News Archive - Page 119 of 145

Two prefectures abandon night shootings of red foxes

Two prefectures abandon night shootings of red foxes
26.04.2018
France
Two prefectures abandon night shootings of red foxes
Wildlife

Two draft prefectural decrees, in Meurthe-et-Moselle and Aube, to allow night shooting of red foxes has been abandoned. The numerous participations concerning public consultations has paid off and the developed arguments have won the battle! Several hundred foxes and their young have been saved. This is one more step towards the rehabilitation of this animal so intelligent and sensitive, victim of a terrible reputation.

In February, several public consultations were launched by prefectures in eastern France, with a view to adopting orders authorizing night shooting of red foxes. We had asked you to stop such orders of the planned « levy », in other words the stalking and hunting of more than 500 foxes in the departments concerned.

Yet these small canines feel emotions, are sentient beings, and intelligent. They live in families, and have a very rich subjective life, we witness the place they have taken over time in our stories for children and in our imaginations. Their ingenuity and liveliness has been remarkable to be hold in the eyes of humans for centuries.

The false arguments of hunters revealed in the light of day

The Renard Grand Est Collective, of which One Voice is a part of, had raised contradictions and false arguments in the reports of the federations of hunters that prompted the writing of these decrees. A solid and reliable argument had been prepared on the basis of the legitimate criticisms raised by these draft orders.

In Meurthe-et-Moselle, the hunters had convinced the prefecture that the hares were in danger because of the foxes, and required the shooting of 500 of them. Not a contradiction, the same federation of hunters required the « levy » in parallel with 1500 hares in the same order. The figures in their report were very questionable.

In Meurthe-et-Moselle as in the Aube, the fox still crystallized all the irrational fears around illnesses, whereas its presence prevents in particular that the Lyme disease – of which voles are carriers – spreads at high speed, likewise for alveolar echinococcosis …

We are still waiting for the summaries and analyses of the Moselle and Ardennes consultations, but the renouncement of the Aube and Meurthe-et-Moselle prefectures is very encouraging! In Meurthe-et-Moselle, 62% of the opinions filed were against the draft order, they were 96% in Aube!

The red fox indicative of irrational fears

What our contributions to all of this has shown is that the red fox is once again considered as the source of all evils, the scapegoat of humans …

If the partridge and hare populations need to be « restored », it would be much more effective to remove them from the list of huntable animals. Protect their habitat by ceasing to cut back ever more forests to put in place intensive agriculture with the application of pesticides or the building of shopping centres.

Foxes regulate their population in accordance with their habitat and the presence of food available, so it is useless to hunt or trap endlessly! These poor animals are considered during the entire hunting season as game and the rest of the year they are considered as likely to cause damage. This allows for their trapping and even their unearthing, regardless of their age, which means that babies too can be slaughtered!

Opinions matter, let’s keep taking action!

Thank you for your mobilization!

If sometimes the opinions of the public and animal advocates are swept away, this time the two consultations were taken into account as they should. The arguments of the public were based on a scientific, technical and very precise basis, in addition to highlighting the highly sensitsive nature of these wonderful beings.

So, let’s always be vigilant, and let’s get ready to write at the next opportunity, to defend the foxes! To make them disappear from the list of species likely to cause damage, please continue to sign our petition!

Maya kept on the road; it is with impunity that the circus does this

Maya kept on the road; it is with impunity that the circus does this
19.04.2018
Europe
Maya kept on the road; it is with impunity that the circus does this
Exploitation for shows

Maya is still on the roads of Europe, in the dark truck trailer of the circus that has held her for decades. The lack of response from the administrative tribunal in the form of the rejection of our second appeal, and the silence from the Prefecture do not say anything good about the state of our society vis-à-vis the evident suffering of captive wild animals.

A Prefecture that has become mute

In her letter addressed to the circus at the beginning of March, the Prefect asked that he transmit to her within a fortnight the fixed place in which he intended to allow Maya to live. Knowing now after the veterinary expertise that she had ordered at our request had concluded in particular that « considering her advanced age, Maya requires a stable environment”. Conditions with longer breaks between shorter journeys. Against all odds, while the exchanges were maintained with the Prefecture, and since the deadline for the notice of the Prefecture to the circus has been exceeded, we no longer get answers. On the side of the state services, its radio silence!

An administrative court which considers that the facts are insufficient and that the State has already done enough.

The Administrative Court, for its part, says it has no proof that Maya is worse than in October 2017 according to our first appeal. He even considers that we cannot blame the Prefecture for remaining inactive or not having taken the necessary measures and ordering the expertise we have been asking for months. For him, the state of Maya has even improved, since she was seen by a veterinarian who removed an abscess of the hindquarters, and she spent some time (we do not know how long) in her « winter quarters.

Arielle Moreau, a consultant lawyer for One Voice, comments: « If lawyers began their careers with the defence of captive wild animals, it’s a safe bet that they would quit very quickly as it is so demoralizing! And this, coming from the law where we obtain the least favourable decisions, despite all objective elements that confirm situations of mistreatment and acts of cruelty”. Despite this passing disappointment, we do not intend to leave Maya in this situation.

It would be inconceivable to abandon Maya to this sad fate.

New steps will be taken to end this life of homelessness and suffering that has been imposed on Maya. We will provide real-time news of these actions.

Again more and more dogs are being supplied to the labs … Let’s close down the breeding farm instead of enlarging it!

Again more and more dogs are being supplied to the labs … Let’s close down the breeding farm instead of enlarging it!
19.04.2018
Mézilles
Again more and more dogs are being supplied to the labs … Let’s close down the breeding farm instead of enlarging it!
Animal testing

A laboratory dog breeding farm that we follow closely is today trying to legalize its expansion. Breeders are waiting for the government to relax the number of dogs allowed. We are asking the Prefect for the closure of this farm. Animal experimentation must diminish, and not increase, as we still see sadly. It is the alternative methods that must be encouraged!

Breeding and experimentation is the cause of suffering upon suffering.

The breeding of dogs in Mézilles in the department of Yonne provides dogs for laboratories. To our knowledge, and according to available figures, it is the largest breeder of this type in France.

In this place, up to 500 Beagle and Golden Retriever females are put through an endless breeding program for many years. Their little ones are torn away from them to undergo experiments. And once these breeding females are sick or too old, they are also sold off alive or slaughtered and then sold in pieces, exploited even in death.

But these are sentient beings that live there! For the overwhelming majority, they are the dogs that see the light of day … the day light that they will see is still after all too short!

Whether in the breeding program or in the laboratories, the place of life for these gentle beings is a place of detention where no consideration of their well-being is spared. Here there is little comfort, no attention is paid or caresses given, crammed into courtyards or in cold boxes.

Several times a week without respite, specially chartered vans take them from the farm to the laboratory benches, and to their « animal house ». These particularly social dogs are then separated from their companions, sisters and brothers. Once there, they are often locked in tiled pens, they will no longer see the sky, and will undergo tests until death takes over some of them.

Some may even be fattened up, made obese to better test bariatric surgery techniques. Others may have broken bones, for the study of prosthetics, females may undergo abortions and forced caesarean to dissect the pancreas of their puppies…

If experimental dogs live the worst of the ordeal, then what of other animals?

In France, dogs are among the most protected animals of all, thanks to their status as pets. However, laboratories are using them increasingly more to experiment with toxic, irritating, dangerous products, to test new surgical techniques, or to dissect parts of their bodies. European law stipulates that the use of animals for animal experiments must be reduced, refined, and replaced (the 3Rs) by alternative methods, such as computer simulations, cross-referencing the results of other past experiments, or even in vitro stem cell experimentation… However, these methods struggle to impose themselves as they should. Researchers do not invest enough in their development, even as the evidence accumulates on the certain obsolete protocols and health scandals related to drugs tested on animals (as for example, the drug Mediator).

So if the Beagle and Golden Retriever dog, that is so gentle, so cooperating and loving towards humans, are bred and used in increasing numbers to undergo often cruel treatment in the hands of scientists, what then for animals lesser protected by the law, such as monkeys, rabbits, rats, mice, guinea pigs and hamsters…?

Where are they taken? Who are these laboratories that « consume » dogs in such great quantities?

A political will must assert itself!

A request for regularization that questions

Last September, we met the chief of staff of the prefect of Yonne. We had presented our report on the beagles and asked them to consider our request to close the breeding programs. It is not by perpetuating and expanding the fostering capacity that we will see the end of animal testing.

The notice published mentions the size of the facilities, the evacuation of the fluids, in appearance, just the technique. But looking closer…

In Mézilles, the inspection counted more than 1500 dogs including 1300 over 4 months old, while the authorization is only for 500 adult bitches. Breeding, which does not seem to meet the standards, would therefore require a regularization of the previous authorization. Fifteen years ago we had investigated this farm, and then we handed over 350,000 signatures to the Ministry of Research to demand the ban on experiments on dogs and cats.

Will the state still decide in favour of the powerful animal experimentation lobby or will it finally take stock of the issue of animal suffering, and stop maintaining an out-dated system?

Actions taken by One Voice

The notice of inquiry was published on March 23th 2018, for 30 days. On April 18th 6 days before the close, there was still no public comment in the investigation registry. Maybe they hoped to go unnoticed…

We urge you to write before April 24th to enquete-publique-649@registre-dematerialise.fr against the expansion of this breeding program of dogs dedicated to animal experimentation!

We wrote all our technical objections to the investigator on the application for regularization of the breeding program, and write to the Prefect. If the suffering of dogs intended for animal testing does not affect the hearts of the authorities, we hope that they will hear at least our arguments concerning the risks and impact on the environment due to the large concentration of dogs.

We are also calling for a big gathering in front of the Yonne Prefecture in Auxerre on June 9th at 2 pm, and we invite you to sign the petition that we will give to the Prefect. For all the experimental dogs and animals, thank you for your mobilization!

The rabbit, exploited from its hairs to its eyes

The rabbit, exploited from its hairs to its eyes
17.04.2018
Monde
The rabbit, exploited from its hairs to its eyes
Animal testing

The exploitation of rabbits is limitless, they are not given any respite … One Voice fights for them, facing hunters, laboratories, furriers and breeders of angora.

The real life of rabbits is to dig burrows in the side of hills, nibble clover in bloom and make great leaps across the meadows. Their real life is to fight or cooperate with other rabbits, in large warrens, to warn them of danger by thumping the ground or to nurse in the evening a litter of newly born. Simple pleasures of existence, which humans deprive them of.

This fluffy animal, charming with its long ears and pompom tail, our people’s stories for children and of our mythologies. Some even see it drawn on the moon. Everyone loves rabbits. And yet …

We hunt them

The rabbit is « extremely cunning, » according to the hunters. Equipped with a 360 ° field of vision and always on alert, he escapes as soon as he perceives the slightest anomaly in his environment. He will exploit the smallest bush, the most unlikely elevation of terrain, to fadeaway as if by magic, in sight of his pursuers. Sometimes it suddenly pops back up between the hunter’s boots, before spinning back into the cover of the woods. The rabbit has developed tremendous physical and cognitive abilities to escape death.

The pleasure of killing is thus increased in these hunters due to the vivacity of their prey which they track down with their dogs. But not only this: there is also the hunt with packs dogs, where « the ardour of dogs that lead loudly after an elusive animal and the ruses deployed by the rabbit offer an incomparable pleasure » (sic). Then there is snaring, beating, hunting – with basset hounds – and ferret hunting, to the bottom of the burrows. So much so that the species is disappearing in certain places of Europe, depriving the food of its natural predators, like the lynx, and thus unbalancing the whole ecological equilibrium of a region.

One Voice advocates for the protection of wild animals in France and for the abolition of the black list for « pests », on which sometimes appears the rabbit.

We torture him in the laboratory

Every year, nearly 1.5 million rabbits die in laboratories, after horrific suffering. Since the rabbit does not secrete tears, making it impossible to expel any irritant, it is frequently used for the painful Draize test. The head held in a yoke, his eyes are kept open by metal clips. A chemical is then deposited into his eye, to observe the irritation of the cornea and other physiological damage that the substance may cause. The toxicity of herbicides, household products or beauty products is thus measured … for weeks! The rabbit is also exploited for its sensitivity to teratogens, which causes them to create monsters.

During one of its investigations into a laboratory, One Voice was able to film rabbits kept in restraining boxes. A product was injected into their ears and fever was thus triggered and measured. They underwent several tests in a row. Their veins were in such a bad way that they screamed in pain when their blood was drawn. With its clothing labels, its surveys and its participation in the development and promotion of alternative experimental methods, as well as the evolution of a legislative framework,

One Voice battles towards the end of animal experimentation

We eat them

Rabbits have long been raised in hutches. Occasionally, they could walk in a corner of the backyard, or even nibble at the lawn whilst in their mobile hutches before having their necks broken in the yard of the farm.

Today, the norm is battery breeding. Thousands of rabbits are enclosed in wire-cage cages the size of a sheet of A4 paper. The ceiling is very low and prevents rabbits from leaping, which induces a deep malaise and stereotypical behaviour. Females are inseminated artificially at a steady pace. Quickly separated from their young, they then have another litter a few days later. When they reach the age of ten weeks, the rabbits are then piled into trucks heading to the slaughterhouses. The unfortunate will be hooked by the hind leg on a slaughter line, more or less stunned with electricity, then slaughtered, skinned, bled and carved up.

One Voice works to develop an evolution in our lifestyles towards a more humane diet

We skin them

The trade in rabbit skin has never been so good. Fashion is fur and rabbits are not expensive. In France, some 70 million rabbits are killed each year and their skin sold. It’s not just a by-product of the meat industry, but rabbits are bred and raised for their soft fur.

One Voice fights the exploitation of animals for their fur in France and around the world

We tear out their hair

The angora rabbit is only raised for the production of its hair, a very sought-after textile fibre.

Angora hair can be compared to cashmere, mohair or alpaca. From the age of two months, the angora rabbits are isolated in individual cages, because the cohabitation with other rabbits would cause a felting of their fleece. At regular intervals they are shaved. Attached to a table, the hairs are brutally torn off by the hand full, until they are almost naked in their cages, trembling with the cold and fear. The survey, conducted by One Voice in several of these farms in France, highlighted the pain of these rabbits who cry out when they are epilated. Often, some skin is also removed with the hair…

One Voice lobbies for the ban on the breeding of angora rabbits and trade in their wool.

Support our campaigns for rabbits, against the cruelty and persecution they suffer in nature, laboratories, and farms for their flesh, their fur or their hair.

Help Elyo, a circus lion covered in wounds

Help Elyo, a circus lion covered in wounds
13.04.2018
France
Help Elyo, a circus lion covered in wounds
Exploitation for shows

A lion covered with wounds sufferers in his truck. We identify him as Elyo, he is the brother of Chirkane, the rebellious beast who assaulted his trainer in front of an audience during a show last year. We ask for his immediate removal, we are filing a complaint against the circus for acts of cruelty, both for Elyo the lonely and wounded lion and as well for the other animals which are also in very bad condition.

In lions, the brothers always team up together. When they leave their mother behind, it is in a group that they go on an adventure, never alone. And like Cecil, it is between brothers that they found a home and protected it from other males. At the circus, none of this is possible: the cubs are removed very young from their mother, any adventures are made in a truck and when a lion begins to behave like a real lion, it disappears.

Chirkane, like Tilikum among the wild beasts, had also assaulted his trainer on May 7th in Doullens, in front of a crowd of children who were petrified by the horror.

Where is he today? « In a zoo, » says the circus without specifying which one, while at first mentioned “wrongfully » that the lion had been put down. Or nowhere in the eyes of his brother, for whom Chirkane is dead… We intend to shed light on what happened to Chirkane. Without the companionship that he loved and a shoulder to lean against when Elyo fell asleep, his loss has real meaning. He is now all alone in the living hell of the traveling show which is the life of captive circus lions and this is from the cradle to the grave.

So yes, « this lion has been in very low spirits since he lost his companion, » according to that of a circus girl who was interviewed on video by the activists from « North is for circuses without animals » and « CLAC-Collective of Liberation of Animals in circuses« . During the passage of this circus through a small town in the Hauts de France, they discovered the big beast in very bad condition, at the bottom of his barred cage. His nose was damaged; temple, forehead and his eye brow bore multiple lesions.

The other animals also looked in bad shape. The pictures show us their dull, damaged coats, besieged by parasites. Some of them are extremely thin, while others – the so-called « domestic » herbivores – are attached within reach of hands on the bare lawn of a terrace in the city centre.

One Voice is indignant to the fate of these unfortunate animals and lodges a complaint against the circus, demanding immediate withdrawal of the wounded lion. We also ask the Prefect to make every effort to seize Elyo from the circus and we also propose to take charge of him. Finally, we write to the mayor of the city demanding him to ban circuses with animals in his commune and hoping that the exhibition of such miserable animals will make him fully understand the cruelty of this obsolete attraction. More than ever, One Voice is committed against the exploitation of animals in circuses!

Photos: The North is for circuses without animals

Angora rabbits: new images, and revelations from One Voice on the INRA shadow report

Angora rabbits: new images, and revelations from One Voice on the INRA shadow report
11.04.2018
Angora rabbits: new images, and revelations from One Voice on the INRA shadow report
Domestic animals

One Voice revealed in 2016 the methods used for obtaining the very soft angora hair in French farms. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food at the time had turned a deaf ear to the demands of the association One Voice, saying that they were relying on an expert report from the National Institute of Agronomic Research (INRA). One Voice’s request for access to this report reveals that it does not exist. In 2018, for rabbits, nothing has changed in the farms.

In 2016, One Voice revealed, following its six-month exposure of six French Angora rabbit farms, the suffering that these animals go through during hair removal.

Several times a year for many years now, for the « needs » of the textile industry, these rabbits suffer a cruel fate: they are stretched out and tied to a table by the legs, their hairs are torn out by hand, without anaesthetic. The rabbits scream with terror and pain during the session.

For the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, « the hair combing method, validated by INRA, if done in the right conditions, cannot be equated to abuse« .

One Voice filed a request for access to the Commission for Access to Administrative Documents (CADA) to obtain this INRA report about harvesting angora rabbit hair of which the Ministry relied on to make its decisions on methods used for obtaining angora. The ministry was unable to provide the INRA’s report to CADA. And for good reason: this report does not exist¹ !

One Voice has received new images of these Angora rabbits filmed this year in one of these same farms. Nothing has changed.

These animals still live in tiny cages, without protection from the cold. Some rabbits are known to have died of thermal shock and stress due to hair removal.

The 2016 investigation revealed that rabbits are often depilated in front of the cages of their congeners. Cries of pain can add to the stress for those whose are waiting their turn. The operation of pulling the hair out is so brutal that it happens that the skin tears, where it is most fragile, near the genitals.

The complaint of One Voice for
acts of cruelty is still ongoing against the main French breeder.

¹In annex, letters from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and CADA

² www.stop-angora.fr

Lapins angoras : nouvelles images, et révélations de One Voice sur le rapport fantôme de l’INRA

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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