislocated … An obvious consequence of forced feeding, according to Dr Peter Gallego, cetacean veterinarian and consultant for One Voice. Not for the expert though! who agrees with both theories, that the asphyxiation can be linked to swallowing the wrong way but also suggests that the dislocation of the larynx could have occurred after the death! One certainty remains, Aïcko drowned and the autopsy report has many imperfections, on this, everyone agrees. But difficult to do otherwise, after the opinion given at our request by two specialists in this field of work! It should be noted, however, that performing an imperfect autopsy is to avoid conclusions that could confirm errors in the management of Aïcko’s illness…

Preceded by months of suffering

Not only did Aïcko lose weight, but he had to deal with multiple aggression from other dolphins. The expert noted about once a week! But we had already recorded this. Dr Naomi Rose, a famous marine mammal specialist, whom we had brought to seeAïckojust before his death, testified to multiple characteristic wounds, in the form of « raking »… According to Dr Gallego, this weakened him to the point of becoming ill. And nothing to do with what happens in nature, as the expert would have liked to believe: Aïcko had no other choice, he was locked up with his attackers and could not dodge them or flee from them! The ultimate irony, the expert even considers that captivity helps to avoid the stresses of foraging for food in the wild! Which is a very personal concept of their well-being.

A very rough follow-up

Aïcko’s medical follow-up, whilst wasting away, is shocking. Since his arrival at the dolphinarium, his blood tests indicated that he was dehydrated, anaemic, and was suffering from an inflammation, but nothing concrete had been done to remedy it! This is what Dr Gallego points out, recent references in support, when the expert denies it based on obsolete data… Even when he began to lose weight, nobody cared. It took five months, one could have taken care of him and he lost 25% of his initial weight, when he should have been putting on weight and growing up, less than a month or so before his death…

One Voice is angry

We are deeply shocked by the confusing conclusions from the evaluation that was conducted. For One Voice, which works with internationally renowned cetaceans specialists, a second opinion is needed.

We are challenging this report and we will go to the judge again. In memory of Aïcko, and for all the victims of the dolphinariums, we will win the case. Support our campaign and sign and share our petition for the closure of dolphinariums.

Freedom for dolphins and orcas!

Revelations about the death of Aïcko, the dolphin of Planète Sauvage – One Voice calls into question the official version and the neutrality of the experts report.

Revelations about the death of Aïcko, the dolphin of Planète Sauvage – One Voice calls into question the official version and the neutrality of the experts report.

Revelations about the death of Aïcko, the dolphin of Planète Sauvage – One Voice calls into question the official version and the neutrality of the experts report.
24.07.2018
Port Saint Père
Revelations about the death of Aïcko, the dolphin of Planète Sauvage – One Voice calls into question the official version and the neutrality of the experts report.
Exploitation for shows

Aïcko died on November 6th 2016 in Planète Sauvage, before reaching the age of seven and just when One Voice was alerting the public of his alarming state of health. According to the dolphinarium, the young dolphin was suffering from an unidentified illness and would have flung himself against a wall. The  » impartial  » expert’s report ordered by the summary judge at the request of One Voice and at its expense is strangely lenient towards the park. One Voice contests the dolphinarium’s version and the experts report and will challenge the judges again.

One Voice had requested the services of Dr. Pierre Gallego, a specialist in cetaceans. He analysed the park’s veterinary documents and Aïcko’s autopsy report. His report is damning of the dolphinarium. Comparisons:

Months of poor veterinary care:

Although incomplete and deficient, the veterinary documents still make it possible to trace the state of health and the causes of the death of Aïcko, the young dolphin of Planète Sauvage. The medical follow-up and Aïcko’s autopsy report revealed a loss of weight of the young dolphin for many weeks, which obviously did not alert anyone, even though Aïcko should have been in full growth because of his age. May 4th2016, Aïcko weighed 179kg, October 31th 2016 it had dropped to 105kg, it would represent a loss of 30kg for a human adolescent of 75kg, in a little less than 6 months! For Dr. Gallego:

«This initial weight loss had not caused any concern to the veterinary team, whereas it is one of the first signs of cetacean disease.»

The blood tests prove that he was dehydrated, chronically anaemic, and weakened by many otherdiseases. The expert judged the analyses to be consistent, referring to a 30-year-old bibliography…

Dangerous living conditions in captivity:

The daily reports from the park show that Aïcko suffered daily aggression from the older dolphins, without obviously being able to escape from them, since they all lived in the same pool, the other two pools being at the time assigned for maternity purposes. Aïcko became their whipping boy, captivity leads to this kind of behaviour. Four days before he died, in solitary confinement, he suffered and called out for help by tapping the water with his tail, between pain and despair. But stress causes a collapse in the immune system in dolphins, which makes them vulnerable to infection.

The expert, however, only admits to « discomfort » in Aïcko, but refuses to admit that he was sufficiently stressed to fall ill, which is contrary to our specialist:

«Aïcko was viciously and frequently assaulted by the other dolphins, which has probably caused a lot of chronic stress, which can reduce the immune system and render the animal more susceptible to possible infectious diseases.
»
Dr. Gallego The supreme irony, the expert considers that dolphins in captivity avoid the stresses of foraging! It is true that the life of a prisoner, when one is locked up with his aggressor, far from the protection of his parents cannot be a source of joy and fulfilment…

Revelations about the death of Aïcko, a blunder bordering on amateurism:

For Planète Sauvage, Aïcko would have deliberately thrown himself against a wall of the pool following his illness, on the odd occasion « forced-feeding » was applied but this has no link to this…

Reading the autopsy report reveals that Aïcko had his jaw broken and his larynx was dislocated, other documents show that he was forcibly fed. Whole fish were pushed into the back of the throat (instead of administering ground fish by gastric tube), he was then returned to the water as he regurgitated through his air hole! One thing is certain his airways were blocked, and he drowned.

Our veterinary surgeon adds:

«The fact that Aïcko had his larynx dislodged during a capture and that he vomited through his air vent, and was then returned to the water without remedial action is a serious professional misconduct […]. That was the cause of Aïcko’s death.»
Dr. Gallego

For the expert, the disruption of the larynx could have occurred post mortem, but he does not exclude asphyxia due to swallowing the wrong way…

Differing conclusions from our veterinarian specialist and the forensic expert:

Dr. Gallego is unequivocal:

«In summary, the medical management of the dolphin Aïcko’s is very questionable because despite clear signs of pathological processes in progress, nothing has been implemented until October 2016. There is in addition, a flagrant medical error with Aïcko being returned to the water with a serious respiratory problem, Aïcko died as a result of his handling during his last capture, and not because of any illness. Moreover, nothing was done to solve the problem of the attacks to which Aïcko was constantly exposed.»

For his part,the expert noted shortcomings in the realization of the autopsy. But did he have a choice? We had already produced the opinions of two luminaries in the middle of all this, Doctors Mazzariol and Cassart who concluded in this direction! Let us note, all the same, vis-à-vis the dolphinarium that performed an imperfect autopsy is to preserve findings that could confirm errors in the treatment of Aïcko disease…

This expert report with its confusing conclusions, has not yet been able to deny the evidence: the aggressions, the stress, the sloppy autopsy … The one who conducted this report is visibly attached to captivity and with his own conception of animal wellbeing. Preferring obsolete decrees, he did not worry about judging Aïcko’s living conditions using the most recent methods of analysis or the applicable regulations as requested by the President of the Tribunal!

One Voice will not stop there, we will continue to collect the opinions of recognized experts until a counter expert report is carried out!

Annexes

To go further:

At the time of the facts

We had visited Aïcko a few days before his death, accompanied by veterinary Doctor Naomi Rose, and filmed him. His condition shocked us. His wounded skin showed how he was the whipping boy of adult dolphins, with no chance of escaping, as he could have done. We also noticed his thinness. We then launched a petition to stop dolphinariums and then started legal proceedings against it.

Legal aspects surrounding Aïcko

We already had a complaint of abuse against Planète Sauvage (June 7th 2016). Following this visit, we filed an additional complaint for Aïcko. On his death, we launched a referral for an expert review on the conditions of this demise, which allowed us to obtain a copy of the medical records on the follow-up of Aïcko, and his autopsy report, which we were then able to have appraised.

One Voice finally obtained an injunction order ordering the expert report on January 26th 2017. The judge reiterated one of the arguments put forward by the association, in particular that it reserved the right to continue the proceedings before the courts for violation of human rights and the dignity of animals.

What was the expert’s mission?

  • Go to the dolphinarium,
  • Visit them in the presence of all interested parties and gather their claims;
  • Determine the cause of death of the dolphin Aïcko;
  • Give an opinion on the conditions of the rearing of Aïcko the dolphin in the dolphinarium facilities, in particular with regard to the applicable regulations;
  • Proceed to the hearing with all available knowledge;
  • Examine all the documents that the parties thought they should communicate to them and have them issue any documents they considered useful for the performance of their duties

This expert evaluation step was extended at the request of the expert twice with two requests for additional information from the expert. He reported on May 18th 2018.

Other cetaceans defended by One Voice

  • Femke the dolphin kept in Parc Asterix, which has been dying since her son Ekinox was torn away from her in July 2016, Galeo …
  • Inouk, one of the five French captive orcas whose flipper was torn at the beginning of the summer, but also Wikie, Moana, Keijo and Shouka.

An appointment at the Ministry for a new decree

An appointment at the Ministry of Nicolas Hulot is set for July 26th 2018 to discuss the rewriting of the decree taken by Ségolène Royal, and cancelled in 2017 for a technical detail by the State Council.

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One Voice at the heart of Superpod 6

One Voice at the heart of Superpod 6

One Voice at the heart of Superpod 6
21.07.2018
San Juan Island
One Voice at the heart of Superpod 6
Natural habitat

One Voice was at the global meeting of cetacean specialists, Superpod, in San Juan Island on the peaceful border between the United States and Canada.

One Voice was at the global meeting of cetacean specialists, Superpod, in San Juan Island, on the peaceful border between the United States and Canada. Muriel Arnal presented our fight for orcas and captive dolphins in France.

Superpod

In 2011, a small group of enthusiasts and cetacean experts came together to reflect and coordinate their actions for the defence of marine mammals. Superpod (the name given to the meeting of several pods of cetaceans) is the cradle of the Blackfish effect. This is where the idea of the documentary film came from, released in 2013, retracing tragically the birth and life of the famous orca Tilikum. This is where this big movement started that finally changed things, at the origins of the abandonment of the Seaworld breeding program of orcas. Since then, the event has brought together scientists, experts, former trainers, journalists and NGO leaders from around the world, working towards an end to the exploitation and hunting of cetaceans.

One Voice at Superpod 6

Thursday July 19thMuriel Arnal made a presentation during the 6thedition of Superpod, the fight of One Voice for dolphins and captive orcas in France: Femke, the broken hearted mother of dolphins that we filmed just floating motionless in her pool last May. But also, the orcas Wikie, Inouk, Keijo and Shouka that we still follow closely. With great emotion, Muriel recounted the tragic fate of Orca Valentin at Marineland and that of the little dolphin Aïcko to an audience of internationally renowned experts, such as: Naomi Rose, Ingrid Visser, Lori Marino, Ken Balcomb. All were touched by the story of these broken lives, which motivates our fight for a new dolphinarium decree to be passed and finally these captive cetaceans can be released.

Together for cetaceans

Other speakers spoke of the fate of Keiko, Morgan and Lolita; one of the goals of Superpod 6 is to share information and to work together. The dramatic situation of the local resident orcas, Lolita’s family, was also at the heart of the debates. Their population has been decimated by their hunting to supply the dolphinariums in America and Europe, and today they are dying from hunger because of human activities. The only population of orcas to die in the world, a sanctuary that would feed them is now reflecting. Another big problem is dozens of dolphinariums under construction in Russia and China. How many dolphins, belugas, sea lions and other marine mammals are going to be torn from their families or perish because of these hunts needed to fill these newly built pools? More than ever, we must stand together to face this industry, wherever it develops. Together we are stronger.

In France, One Voice continues its fight for the closure of dolphinariums and the placement of captive cetaceans into marine sanctuaries. On July 26th, we will be meeting at the Ministry of Ecology, as French representatives of the Dolphinarium Free Europe coalition, alongside our partners Sea Shepherd of France, and Cetacean Networks. Please sign and share the petition for the adoption of a new decree and the closing of dolphinariums!