Our complaint for Mevy is rejected, we file an appeal

Our complaint for Mevy is rejected, we file an appeal
10.04.2018
Paris
Our complaint for Mevy is rejected, we file an appeal
Exploitation for shows

After the tigress fled the circus that had held her since birth and she eventually found freedom in the streets of Paris at the end of November 2017. She was shot by her trainer who was armed with a pump action shotgun in the middle of Paris. We file an appeal with the prosecutor of the Court of Appeal of Paris against the classification of our complaint for the wilful taking of the life of an animal and mistreatment of an animal held in captivity. We also request access to the documents in the file.

Again a nauseating truck ride, in which is found the cage that is her main view of the horizon, Mevy, the young tigress barely 18 months old finds a breach in this cage. In fact, an open door. It was cold that November evening. A time to stretch your legs, for a tiger, whose natural territory can match the surface area of several Parisian districts … Mevy took a few steps, sniffed the air. She sensed the smell of freedom that was the Parisian air, however spoiled by vehicle pollution … But during those few minutes that were unfortunately her last, Mevy was finally free. She then decided her movements, made choices; she crossed a street and headed towards a green space as evening fell. She heard confusedly the noises around her. Her trainer approached, he no longer had his whip but instead a shotgun to kill her.

Tigers just like other animals have no place in circuses!

In Asia, where 3500 tigers still live free, they are killed by trophy hunters, and by people who fear them. Their species is disappearing from the surface of the world, which makes them eligible to be listed on the CITES list as a species in great danger of extinction. Why do so many of them still live behind bars in circuses, to experience homelessness and the constraints of the dressage, the ultimate humiliation? Wild animals are exhibited in front of an audience mainly composed of children. What image does it give them of these sentient beings, and the attitude of humans towards them? A spectacle of domination, this is just that.

Pump action shot gun shooting in Paris, no alternative?

The « circuses » decree of the 18th of March 2011 stipulates all the rules that circuses must comply with if they want to keep and exploit animals. Mevy’s cage was open, she came out, and it was because of human error that people were put in danger and that is why the tigress was shot. Do we really want to continue to take these risks?

Immediately after Mevy’s death, we filed a lawsuit against the circus for wilfully taking an animal’s life and abusing an animal held in captivity. The trainer also the owner of the circus which was located in a Paris business zone was in possession of a certificate of capacity allowing him to exploit Mevy. He should have put in place all the guarantees of security and safety for his animals and that of the public living in the surrounding area of the circus. Did he do this? We doubt it. Was it not possible to have tranquilised Mevy instead of killing her with a shotgun at the time the offices were emptying? He says no, we doubt it. She paid the ultimate price.

One Voice will not stop there!

Our complaint has been dismissed. We challenge it and file an appeal with the prosecutor of the Court of Appeal of Paris, and we also request a copy of the investigation file to have access to all elements, hearings, circus safety plan, etc. We will not stop there!

Lechmee, Mina and Kamala go on tour!

Lechmee, Mina and Kamala go on tour!
07.04.2018
France
Lechmee, Mina and Kamala go on tour!
Exploitation for shows

Lechmee, Mina and Kamala go on tour! Since March 20th, the circus crosses France from Longwy to Marseille, indifferent to the legal actions launched by One Voice and veterinary reports that recommend the retirement of these three elephants to a sanctuary.

Friday, April 6th, following the launch of a video in which Lechmee, Mina and Kamala are forced to follow their trainer, with ankus in hand, in the streets of Rambervillers in Lorraine, we have lodged a complaint for ill-treatment, this one is added to our previous complaint in progress, and we ask the Prefecture to withdraw them from the circus.

Will this continue until they die?

The three friends will have to travel 1,862 kilometres in sixty-one days! For Lechmee, it will probably be the trip too much. With her right front foot paralyzed, she will suffer in hell once again. When walking on concrete, her pain is already intense. We see her always place her stiff foot with infinite care. But once in the truck, the suffering comes from the ground. Locked up for hours in her dark trailer, Lechmee must remain standing on a metal floor. Constantly, she must restore her balance during turning, braking or acceleration. Every pothole, every bump in the asphalt, every stone on the small provincial roads inflicts flashes of pain that go right up to her shoulder.

Lechmee is blind

Her poor eyes cannot see anything around her, not even the hay that Mina gently stuffs in her mouth. But she still hears, that hearing which is so sensitive to elephants, and it is a world of noise and turmoil that surrounds her. Every morning the caravan arrives in a village. Parade, the menagerie open to visitors, announcements shouted into the microphone, thunderous music precedes the show, always the same and repeated in each city. Mina and Kamala are old and tired too, but not enough in the eyes of the circus.

Their performance is not very long, a quarter of an hour. This will be their only physical exercise of the day, over the same sequence of unnatural poses. Lechmee waits for them behind the scenes, dancing on the spot, waving her trunk in solitary delirium. She listens to the lashes and cries of her friends on the track when they sit on their ridiculous stools under the laughter of children.

The show finished and the lights off, the circus dismantles its tent.

One cleans thoroughly with water, one pushes the restive animals into their rolling cage and immediately the caravan leaves. From Sarreguemines to Toul, 146 km. From Toul to Metz, 74 km. From Metz to Épinal, 129 km. From Belfort to Besançon, 93 km of bumpy roads. Rarely, the circus lingers more than one day on the same spot, except in Marseilles where its journey ends. For more than forty years Lechmee has been subjected to this gruelling routine lead by the blows from the ankus, but she has never suffered as much as she does today.

But for the circus, everything is fine.

The distress of these three elephants would be another lie to harm the « traditional » circus. Yet the veterinary reports are there, the images are there, which claim that this cruel life should no longer be that for the three elephants. One Voice is outraged by the cynicism of this company, which denies the obvious to protect its interests. One Voice demands that Lechmee, Mina and Kamala be immediately removed from this current tour and placed in a shelter, waiting then to reach their sanctuary in Limousin.

Lechmee, Mina and Kamala exhibited in the streets, One Voice sues for ill-treatment

Lechmee, Mina and Kamala exhibited in the streets, One Voice sues for ill-treatment
06.04.2018
Rambervilliers
Lechmee, Mina and Kamala exhibited in the streets, One Voice sues for ill-treatment
Exploitation for shows

This Friday, April 6th, 2018 afternoon, a video was posted on Facebook, in which we can see Lechmee, Mina and Kamala, forced to follow their trainer, with ankus in hand, through the streets of Rambervillers in Lorraine.

We file a complaint for mistreatment (which is added to the previous complaint in progress), and ask the Prefecture for their withdrawal from the circus.

A van precedes them, music plays at full volume. Announcements are made into the microphone, thundering through empty streets, the rest of the circus troop distributing leaflets for the evening performance, dancing and parading, insensitive to the distress of the three elephants.

Lechmee has a disabled foot, she is also blind. She only travels with her two companions, and Mina even helps her to feed herself as her health is worrying. According to the texts (the decree says « circuses » from the 18th of March 2011); Lechmee should have been for a long time now in a sanctuary. Together, the elephants have accumulated more than 120 years of captivity! On all our videos, we can see that they have developed strong stereotypes.

They will do several hundred kilometres on the roads in the coming weeks. However, after Diana’s death last weekend on a Spanish road, and Maya’s damning report about her health, pointing to her advanced age as a reason for retiring her from the circus, these are two strong signals … Just yesterday we sent a letter to the Ministry of Ecology, calling on him to free the elephants from the circuses.

We had already initiated a specific procedure for these three elderly elephants. The complaint has been under investigation for several months. It’s endless. For Lechmee, Mina and Kamala, it must be an eternity. Following the parade filmed today we add another complaint for ill-treatment to the Prosecutor of Epinal, with an application for the seizure of three elephants.

We send immediately in parallel, a letter to the Prosecutor of Epinal with a request for withdrawal of this circus, and a copy to the Ministry of Ecological and Supportive Transition. The state is responsible for the welfare of captive wild animals on their territory. The Prefecture must guarantee that they are well treated. This parade is the proof – if it needed yet another – which this is not the case.

Enough is enough! Elephants must be saved from the hell of circuses!

Enough is enough! Elephants must be saved from the hell of circuses!
05.04.2018
Espagne
Enough is enough! Elephants must be saved from the hell of circuses!
Exploitation for shows

Diana died on a highway … in Spain, Monday, April 2nd after long years of captivity, shows, and hundreds of thousands of kilometres travelled. She had crisscrossed Europe and North Africa, in a trailer, not stopping, on resting places and car parks, only to receive spikes…

Her companions, Pira and Belinda (even older than Maya), Thai and Baby had also experienced the road accident. The screeching of tires, emergency braking, skidding, shocks from the chains, deafening noises from the twisting of sheet metal … The elephants, filmed just after the accident, wandering on the road, wounded, shackled feet, in a clear state of shock . Diana was dying in front of their eyes at the side of the road, in the middle of the wreckage that was for so long her jail and which became her coffin. How are they to be treated? Have veterinarians been urgently dispatched? Are they elephant specialists? Have they also taken into account their psychological state?

In 2006, we fought with all our might to save them from the clutches of their current trainer. Their previous trainer had given them to him after his conviction in Germany for acts of cruelty. We were able to save Vicky, but Diana, her dear friend, Pira and Belinda stayed in the circus. What life do these elephants live under from this domination? These sentient beings, highly intelligent and sensitive, devote themselves to unfailing love. How can they endure permanent bullying? How will they recover from the trauma of this violent accident?

We are indignant. This masquerade has lasted too long!

Elephants have nothing to do in trucks on the roads! What a surprising way to treat animals supposedly protected by law!

How can the French state still tolerate or even encourage this? What shame for a country that allowed the signing of the Paris Agreement at COP 2! The majority of the population is opposed to the presence of animals in circuses. Recurring accidents show that it can be dangerous and even deadly for them as well as for humans. The shows are only demonstrations of strength, which asserts the domination of the human over animals and makes a mockery of them.

These accidents are not the result of fate or inevitability. They are the consequence of an escape from the administrative and the legislative. They do not take responsibility for the future generations. Wild animals, wherever they come from, are nevertheless part of the heritage of humanity that we will bequeath to future generations. Yet these elephants have been torn from their native land and locked up forever! Their existence is only survival, under the blows from humans seeking only profit. Their right to a real life and freedom, our species has stolen this from them.

The fight of One Voice for elephants held in France

We can easily compare the fate of Vicky and that of Lechmee. Both old and with paralyzed trunks. For over 10 years, however, Vicky has enjoyed a peaceful retirement. But Lechmee, though blind, is still in a truck! As Diana helped Vicky, it’s Mina who helps Lechmee to feed herself. We will not give up so that they will be saved together.

For Maya, our fight continues. In March, a state expert, specialist in elephants, confirmed in his report what we have been claiming for a long time … What to think of now in respect of the previous certificates from circus veterinarians! It took us several months of legal battles and public mobilizations to obtain this evaluation. And we start a new appeal for Maya, because she is still in the circus, despite the assurances given by the Prefecture who is responsible.

Finally, we send a letter to the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Support asking for the immediate withdrawal of elephants from circuses and the recognition of their fundamental rights, such as the right to liberty. We also remind the Minister of State that elephants have specific characteristics that make circus life unsuitable and harmful for them: they must be able to have at least a minimal life living in groups, have unlimited access to water and mud, to bathe and protect their skin, to eat several kilos of foliage and various fruits, to walk several kilometres a day, without suffering physically and mentally…

#JusticePourMaya #JusticePourDiana #JusticePourLesEléphants

A circus elephant becomes a victim on Spanish roads

A circus elephant becomes a victim on Spanish roads
03.04.2018
Espagne
A circus elephant becomes a victim on Spanish roads
Exploitation for shows

They are the friends of Vicky, saved by One Voice in 2006. In a road accident in Spain, on Easter Monday, one of them lost her life. The place of an elephant is not in a truck! One Voice is angry and asks Nicolas Hulot to urgently ban their captivity in circuses!

We know these elephants. Since Vicky’s complicated rescue in 2006, we have continued to monitor them. They had gone to France, trapped inside trailers, for many miles. They were 5, now they are only 4. The car accident that cost the life of one of them yesterday on April the 2nd is another issue that raises the urgency for the ban on elephants in circuses. The current revision of the decree concerning the keeping of wild animals must take this into account!

In retrospect a scandal

In January 2005, a trainer is sentenced in Germany for acts of cruelty on his four elephants: Vicky, Diana, Pira and Belinda. The night before the seizure, and their placement in a sanctuary, they disappeared. Alerted by our German partners, we begin a long chase. It is in France where we will eventually find them several months later, with another trainer, Mr. G. This man already owns two elephants Indra and also Sabine, who caused the death of a man in Sweden. He does not hold CITES papers for these new elephants, which are essential for their custody. We immediately asked the Ministry of Ecology to intervene. In the meanwhile, Vicky disappears. The investigators of One Voice will eventually find her locked in a trailer … Her health situation is dramatic; her trunk is paralyzed because of the blows she has received from her trainer! We managed to save her and transfer her to a sanctuary (Vicky’s rescue in details and pictures). But for her three friends, including Diana her close friend, the Ministry decided against all odds to regularize the papers. It makes the choice to regularize an infringement supporting a protected species, violate the commitment of France and confirming the lack of importance that the State attaches to the objectives of protecting endangered animals and to the individuals themselves.

An ever-present situation

Mr. G. does not hesitate in filing a complaint against us, claiming 80000 euros in damages. He will not succeed, but now avoids performing in France. It must still pass through our country to arrive where legislation is (still) more lax, especially in North Africa… He separated Sabine, who again caused the death of a man in the South of France….the accident was ignored because the victim was a Circassian… Then in 2017, he temporarily exploited Sabbah, after the death of her companion, Delhi, at the circus Pinder. Last December, we asked the Marseille prefecture on which these two elephants depend, to give us the information about them. Without response, we then challenged the authorities.

Who is dead?

Who lost their life Monday in Spain? Diana? Pira? Belinda? One of the two newly arrived elephants? Which one is hurt? We do not know this as yet. What we are certain of, however, is that since 2006, Vicky has lived a sweet and happy life. Twelve years, during which time her friends should have also tasted a sweet and happy life. They too should have lived a life as an elephant, free from roads and trucks. The scandalous decision of the then Ministry allowed the trainer to continue exploiting these old elephants. The current revision of the Wildlife Detention Order must absolutely prevent this from happening again. It is necessary that Nicolas Hulot prohibits the use of elephants in circuses! Their place is not in trucks and on the roads.

We are angry and more determined than ever. Freedom and respect for elephants!

Picture : Vicky, Diana, Pira, Belinda, Sabine and Indra in 2006.

The example of Ajaccio and Bastia for circus animals

The example of Ajaccio and Bastia for circus animals
24.03.2018
Corse
The example of Ajaccio and Bastia for circus animals
Exploitation for shows

On March the 19th and the 20th, we were invited by the activists of « La Corse dit stop aux cirques avec animaux » (Corsicans say stop to circuses with animals), to meet with the town halls of Bastia and Ajaccio, to discuss the most effective way of reinforcing these measures that they have put in place to prohibit the installation of circuses with animals on their territory.

Bastia was the first stop on our working trip to Corsica on Saint Joseph’s Day, one of the most important days for the city. The town hall was closed to honour the procession of the patron saint of Bastia, and Pierre Savelli, the mayor, still spared a moment to greet us. His chief of staff, Jean-Yves Bonifay, opened the town hall especially for our interview.

We were able to bring to him many elements of legal order, an expertise on the decree taken by the city in 2017. In fact, the family circus syndicate systematically assaulted the decisions of the town halls to ban circuses with animals, seeking to exploit any potential flaws. It must be said that to circulate these ideas on the internet, unfortunately for the town halls, are far from reliable.

And in any case, what we have learned is that in Corsica also, the Circus people do not hesitate to break the law by settling without authorization, even to threaten campaigners with handguns.

The last one to have obtained authorization to settle, has done on the express condition that none of the animals are on show, Mr Bonifay adds: « There will be birds and cats. Pets, we will be keeping an eye open”. Because the decree of the mayor of Bastia specifies that the ban is valid for wild animals but also domestic, and affects not only elephants and big cats but also llamas, dogs etc…

For the mayor of Bastia and his chief of staff, the debate is strong within society, and which requires a strong response from the representatives of the people.

The next day in Ajaccio, the same warm welcome from Laurent Marcangeli is reserved for us. The mayor of this imperial city receives us in his office, under a portrait of Josephine, the wife of Napoleon.

The decision – unanimously – from the Municipal Council, prohibiting circuses with animals to settle in the municipality is attacked by the Circus people, with the support of the Prefecture. Beyond all considerations essential for the well-being of the citizens of Ajaccio, such as the safety of the public during events, Laurent Marcangeli is extremely committed to supporting the animal cause, and listening to his citizens. « From the beginning of this matter, I am acting with conviction, I know that it is a strong, very strong and legitimate debate today, which agitates the public debate, and that many municipalities have the same position as me. »

« I do not want to deprive the children of Ajaccio of shows, but I do not want to take my children to see some of these shows, it’s not a natural environment, it does not educate the child the realities of these beings.”

This elected man has already many years of experiences behind him and multiplies projects in favour of animals. He has already opposed in his city the installation of a traveling aquarium, which contains a shark. He plans to set up a refuge for cats and to fight against strays in a sustainable way, and to support the local community networks in difficulties on combating this theme. He tackles issues related to urban lifestyles that encompass animals. During our exchange, no animal has been forgotten.

These two Corsican politicians are attached to the exceptional natural heritage of their island, and work – as pioneers- to put municipal actions in place in accordance with their convictions for the defence of animals, in the general interest, and the popular demand. For the Sate of France a lesson in democracy is to be learnt here.