Experiments on Mice, distorted results!

Experiments on Mice, distorted results!
28.03.2017
Experiments on Mice, distorted results!
Animal testing

A new study demonstrates the lack of credibility from results based on the animal model. Where and when the manipulation of conditions influences the results…

Published on March 21st in a very serious revue in the magazine Nature, the work of two biologists from the University of Liverpool, Dr. Gouveia and Dr. Pre Hurst. Their work supports what One Voice and its partners in the European Coalition having been saying to end animal experimentation. One Voice and the European Coalition continue to denounce animal experimentation and the scientific validity of work done on animals.

Both researchers show that the stress triggered in mice by one of the most common gestures of laboratory workers, namely to move test animals by holding them by the tail. This “significantly alters their anxiety, which has a major impact on the reliability of their response to stimuli in behavioural tests”.

Most animal experiments, invasive or not, involve the manipulation of rodents (more than 1 million each year in France), and mice are the most used in behavioural research work on memory, learning, how drugs and other substances affect their brains and cognitive abilities.

If the stress caused by the most basic manipulation is a factor distorting the results, what about all the captive conditions and the tests imposed on all of the victims during an experiment?

In funding these studies, the NC3R (National Research Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Laboratory Animals, the English equivalent of ECVAM at the European level) concludes that other methods need to be used. Manipulation, such as “orientation tunnels”. Dr. Mark Prescott mentions for this organization: “This study provides additional evidence, this time scientific, about the need to abandon manipulations by the tails of mice in the laboratory”. The organization has also declared the year 2017 as the “well-being of laboratory rodents”!

According to One Voice, this is above all a new proof that the animal model, more in principle than in its modalities, is not adapted for a modern science supposed to produce results transposable to the human. Rather than manipulate mice differently, like other animal victims, let’s stop using animals under these maximum stress conditions by holding them in laboratories!

A new trial for Jo, the young calf abused at a slaughterhouse in Vannes

A new trial for Jo, the young calf abused at a slaughterhouse in Vannes
27.03.2017
A new trial for Jo, the young calf abused at a slaughterhouse in Vannes

The endless agony of a young calf in the courtyard of a slaughterhouse in Vannes will be the subject of an appeal on April 3, 2017 at 10:30 in Rennes. Once again, One Voice will be a civil party to defend Jo’s memory and advocate for the respect of an animal person.

The case that moved the whole of France: Saturday October 1 2016, a calf is delivered to the slaughterhouse in the trading estate area of Prat, where it falls from a ramp when it is pushed out of the truck. It tears the ligaments of its hind legs and breaks its pelvis when hitting the ground. Left alone all weekend, the animal remains liying on the concrete floor in the rain and the cold, with nothing to drink. His suffering is atrocious. But, it’s only on Monday that the SPA (Society for the Protection of Animals) Vannes had been given warning of this, and that on Sunday morning the young bull – which we named Jo – had finally been put down.

Immediately, One Voice and the SPA of Vannes filed a complaint against the slaughterhouse, as well as four other associations. At the end of a first trial, SARL Sélection Viande Distribution was found guilty of three offenses. A 600 euros fine was claimed for « deprivation of food or watering of a domestic animal by its keeper, breeder or animal keeper », 800 euros for « deprivation of care » and 800 euros still for « ill treatment to a domestic animal « . A ridiculous price for the suffering of Jo …

From the judgment rendered by the law court, the Sarl Société Viande Distribution appealed the sentence pronounced against them. There is now a second trial that will open on April 3 to defend the memory of Jo.

As a plaintiff, One Voice is hoping to obtain even more severe fines than in the first instance, so that this judgment is a landmark
decision and that, never again, shall a young calf with a broken leg does not agonize alone on a cold concrete floor of a deserted slaughterhouse.

Remember that 4.7 million calves and large cattle die in more than 260 slaughterhouses each year in France. That’s one animal every 7 seconds… And very often in unworthy conditions.

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The name of the world is forest*

The name of the world is forest*
21.03.2017
The name of the world is forest*
Natural habitat

The destruction of the primary forests is causing a worsening change of the climate. With them die rare species and subtle cultures, human or non-human, of which we will never know anything about.

The saw cuts the bark of a gigantic dipterocarp. Up above, an orang-utan mother and her baby cling to the last branches of the canopy, as if to flee to the sky. But the tree is cut in all its width. Slowly, majestically, inexorably, its trunk, all eighty meters of it, wobbles, bends and collapses in a thunder of broken wood, torn vines, hoarse cries, and frightful flights of hornbills. In falling, the giant carries in death a thousand nests, a thousand lives, a thousand small dens hidden in the folds of its bark. He crushes a thousand others under his enormous mass. He himself is a living being, conscious of what surrounds him in the manner of plants. And while we pick up the little red monkey from the broken body of his mother, the reclining tree loses its sap like blood. It is soon dragged along the mud tracks, raked by trucks in the bosom of its world: the rainforest of Sumatra.

Everywhere, this scene is repeated. In the Congo Basin or the Amazon, in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Canada, everywhere, forests are disappearing under the steamroller of human madness. Monstrous dams are engulfing them, sprawling cities are devouring them little by little, and cattle farms are finishing them off. Giant trees are cut down for the precious wood industry. Fires are lit to make room for palm oil plantations. Coltan mines excavate the earth to the last roots in the heart of Congolese national parks. Their workers eat bushmeat and kill the gorillas.

No account is ever held of the inhabitants of this ocean of trees that are ravaged. Tropical forests are yet home to the world’s most marvellous biodiversity, tree frogs, unheard-of insects, unknown medicinal plants and subtle non-human cultures. The forest is also home to human peoples who have been exploiting its resources with respect for a millennium. In symbiosis with her, they venerate and protect her. But the magic of their shamans can do nothing against gold diggers armed to the teeth, bulldozers and soldiers who expel them from their ancestral lands and destroy their traditions.

Each year, more than 13 million hectares of forest are lost, the equivalent of the surface of England or forty football fields every minute. This biotope is essential for climate stability and soil conservation. Its destruction further increases the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, and with it, climate change and flooding, droughts and landslides.

In the past, we lived with the forest. She surrounded our hamlets until the end of the Middle Ages. Huge expanses of oaks then covered the whole of France. The bears, the wolves, the lynx prospered in peace, regulating in harmony the nature around them. Today, everything has
been totally ravaged or almost. Fields, highways, cities, car parks stretching to infinity have long covered the high forests and woods, which occupy only a small area of the European continent. We have forgotten the majesty of trees; we have lost the secret of dialogue with them. And today already we are starting to pay dearly. Forests are a treasure of evolution: help us to protect them!

* Title of a beautiful novel by Ursula Le Guin

Crime in the Réunion: Cat hunting is in open season

Crime in the Réunion: Cat hunting is in open season
24.02.2017
Crime in the Réunion: Cat hunting is in open season
Domestic animals

A cruel and indiscriminate hunt against cats has been opened by the Prefect of the Réunion on the pretext of protecting two endemic bird species. One Voice intervenes…

On 23 February, One Voice filed an interim appeal to suspend a recent order from the Prefect of the Réunion, which allows the controlling
of stray cat populations near the nesting sites of the Barau Petrel and Bourbon Black Petrel seabirds. These endemic species of highly endangered seabirds have been the subject of successive and legitimate conservation plans since 2008. The occasional predation of birds by hungry cats is one of the possible threats identified by these plans (among ‘others, like that of rats, which cats chase …), the Prefect implements massive, totally illegal measures, which are the lethal capture and trapping of all stray cats over large areas of the National Park of the Réunion, for a period of 2 years.

State deficiencies in the management of feline strays, despite the record of euthanasia on the island (15,000 cats per year), is being carried out underhandly using the risk of extinction of Petrels. Already victims of abandonment or loss of their homes for first-generation cats, here now these cats are the target of illegal trapping, using different techniques: cages-traps, « Steve Allan Conibear-kill trap » and « Timms » devices. Kill traps or poisoned bait.

All of these attacks on the lives of domestic animals are prohibited, they seem not concerned by the regulations about animals liable to cause damage (formerly known as «harmful») or affected by rabies.

While other means could be used, deadly traps and poisonings are deployed without knowing which cats (or other animals) will be victims, for lack of prior identification. Activated traps are supposed to be removed within 24 hours … in remote areas around the cirque of Cilaos (Piton des Neiges, Grand Bénare, Dimitile). A day at least of torture for each cat trapped under the blinding hot sun. We are anticipating the court date…

Reunion Island: Saint-André Shark Accident

Reunion Island: Saint-André Shark Accident
21.02.2017
Reunion Island: Saint-André Shark Accident
Wildlife

A young man has just lost his life in Saint-André in a new accident.

We would like to give to the family and friends of this young man our utmost sincere condolences.

We urge the « users of the ocean » to respect the bans on swimming and surfing in the areas deemed dangerous and to the Prefect who was so quick to spend millions on irresponsible fishing to enforce his own orders.

This accident comes in full consultation on fishing in the Marine Reserve.

Remember that there is no Marine Reserve in Saint-André, but it only takes a few hours for a shark to move from the West Coast to the East Coast as the CHARC program has demonstrated.

A bait belt was installed in front of the west coast and this bait belt extended to Sainte-Marie. Reunion sharks, which are quietly around the island, have been set on Réunion.

The observations of off-season sharks have never been more numerous than since the senseless baiting of the shark cap experiment has been extended. Today there is a new fatal accident.

We will react further in another release.

Association Collective: Aspas, Brigitte Bardot Foundation, Longitude 181, One Voice, Shark Integration, Shark Conservation, Sea shepherd, Tendua, Waves.

A bait belt was installed in front of the west coast and this bait belt was extended to Sainte-Marie. In this way, the Reunion has been fixed as a passing point for sharks that are quietly circling around the island.

The observations of off-season sharks have never been more numerous than since this senseless baiting experiment for sharks off the headland which had been extended.

Today there has been a new fatality.

We will be reacting further in another release.

Association Collective: Aspas, Brigitte Bardot Foundation, Longitude 181, One Voice, Shark Integration, Shark Conservation, Sea shepherd, Tendua, Waves.

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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 …

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.

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

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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.

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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