The Ministry of the Ecological and Transition is bowing down to positions of an age gone by in the defence of the “circus” decree which has been attacked by One Voice

The Ministry of the Ecological and Transition is bowing down to positions of an age gone by in the defence of the « circus » decree which has been attacked by One Voice

The Ministry of the Ecological and Transition is bowing down to positions of an age gone by in the defence of the “circus” decree which has been attacked by One Voice
07.03.2018
France
The Ministry of the Ecological and Transition is bowing down to positions of an age gone by in the defence of the “circus” decree which has been attacked by One Voice
Exploitation for shows

Animal rights have changed, so One Voice wrote to the Ministry of the Ecological and Solidarity Transition and to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food asking them that the decree « circus »¹ published in 2011 should be cancelled. We need to prohibit the possession of all wildlife in these institutions and finally, order their immediate transfer to « sanctuaries ».

One Voice had based its application on several elements: in particular the fact that animals held in captivity have a new status² that defines them as sentient beings. They enjoy the same fundamental rights such as:

the right to a life compatible with the biological imperatives of the species concerned, whose well-being is an integral part

the right to integrity or to life (unless otherwise necessary),

the right not to be abused, tortured or abandoned,

the right not to be used in a way that is not abusive.

With no response from the two ministries, the One Voice association appealed to the State Council to decide on its requests. The case was to be closed at the end of March by the High Court without the relevant ministries having decided. The Minister of Agriculture has remained quiet for the time being, but against all odds the Ministry of the Ecological and Solidarity Transition filed a brief on March 1^st 2018 so that the demands of the association are rejected !

And yet the minister of state, Nicolas Hulot, himself had declared in August 2^ndon France Inter not being in favour of live animal shows adding that there were forms of cruelty commonly admitted which were inadmissible.

According to the Ministry of Ecology, the « circus » decree would sufficiently protect animals from the wild because it provides: firstly that animals « must be maintained and trained in conditions that are designed to meet their biological needs and behaviours, to ensure their safety, well-being and health », on the other hand that the conditions of accommodation of animals comply with the minimum requirements set by the same decree, depending on the species, and finally that animals « shall be allowed to move freely in outdoor facilities each day unless the weather conditions or their state of health do not permit ». And as such, the authorizations granted to the circuses would respect the needs of the animals…

One Voice intends to replicate this argumentation to make it understood that wild animals have no place in itinerant businesses, as is also claimed by many independent scientific authorities based on objective concepts of animal welfare. Many countries are adapting their regulations in accordance with this new scientific evidence, and France remains bent on its positions from a bygone age.

1.The inter-ministerial decree of 18^th March 2011 setting the conditions of detention and use of live animals of non-domestic species in itinerant shows.

2.Article 515-14 of the Civil Code.

Share on

A great battle won for Maya

A great battle won for Maya
06.03.2018
Lot-et-Garonne
A great battle won for Maya
Exploitation for shows

In his assessment of Maya, the veterinarian appointed by the Lot-et-Garonne prefecture raises concerns about her state of health. The prefect asks the circus that owns the elephant to find her a place of retirement. We propose transferring her to the Elephant Haven sanctuary, where we have reserved a place for her.

A veterinarian has just completed an expert evaluation of Maya by order of the prefect following our request. And he arrives at the same conclusions as our experts on the condition of the elephant. This confirms what we have been saying for months: contrary to what the circus and their supporters state, Maya is in bad shape.

Her diet is unsuitable for her needs, her feet make her suffer and she had an abscess at the time of the visit (so after the date of treatment announced by the lawyer of the circus …). And the veterinarian clearly announces in his report: « considering her advanced age, Maya requires a stable environment with longer and longer breaks between shorter journeys », and in her letter to the circus, the departmental director of the social cohesion and the protection of populations adds: « which seems hardly compatible with your activity ».

We received a copy of this letter sent to the circus by the DDPP (Departmental Directorate for the Protection of Populations), following our letter of February 27th, when a report warned us that Maya was in Alès locked in her trailer. This is despite the fact that, at the High Court in Strasbourg, the circus holding Maya had claimed that she was retired in the Lot-et-Garonne. We were so moved to have found her on the road just over a week later.

For six months, we have reserved a place for Maya at the elephant sanctuary, Elephant Haven, which we helped with a generous donation for the purchase of land and buildings in 2016. We are therefore at the circus’ disposal to take charge of Maya and accompany her to her new place of life, where she will benefit from all the attentions recommended by the expert: slow walking, stretching … sheltered, far from tarmac and the roads.

Our companion’s dogs and cats tortured in laboratories!

Our companion’s dogs and cats tortured in laboratories!
05.03.2018
Nos compagnons chiens et chats torturés dans les laboratoires!
Animal testing

Animal experimentation kills dogs and cats for meaningless tests, denounces Dr. Ménache, consultant veterinarian for One Voice. Proof, aberrant experiments, on the verge of scientific fraud according to this expert.

Along with the outrageous practices of the auto industry, which gases primates with exhaust fumes, have just been revealed to endorse the safety of engines. Our dog and cat companions are also suffering the worst. Dr. Ménache, consultant veterinarian for One Voice analysed several experiments and explained how they make no sense at all.

Remember that the French and European regulations on animal testing encourage the reduction of the number of victims, as well as the pain inflicted on animals. But these figures are globally increasing, while the search for alternative methods without cruelty are stalling.

According to the last official statistics, at least 3,500 cats and dogs die each year in French laboratories. In principle, none of our companions, whose place is in loving homes, should be sacrificed for any scientific projects, whatever they might be. These points explained by Dr. Menache show that this practice is complete and utter nonsense…

Enough of these outrageous experiments!

“What does a dog’s heart look like?”, was the subject of study published in 2017. Issued from the Mutualiste Institute Montsouris (Paris) and the breeding centre of the Souches (Mézilles), 15 beagles in good health were thus euthanized in order to describe a detail of the anatomy of this organ, yet already well known. Why in this case kill healthy animals and not use the hearts of animals that have already died?

Any research project using animals must, in particular, justify to an ethics committee the suffering to which they will be exposed. But Dr. Ménache notes that a study that does not provide any resuscitation (here because of the removal of vital organ) is virtually exempt from ethical review! Finally, for science, suppressing the life of an animal would be less important than exposing it to even slight suffering. Where is the ethics in all this?

By nature, intolerable, the torture of our companion’s cats and dogs in the laboratories must stop. At last, let’s respect these sentient beings!

Recording the activity of a cat’s brain… for whom?

Caesarean sections and induced abortions to describe the pancreas of foetuses

Creating obese dogs to help humans lose weight

The cat as a watchdog for human populations

Tiger or llama? We make an appeal after the death of an animal in a circus

Tiger or llama? We make an appeal after the death of an animal in a circus
03.03.2018
Loiret
Tiger or llama? We make an appeal after the death of an animal in a circus
Exploitation for shows

The removal of the corpse of a tiger from a circus in Orleans on March 2nd 2018 was filmed by animal activists. In the article « Central Republic », the authorities speak of a llama … We appeal to know the truth about what happened to this animal.

The journalists describe the odour smelt by the activists during the removal of the tiger’s body for disposal. The authorities indicate that the deceased animal was not abused. What do they know? It would be a golden tabby tigress suffering from kidney problems, who had practically stopped eating for several weeks, like her mother and sister before her, but the circus would have continued to exhibit her on the circuit for 15 days … Kidney problems are common among carnivores, and in the last days felines can suffer terribly. If the tigress had been treated and alleviated, which we hoped had happened, then why would her body have been left like that for several days?

Given the many grey areas, we are filing a lawsuit so that light can be shed on the death of this « llama » in this circus. We also ask for the report from the DDPP, on the autopsies of three tigresses, and a copy of the accident register. And if necessary we will file a complaint.

Would a llama also have lost his life?

What report or information did the circus give? Why did the authorities not come to make observations on the spot that same day? How did this animal really die? Did it suffer? Was there a treatment? Was there an error on the species of the dead animal? Or is it two animals? Why was the tigress on the circuit if she was ill or suffering? Tigers have never been so close to extinction. While it is known that the breeding of golden tabby or white tigers is for the sole purpose of obtaining appealing animals and which hurts these individuals concerned, then why is it still allowed to go on?

So many questions about this investigation to which our appeal will trigger, hopefully permitting us to get the answers.

Dolphinariums: our letter to Nicolas Hulot

Dolphinariums: our letter to Nicolas Hulot
02.03.2018
France
Dolphinariums: our letter to Nicolas Hulot
Exploitation for shows

Dear Minister,

Our association One Voice is surprised that you have so far still not adopted a new decree prohibiting the possession of any new cetaceans in institutions located in the national territory. In response to the cancellation of the decree on May 3th, 2017 which set out the general characteristics and operating rules of establishments presenting to the public live specimens of cetaceans pronounced on January 29th, 2018 by the Council of the State.

There is no doubt that the parks will take advantage of this new period of time to continue and intensify their breeding programs for common bottle nose dolphins, thus increasing the number of individuals destined for captivity along with its share of suffering.

However, you are fully aware of the miserable lives of these animals in these aquariums, as well as the disastrous consequences of these entertainment activities on the protection of the species to which they belong and that article 1 of the cancelled decree echoed. Since then our association wonders about these delays?

We thank you for informing us of the date of the next prohibition order.

Please accept, Dear Mr. Minister, Nicolas Hulot, the assurance of my most sincere salutations.

Prepared in Paris on 2nd March 2018

Muriel Arnal

President and Founder One Voice

One Voice issues a notice to Marineland regarding the Orcas

One Voice issues a notice to Marineland regarding the Orcas
02.03.2018
Antibes
One Voice issues a notice to Marineland regarding the Orcas.
Exploitation for shows

Mr. Director General,

The One Voice association, which campaigns for the protection of animals and the defence of their rights, asks me to put you on notice to justify the fate of the four Orcas that you hold.

For this purpose, the association discloses to me:

That on April 16th, 2017 you declared, by press, that the four Orcas held in your pools would be the last ones accommodated within your establishment.

That this announcement was a follow-up to the commitment made by your company on June 8th, 2016, before the Minister of the Environment, represented by the Director of Water and Biodiversity, to stop breeding your Orcas, as well as to no longer accommodate a new Orca.

That you specify, moreover, on this occasion that the activity of presenting to the French public Orcas would cease on the death of the next individual and that a group of Orcas, according to your say, would consist of at least three animals.

This is why the One Voice association, concerned about the future and well-being of these highly cognitive and social individuals, has instructed me to put you on notice and to confirm the stopping of your exploitation of Orcas at the demise of the next animal. And to tell One Voice what the fate of remaining 3 Orcas will be.

The association One Voice proposes to participate in the transfer of these animals to a sanctuary so that they can live a life more in line with their needs.

I invite you to submit this letter to your lawyer and remain at the disposal of your lawyer for any further questions.

Publication of a children’s book on the forest ecosystem and protection of the red fox

Publication of a children’s book on the forest ecosystem and protection of the red fox
27.02.2018
Publication of a children’s book on the forest ecosystem and protection of the red fox
Wildlife

On holiday with his grandparents, Roxana finds herself face to face with a fox during a
walk in the forest. Is he going to hurt her or is he even more scared than she is?

Through the adventures of Roxana, children will be led to understand the importance of the fox in the ecosystem of the forest in a fun way.

The book ends with the « corner for the parents », written by the association One Voice, which will better detail these themes and address the concept of the food chain.

On the list in France as being « a species likely to cause damage », the red fox is hunted in many areas and it is estimated that more than 600000 were killed in 2017. Yet, far from being harmful, foxes are particularly useful for biodiversity. They hunt rodents and limit their presence in the fields, thus preventing the spread of Lyme disease (carried by ticks). Better yet, letting them play their role in nature would reduce the use of pesticides by farmers. The crucial role of predators in the forest ecosystem, however, is little understood and even more so by young children who are often accustomed to reading stories that make the fox and wolf look bad.

Roxana and the fox in danger will be available from February 27^th, 2018 pre-order on the site of the association One Voice (version: English-French-Spanish and version: English-French-German) or from the Jarvin Crew. The first deliveries will take place at the beginning of April.

The Jarvin Crew books are aimed at all children around the world from 5 years old. This title will be available in two trilingual versions: English-French-Spanish and English-French-German. These books are printed in the Rhône-Alpes region on PEFC-certified interior paper with vegetable inks.

Founded in 2016, Jarvin Crew has set itself the challenge of producing a collection of books to teach children how to protect the planet and its animal species while having fun. It was by discovering the first two books of the Jo Bonobo & Prisca Orca collection, published in September 2017, that One Voice proposed the theme of the red fox to the publishing house.

More information on One Voice’s fight for an emergency withdrawal of the fox from the list of
« species likely to cause damage » and the protection of this species by the law: www.one-voice.fr,

Contact: press@one-voice.fr

More information on the Jarvin Crew www.JarvinCrew.com or http://www.facebook.com/Jarvin…
Contact: vincent@jarvincrew.com

Share on

Nelly and Brigit, two other victims of the circus show industry

Nelly and Brigit, two other victims of the circus show industry
26.02.2018
Nelly and Brigit, two other victims of the circus show industry
Exploitation for shows

Nelly and Brigit were captured in 1971 in Asia. For 47 years, they have been tossed from town to town by truck, waiting for hours on parking lots and vacant plots, without real bedding, or free access to water for drinking or splashing. Nothing is done for them to have a life resembling the life of an elephant.

The circus shows using animals are sold to us as the perpetuation of an ancient tradition, a culture, even. We are being sold the image of a « family », but we only see poor elephants torn from an early age from their only true family in nature where they lived free. Now they are kept as elephants suffering a life of pain, fear, stress and hindrance.

All of this is for humans to take advantage of the spectacle and of their domination.

Because it’s all about that: the images we shot show Nelly and Brigit prevented from walking normally, forced to wade through their droppings, on the tarmac ground damaging their feet and their joints. No free access to water, it is rationed, given by the good will of their jailers. Their natural need to protect their skin, covering themselves with dust is prevented: they are brushed with a kind of broom, no mud bath is offered to them. No protection or shade is provided.

When they do not feed, they display swaying movements, a sign of their deep boredom, of their state of suffering. The absence of exercise weakens their legs, which, without muscles, hardly support the weight of their body. This is where most infections come from.

During the show, they suffer is a series of spikes (from the ankus), on all the sensitive areas of the head, the mouth, the ears, the trunk, the legs, the hindquarters … It is also with the use of a spade that the trainer coerces them from the enclosure to the big top, and he does not even hide it during the show. Nelly like Brigit performs under duress, not at all voluntary. Their movements are slow in the middle of the crowd, loud music, and blinding spot lights. We can clearly see their fear of the ankus and the sudden movements of their trainer. And for good reason!

The repeated blows during the few minutes of the show, allow us to imagine the terrible use that is made of this instrument outside the track and the view of spectators.

We filed a complaint for each of them. Like Maya, they deserve a real life, far from the spikes, in a protected place, where they can walk in nature, drink and bathe at leisure, listen to the wind and birds, and choose their activities.

Our partner sanctuaries offer their help to welcome them.

A horse clearly suffering, a tiger with a wounded neck, we file a complaint against the circus

A horse clearly suffering, a tiger with a wounded neck, we file a complaint against the circus
23.02.2018
Gard
A horse clearly suffering, a tiger with a wounded neck, we file a complaint against the circus
Exploitation for shows

Following a report, we have just witnessed images showing the distress of several animals currently being held and exploited by a circus in Alès. It shows a horse, lying on the ground, a tiger with a wound on the neck and images showing Nelly and Brigit, the two elephants who live in the same circus as Maya for whom we have already filed a complaint. Maya, she is currently locked in her trailer.

These images have made our blood run cold: this poor horse, lying on the ground, who seems to be struggling to breathe, this tiger with a wound, left in his tiny cage with the floor bare, and the elephants Nelly and Brigit demonstrating heavy swaying, manifestation of their deep anxiety.

Does the horse suffer? This is what we tried to find out by alerting the various authorities. The photographed tiger presenting a wound, we also asked them about the origin of this lesion.

We immediately lodge a complaint for acts of cruelty for these animals in great distress, in addition to that filed for Nelly and Brigit. This circus also holds Maya, for whom our complaint is currently under investigation.

We told the public prosecutor that One Voice is ready to take care of all these animals in pain and to finally offer them a dignified life in our partner sanctuaries. Enough is enough!

Photo and video credit A.M.

A milestone victory against experimentation on macaques at the Max Planck Institute

A milestone victory against experimentation on macaques at the Max Planck Institute
23.02.2018
Germany
A milestone victory against experimentation on macaques at the Max Planck Institute
Animal testing

It took almost four years for the preliminary investigation to result in a judgment and sanction for the researchers-abusers. The German public prosecutor has sentenced three researchers from the Max Planck Institute (IMP) in Tübingen (Germany) aimed at our joint complaint. The court found that the pain and suffering of these experimented animals was not kept to an absolute minimum. It’s a euphemism, one of them died from the effects of these invasive and violent tests! This condemnation is a victory in this closed world, but does not compensate for the extreme suffering that these intelligent and sensitive beings have undergone.

For seven months from 2013 to 2014, Cruelty Free International, One Voice’s partner in the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE), in collaboration with the German association Soko Tierschutz, infiltrated one of IMP laboratories.

Watching the images filmed on site, we can only feel moved by compassion for these little macaques: we are witnessing abominable acts of torture (trephination and implantation of electrodes in the brain, manipulation with collars and injections), held inside plastic tubes from which only the head comes out, deprivation of water …). It’s simple: one wonders how such methods are scientifically and morally acceptable.

These monkeys are our compatriots!

What’s more, learning that eight of them were born in French parks, Planète Sauvage and Savane Nature, we have never stopped denouncing these inhuman and degrading practices for our cousins that are so close to us. We gave them a name, of which was reduced to « serial numbers » or tricked by mocking researchers using nicknames. The frail Stella (pictured) died of an infection at the very beginning of the experiments. Leah, Hugo, Tom, Lisa, Max, Mila and Lucie have all continued to undergo atrocious experiments.

Where are they?

Our campaign was the reason for the closure of the laboratory. Little primates were, as always when they do not die, still « profitable », that is to say sent to other laboratories, to undergo further tests. Not knowing what the IMP had done with them or where they had sent them, since transparency is not the policy of this medium, we filed a request for access to information rights in July 2017. A laboratory in Belgium admitted to having received five primates, on which other experiments are still being perpetrated…

Let’s free them!

We continue to fight for their return to France and to be entrusted to us. They must be saved from this hell and set free into sanctuaries, where they will finally be entitled to a dignified existence! Jane Goodall joined our call for their release.

Let’s ban animal testing on monkeys.

With our British and German partners (CFI and Doctors Against Animal Experiments), we obtained at the time, thanks to a vast international campaign and your mobilization in France, more than 90000 signatures demanding the abolition of experiments on non-human primates.

Let’s continue to fight in memory of Stella, for Leah, Hugo, Tom, Lisa, Max, Mila and Lucie, and for the stopping of animal experimentation on primates! The experimental protocols they undergo are barbaric, nothing justifies them.

Crédit photo: Cruelty-Free International/Soko Tierschutz