One voice demands justice!

One voice demands justice!
13.02.2017
One voice demands justice!
Domestic animals

Faced with unbearable cases of cruelty that have occurred throughout France, One Voice demands justice. We are rising up and are going to plead for animal rights in four different courts over three months.

Dogs thrown from windows, drowned, abused

When we know the link between animal abuse and domestic violence, recent cases where One Voice has intervened are worrying …

Yes, we throw out of the window what we do not want, even if it is a dog and we live on the 4th floor! On August 15, 2016, in Mende (48), a veterinarian who came to a Border Collie barely 1 year old, the vertebrae broken by this fall, will now have to be put down and not without noticing how thin he was. Also, One Voice has taken to court this owner, who didn’t care about his dog once the window was closed, for acts of cruelty and serious abuse of his animal.

What about the end of Câline, a Labrador bitch drowned and then fished out from a river last summer, in a channel of the Garonne Lafox (47)? She had been thrown in alive, a block attached to the collar and the hind legs tied up? In this case, which initially should be classified without follow-up, it is essential that the owner, found thanks to the dog’s chip, responds with an unspeakable gesture.

In the Pas-de-Calais, a new case of abuse in a kennel club that will be judged. The defendant, president of the club, refused to admit his guilt of the facts that occurred in April 2016, yet explicit on a video broadcast on social networks. The teacher is seen assaulting Lemon, an 8-month-old German Shepherd, during a training exercise in defence. The dog, having not obeyed an order, is caught by the collar, it flies high in the air and is slammed heavily on the ground, like an old bag of flour!

Pigeon shooting

More complex is the case before a local jurisdiction of Lot-et-Garonne this mid-February. It follows the decision of the mayor of Villaréal who had, at the end of January 2016, authorized local hunting companies to « hunt » pigeons « of cities » in the
territory of his community. The city having given out more than 3,000 cartridges to 80 hunters, some 500 pigeons were slaughtered in 3 hours from the streets of the town.

Such massive destruction of pigeons, domestic animals returned to the wild, is not only contrary to the regulations but also totally
ineffective in its methods. By yielding to the pressure of owners and operators demanding to clarify these populations of birds, which certainly can eat seedlings and can litter the roofs with their droppings. This mayor has denied the law, ethics and the lives of sensitive and defenceless animals who share our environment. A sad attitude to have adopted for an elected official, whom One Voice wishes to see sentenced by the judges …

A “rabbit” mutilated in public to denounce the violence of angora

A « rabbit » mutilated in public to denounce the violence of angora

A “rabbit” mutilated in public to denounce the violence of angora
08.02.2017
A “rabbit” mutilated in public to denounce the violence of angora

PETA and One Voice call on the Minister of Agriculture to ban the
production of this cruel material

What:

A giant angora « rabbit », stretched out and tied up on a table overlooking a large banner saying « Angora: torture the of rabbits », there will be a violent pulling out handfuls of hair Thursday in front of an annex of the Ministry of Agriculture. This joint action by PETA and One Voice, which will take place accompanied
in the background by the cries of rabbits recorded during this cruel process of hair removal, this will aim to sensitize the government and bystanders on the suffering of these soft and sensitive animals and to urge the Minister of Agriculture Stéphane Le Foll to ban the
breeding of angora rabbits in France.

When:
Thursday, February 9, 10:30

Where:

251 rue Vaugirard, 75015, Paris (in the district of the Ministry of
Agriculture)

Recent PETA revelations and an investigation by the association One Voice have shown Angora rabbits being tied up by workers and violently having the fur torn from their bodies, leaving bloody wounds, while these fragile beings scream out in agony. After suffering this torture every three months for two to five years, they are sent to the slaughterhouse. This is standard practice in the angora industry.

« Anyone who sees images of mutilated rabbits and hears their cries of pain when they are dehaired in this way will understand that this ill gotten material has no place in the 21st century. It is high time that its production is banned, » says Muriel Arnal, president of One Voice.

“There are many humane and animal-free materials available on the market and the list of companies that have renounced angora, such as Zara, Lacoste, Monoprix, The Kooples, Camaïeu, Accessorize, ASOS and Mango among many others is growing day by day, « explains Isabelle Goetz, spokeswoman for PETA France.

PETA
(whose motto says that « the animals do not belong to us and [that] we do not have to use them for clothing ») and One Voice calls Mr Le Foll to take immediate measures to ban the production of angora in France and encourage consumers who are concerned about animal welfare to commit to getting rid of this cruel material.

For more information, visit PETAFrance.com.

And so stop-angora.fr

Share on

Fight the dolphinarium decree!

Fight the dolphinarium decree!
08.02.2017
Fight the dolphinarium decree!
Exploitation for shows

The statute which One Voice has been opposing since last September is in the process of being accepted. But there is still time to influence: a public consultation is open until the 1st of March. Get involved to stop it being passed!

Latest news

When the consultation was closed, there were no less than 4,500 pages of comments opposed to the draft statute on the Minister of the Environment’s website!
This is a great response which must be heard.

No – A 35 year old statute cannot be adapted. No – The cetaceans must accept a life in captivity where they keep dying, one after the other. A prison, whatever its size, remains a prison.

One Voice, supported by the European coalition Dolphinaria-Free Europe, is firmly opposed to the statute which is being prepared for voting. Since September, the association has intensified its activity directed at the minister, to stop France from becoming a
dolphin breeding farm.

The few modifications that have been integrated into the statute are just a means of allowing for their activity to continue whilst everything proves that it is time to put an end to this!

The famous Doctor Naomi Rose, a cetacean specialist known in particular for her appearance in Blackfish, confirms this:
« It is of course useful that campaigners communicate with the authorities regarding the legal framework on captivity to make it respected, if not to strengthen it, to improve cetacean well-being. But any new legislation should have abolition as its only objective, either immediately or in phases. These small legal steps forward are too time-consuming, deferring the day when these deeply cruel practices are finally banned. As for an exchange with marine circuses, this is recommended. This industry prevails every time with a kind of « greenwashing ». »

For his part, the French veterinarian, Pierre Gallego, cetacean specialist and President of Odyssea, reminds us that
« it is well known, in the cetacean veterinary world as well as in specialised scientific literature, that bottlenose dolphins in captivity can be exposed to high levels of stress (…) aggressive behaviour between fellow dolphins is not rare. This is exacerbated by the fact that the dolphins live in a confined space and they cannot avoid aggressive behaviour by simply fleeing, which would be the case in their natural environment. »

This statute is nonsense. It does not take into account the well-being of animals, as well as the French people’s inclination, of which 54% are in favour of banning dolphin and orca shows (survey conducted by IPSOS/One Voice in December 2016). The international context is also not considered; several countries have already banned these shows, or taken measures in this direction, complying with the
Helsinki Declaration. In addition, there is the situation in France today, where several cetaceans have died since 2015, including Aicko, a death which was questionable enough that the Tribunal of Nantes accepted our application and have asked for the mandate of an expert to determine the cause of death!

One Voice is not ruling out taking on a Council of State lawyer to cancel the statute if it is adopted, but right now is the time for citizen mobilisation. Support our action by addressing your comments for the public consultation which is open up until the 1^st of March.

Here are some arguments which you can use by copying and pasting them in the comments section:

Cetaceans are sentient beings with particularly developed cognitive capacities. India has already given them animal person status, as is advocated in the Helsinki declaration, as adopted by 50 international scientists since 2010, and which stipulates that « all cetaceans as persons have the right to life, liberty and wellbeing. »

In their wild state, cetaceans can swim up to 160 kilometres per day and dive to depths of 60 metres. As a comparison, the space which they have in captivity represents less than 1% of what they can experience in nature (Perrin et al., 2009)

The facilities which contain them are not able to recreate the richness of their natural environment. Most pools are small, with smooth sides and exempt from any stimulus (Couquiaud, 2005). It is regularly observed that large carnivorous wild fauna which do not have sufficient space develop behavioural problems such as repeated stereotypical behaviours (Clubb & Mason, 2003).

To mix unrelated cetaceans that sometimes come from different regions and different species can interfere with the group dynamic and can lead to dominance related attacks, injuries and illness, sometimes leading to individual death (Waples & Gales, 2002). In captivity, cetaceans cannot flee to avoid aggressive behaviour.

The transfer of individuals between the dolphinariums modifies the social links and the fragile balance between groups, and beyond that creates risks for the well-being of all group members, ingoing and outgoing.

One Voice challenges the plan to fight the animal wandering of the prefect of Reunion

One Voice challenges the plan to fight the animal wandering of the prefect of Reunion
03.02.2017
One Voice challenges the plan to fight the animal wandering of the prefect of Reunion
Domestic animals

The metropolitan NGO One Voice has called on the island’s prefect to take effective measures to combat stray dogs and cats and put an end to the mass euthanasia of healthy animals.

The number of animals euthanized is not reduced despite sterilization campaigns which are renewed every year.

For the association One Voice, the new sterilization campaigns announced will be useless if they are not backed by other measures such as the sustainable management of pet cats and pet dogs, provided by publicized texts or public awareness.

On this occasion, One Voice deplores the fact that local associations for animal protection are not involved in this fight plan, who’s funding always benefits the same actors.

The costly study that must be carried out on the causes of strays is according to the association One Voice totally useless since such
studies have already been carried out in Reunion with the GEVEC (Veterinary Study Group on stray carnivores). Studies have also been carried out in Guadeloupe and Martinique where there is a similar phenomenon or by the World Organization for Animal Health (OEH).

In 2008 the meetings « Animal and Society » had also listed the factors behind strays and identified the possibility of releasing the so-called pet dogs once they are sterilized. A measure that has not been put in place in Reunion.

One Voice does not preclude taking this matter to the Administrative Court.

Share on

February 1st, join with One Voice against palm oil!

February 1st, join with One Voice against palm oil!
01.02.2017
February 1st, join with One Voice against palm oil!
Natural habitat

One Voice, in an international collective of associations [1], is a partner of the International Palm Oil Free Day on February 1st. Objective: to inform everyone about the tragedy of this production and to mobilize Internet users by an original Facebook challenge.

A wild life disaster

Tropical forests are melting like polar ice caps, faster than in Brazil. Between 1990 and 2010, 8.7 million hectares of forest [2] were razed
to the ground in Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea for oil palm crops. At this rate of constant deforestation and along with the additional ecological consequences to the climate, the animal populations that the forests shelter will disappear in only two decades. This means, from Sumatra to Borneo, the extinction of a unique variety of wildlife in the world: orangutans, gibbons, tigers, elephants, rhinos, Malayan bears (on the island of Sumatra alone, 10,000 plants including 17 endemic genera, 600 resident or endemic
bird species and 200 mammals are also concerned).

The palm, is it academic?

In the Americas (Colombia in particular), in Africa (Nigeria, Ivory Coast) and especially in South-East Asia, a vegetable oil is extracted from the pulp of its fruits (palm oil) or from its almonds (palm kernel oil). 85% of the world’s production of this vegetable oil (65 million tonnes, more than twice that of rapeseed, sunflower and soya combined) comes from Indonesian and Malaysian plantations alone. It feeds three sectors: food industry (80%), cosmetics (19%) and energy (1%, and yes, we deforest there to produce biodiesel here, it’s the world village).

At a low cost and some texture properties (its high content of saturated fatty acids favouring the risk of cardiovascular disease is not put
forward), palm oil is everywhere in our supermarket shelves: chocolate spreads and pasta, biscuits and cereals, baby milk, canned sardines, soaps, mayonnaise, chips, freeze-dried soups, ready meals … In 2013, a French person consumed 2.8 g per day [3].

A challenge for the planet and animals!

For the International Palm Oil Free Day, One Voice invites you to log on to https://www.facebook.com/events/312655225795249/. Among other fun or informative resources, you will find every week of February guaranteed cooking recipes without palm oil, for snacks, aperitif or meals, alternative care products or maintenance, information on the international label carried by the collective (www.gopalmoilfree.com) and links to sites of products labelled 100% without palm oil. Consumers, look, like, join … It will be a first step forward.

[1] On the initiative of
Jakarta Animal Aid Network and the Dutch association EDEV (An animal,
A friend).

[2]
http://www.rspo.org/

[3]
according to a study of the Research Center for the study and
observation of living conditions

Franck Sorbier commits to One Voice!

Franck Sorbier commits to One Voice!
12.01.2017
Franck Sorbier commits to One Voice!
Fashion

Franck Sorbier, a great name of the French Haute Couture, is engaging with One Voice in the program « Fur Free Retailer » to say no to animal fur!

Franck Sorbier a great name of the French Haute Couture is committed with One Voice in the program « Fur Free Retailer » to say no to animal fur!

Couturier Franck Sorbier sends a strong signal to his peers by taking a stand for a humane ethical style.

Distinguished Master of Art for his unique technique of compacting (mixture of materials), Franck Sorbier is among the few holders of the name « Haute Couture ». By signing today the Fur Free Retailer program promoted by One Voice and its international coalition, the Fur Free Alliance (already 90 ethical brands in France, and more than 450 in the world), Franck Sorbier reconciles creation and compassion, conjugate designer with “without cruelty »!

For this insatiable creator, it is also about educating young people on a key issue so that, in one or two generations, animal fur is eradicated from clothing stores, hoods and other fashion accessories…

Recall the poll undertaken by One Voice / Ipsos which revealed in late August 2016 that fur is primarily associated with cruelty for nearly 6 out of 10 French, and that 91% of the French are in favour of a label « no animal fur ».

In Europe, where many countries have already banned fur farms from their soil, millions of animals are still killed each year for their skin. A suffering and environmental impact that One Voice has always been fighting.

Congratulations to Franck Sorbier and his team for this position, joining that of Giorgio Armani who joined our FFR program for the autumn-winter 2016/2017 season.

Help us grow the Fur Free Retailer network for ethical fashion! Distribute the information.

Luxury, from the mink point of view: an unprecedented investigation by One Voice!

Luxury, from the mink point of view: an unprecedented investigation by One Voice!
10.01.2017
Luxury, from the mink point of view: an unprecedented investigation by One Voice!
Fashion

One Voice leads a nonviolent fight to defend animal rights and respect all life forms. The organization operates independently and is thus free to speak and act freely.

One Voice conducted a survey into French mink farms, mink who are farmed for their fur. While the latter is synonymous with luxury, the other side of the picture is not glamorous. The images, unveiled exclusively, give a tragic insight.

They dream only of one thing, freedom. They should have enjoyed a hectic life alone, protecting their territory, teaching the little ones to
hunt and fish, dig burrows, smell the fresh humus, hide in the weeds of the wetlands … But these mink from America are born in a cage and will only know the time of their short life, the wire cages, self-mutilation by force of stress and deprivation, then a long death by asphyxiation. For their fur...

No respect for the needs of mink

Of these images, filmed by people who had access to the farms, we discovered and dismayed, the cages all lined up and in very poor condition or even completely dilapidated. The minks frantically seeking a way out of their psychological misery, stress and boredom, by surveying in the few cubic decimetres of living space that are conceded to them. They are caught in a vice between the putrefied remains of food, deposited directly onto the cages, and their droppings, piled up on the ground beneath them, inevitably polluting the groundwater that runs off it, and saturating the air with a pestilential odour.

These animals, naturally solitary and territorial, are subjected to extreme stress. Lack of space, even promiscuity, is unbearable for them. How to escape a conflict in these conditions? How to isolate yourself a little? The fence abruptly shears their semi-webbed legs, over-solicited. Deprived of all access to water, an element essential to their well-being, they are hurt, they are afraid, they are bored, they want to go out, they go crazy …

Suffering right up to the end

While a free mink lives for about ten years, they are barely eight months old when they are harshly picked out by the breeder. On our images,
we see them being thrown brutally on top of each other in a container. In one of the filmed farms, a dog watches, and pounces on those who desperately try to flee.

Death by asphyxiation has relative « success » and speed. Piled on top of each other, some survive a first session. But this choice of industry is not made to limit their suffering. We must above all preserve their precious coat from any blood stains!

A disaster for the environment

The fur industry has major environmental consequences, including its use of heavy metals, its water consumption and its effluent production.
In many of the mink farms filmed, the excrement evacuation system was substandard or non-existent. The images also show corpses decomposing on the ground, which means a significant polluting effect to the environment, and therefore major health risks for the entire ecosystem … including human.

As for the mink that manages to escape, their freedom is at the price of their future European cousins.

To learn more, discover our full report

One Voice calls for the ban on mink farming in France. Let us write together to the Prime Minister to enhance the power of the voices of mink and all the other animals raised and killed for their fur. We must put an end to this industry of suffering and death. Let’s respect the mink!

The hidden face of the fur industry in France: Mink farm revelations

The hidden face of the fur industry in France: Mink farm revelations
09.01.2017
The hidden face of the fur industry in France: Mink farm revelations
Fashion

One Voice reveals its breaking images, filmed in six mink fur farms amongst the 14 currently in operation1. The evidence exposes the mink’s suffering, as well as the particularly worrying environmental practices. Reinforced by the French public’s opinion, the majority of whom do not want fur, the association is demanding for the rapid closure of these mink farms.

The images, which will be made public on the 9^th of January 2017 by One Voice, were filmed by people with access to the French mink farms’ premises. For the animals, luxury is a long way away, as they suffer in their dirty cages. A vile porridge is deposited on the cage roof of their pathetic ‘nest’, where the remains are left to rot, sometimes for some time. The floor is comprised of painful cage bars for their paws, where their excrement is allowed to fall through and accumulate in sometimes incredible quantities. The water seen running around their cages carries the effluent with it, provoking concern for the environment, as well as the hygiene questions raised by the corpses discovered in the grass… For a coat, up to 80 minks need to be killed, and it is estimated that a farm of 1,500 females generate 120 tonnes of manure a year, plus a tonne of phosphorus². 200,000 minks are killed in France every year.

Whilst the farmers make a mockery of « creating life » and guaranteeing the well-being of the animals, the minks that we see in these farms are denied water and any form of activity, despite being semi-aquatic predators. Their only outlet is craziness, which is expressed through stereotypical behaviours. And when the time comes to discharge them from their sad existence, they are brutally snatched and thrown one on top of another into a container…

If we believe the breeder’s line, captivity spanning several generations has removed their desire for freedom. So how can we explain their attempts to escape when they have the chance? The biological reality of these animals is the need to live in liberty, near a watercourse, the need to hunt, to fish, to hide. No living being is designed to live imprisoned. We don’t adapt to suffering. Two minks who were filmed in a desperate attempt to escape were both caught and brutalised by the dog on the premises. But how many manage to escape and enter the feral population which has been recorded across France? They are not native, their introduction upsets the ecosystems. Ethical management plans exist but in order to be effective, no more individuals can be imported… So more farms.

Muriel Arnal, One Voice’s president declares: « Any notion of humanity seems to have deserted the passageways of these farms.The individuals who are raised there are sentient beings and possess an incontestable desire to live. But they are continually denied their identity. Their lives are comprised of misery and torment. It is not right that the luxury sector continues to endorse such practices. Real beauty can’t exist without ethics. We are asking for the immediate ban of fur farms in France. »

All of the observations are available in a report written by One Voice. A video has also been made following the investigation.

All information collated is available on the campaign website:
www.VisonsLeRespect/en

(1) Source : Well Fur
(2) Source : Nasi, 1977, in : Guégan er Rougeot (1987) : Le vison, techniques d’élevage et rentabilité, TAVI, 1987 (The mink, farming and profitability techniques)

Share on

Tilikum has gone home

Tilikum has gone home
06.01.2017
Tilikum has gone home
Exploitation for shows

Tilikum life has just been extinguished at SeaWorld. The one who inspired the film Blackfish ended up succumbing to despair and illness. Will his death mean the end of SeaWorld and the captivity industry?

In his last days, Tilly was barely moving

He remained a float in a semi-comatose state behind the grid of his medical pool, at the back of the show pools. He watched the others dance to the thunderous music that had twisted his skull for twenty-four years. Never again would he come back on stage. Never again would he obey. He was going away and we can imagine that, far from being afraid, this idea soothed him.

The drugs blurred his mind, the fever made him shudder. Sometimes the young Kayla came out of the fog and held him on the other side of the bars. Or it was Trua, his grandson, or little Unna … No, his daughter was dead, he could not remember when. He confused them all now. But he was happy that we cared about him. He felt death and it did not matter.

Then he plunged back into his waking dream and saw before him the vast open seas of Iceland and the fjords of his childhood. Far over there, on the edge of the horizon, his mother called out to him louder and louder, the piercing eerie cry of the orcas to call those who are far away. And he was swimming towards her.

SeaWorld will do everything to clear Tilly’s memory

The company will continue to tell us that thirty-six years is very old for an orca, and that everything has been done to treat him at best. But this time, it will not work anymore. People know. And if they know, it’s thanks to Tilikum. The whole world knows today the atrocious fate of this little orca snatched from his mother, locked in the dark with two mad females, who went mad and who killed three times before being lobotomized by drugs. They know that pneumonias, such as ulcers or « bowel twists, » are diseases directly related to captivity. Stress, hunger, fear causes a massive immune system failure among these giants in jars, opening the door to all types of infection. They know the lies of this industry. In no case, ever, anywhere, can a cetacean live happily in slavery.

Anyway, no one is listening to what SeaWorld is saying

The group of amusement parks can publish all the videos they want, pay for the most expensive advertising campaigns, for them it’s over. The mask has fallen off and the king is naked. Through the magic of the movie Blackfish, Tilly revealed everything about this hell of sadness, boredom and shame that he suffered like all captive orcas. He showed us that slaves can revolt and turn into killer orcas, who can kill humans, a species that exists only in pools.

Keiko was the first orca whose fate moved the public thanks to the movie Free Willy

His tragic death in the wild was a windfall to SeaWorld and its clone companies, who then repeated in a loop that freedom was killing orca’s. But it’s Tilly who opened the eyes of the world to the true face of captivity. And SeaWorld will be his fourth victim.

Beyond his death, the powerful memory of Tilikum will continue to guide us towards this goal that we will reach: free all orcas from their concrete pits!

What did Aicko die of?

What did Aicko die of?
03.01.2017
What did Aicko die of?
Exploitation for shows

On January 5, the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Nantes will examine One Voice’s request for a judicial expertise to determine the causes of the death of Aïcko whose corpse was quickly sent to an animal disposal unit.

On November 6, 2016, the little Aikko died in solitary in his pool.

But what did the young dolphin die of when Park Asterix were praising his good health and vitality at the time he still lived with his mother?
What killed him? Is it a viral or bacterial pathology that could threaten other dolphins? Is it because of the harassment of Aikko by other adult dolphins? Is it stress due to captivity? Or the ingestion of toxic paint peeling from the walls of his pool, like Théa, who also died at Planète Sauvage? Deadly pathologies are surprisingly varied in dolphinariums, but we know nothing about what caused Aikko’s death. To date, no autopsy results have been reported as yet.

Since Galéo is better, thanks to the alert launched by One Voice, Aïcko became in turn the scapegoat for stressed adults. On October 29, advised by us, Dr. Naomi Rose, a world specialist in cetaceans, visited the Marine City of Planète Sauvage and declared: « Never
in my career have I seen such a lean captive dolphin. » We filed a
further complaint on behalf of Aikko on November 7, accompanied by
the full report of Naomi Rose. On November 2, One Voice was able to
film Aïcko, apparently in great distress, separated from the rest of
the group. These are the very last pictures we have of him …

On November 6, Aikko passed away. Curiously, his body was quickly delivered to the animal disposal unit. No definite reason has yet been given for his death. At the announcement of the death, the scientific director of the dolphinarium said: « Aïcko suffered from a loss of appetite for about 3 and a half weeks. He had been in intensive care for a week because he could no longer eat alone. He was suffering from a disease; it will be necessary to identify which one¹.”

It is surprising under such conditions that Aikko was able to continue to participate in the show!

Muriel Arnal, president of One Voice, says, « Dolphinariums claim that they « offer » their captive dolphins excellent conditions of detention, which we challenge. It is time for France to become a country where dolphins are free to swim in the ocean. »

1.
http://www.lecourrierdupaysdec…

Share on