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A planned end to dolphinariums in France!

A planned end to dolphinariums in France!
06.05.2017
A planned end to dolphinariums in France!
Exploitation for shows

Associations united in their fight, The Animal Code, Dolphin Connection, One Voice, Cetacean Network and Sea Shepherd have received with joy and relief the definitive text of the new « dolphinariums » decree, signed on May 3 by Ségolène Royal for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Environment.

Sometimes welcomed openly by other associations, the text submitted for public consultation last February has been fought for right up until the last moment by these associations. Disappointed with the scope of improving the written text that dates from 1981, they demanded a repeal and the dismantling of the dolphinariums. These demands, the lobbying action, files and reports provided as well by a very strong public support (more than 16,000 comments on 4,500 pages of public consultation) were listened to. This represents a victory for environmental democracy and for the animal cause.

Indeed, among the advances in this final text, which is to improve several points and conditions of detention of captive cetaceans (orcas and
dolphins) in 4 French dolphinariums. A major modification was introduced by the Minister at our request: in six months, when this
text is fully implemented, French law will prohibit the captive detention of all cetaceans, except those already held. Clearly, this means the end of breeding programs, trade or importation, programs maintaining a deadly system, tearing apart the families of cetaceans that are exploited. Without a possible renewal, it simply means the end of the circus of marine life on our territory, and this French
advance is historic.

The Dolphin Connection, through Christophe Wszolek, declares: « We consider that captivity no longer has a place in our modern societies and that this new version of the decree goes in the right direction and opens the way for definitive cessation of captivity. »

Muriel Arnal, One Voice rejoices: « Without letting ourselves be lured by a smoke screen that did not in any way regulate the purpose and the cruelty of the delphinarium circuit, we fought against all odds for a fair stand. Our struggle and the support of the French people has borne fruit. This is the end to an unworthy slavery of our time, and our gratitude to those who have contributed to its demise.”

Sandra Guyomard of Cetaceans Network, salutes for her part the arbitration rendered by Ségolène Royal: « A fair decision, a step for a
dolphinariums free France. The real show is to seen in the wild. »

Lamya Essemlali of Sea Shepherd also welcomes this decision: « Captivity is the unworthy legacy from another era. It is time that France, like
many other countries finishes and looks to the future. We are pleased
to see today that it is taking the right path. »

Anne-Sophie Riing of Animal Code: « Our decision to refuse the first decree was difficult to make and we had hesitated for a long time, fearing
that we had already reached a current political limit, we are happy that France is now ready today to finally turn the page. We sincerely
thank all the actors who have participated in this breakthrough, on the other hand, we regret that the cetaceans still in captivity will continue to have to perform in shows. »

This text undoubtedly marks a new era in France and all over Europe for this much-maligned leisure industry. « Our associations thank
those who supported their fight, refusing the compromise of certain measures and wanting ethics and freedom for cetaceans. We think of
the orcas and dolphins who remain prisoners, even though this decree provides for many positive provisions, improving their conditions and the follow-up care they will receive. For them, we will still go to court and continue to work on rehabilitation solutions in
sanctuaries. But today we think especially of all those who will not
be born into captivity tomorrow. »

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One Voice fights against illegal breeders

One Voice fights against illegal breeders
05.05.2017
Oise
One Voice fights against illegal breeders
Domestic animals

[Thedepartment of Oise, 60] This Friday, May 5, early in the morning, the Gendarmerie in collaboration with the Zoé Cell of One Voice and its partners, also in support is the Departmental Directorate of Protection of Persons and Populations (DDPP). They are all mobilized to seize a couple of breeders, who are repeat offenders.

For years, this couple has been the subject of lawsuits by One Voice. Supervised since 2004, these breeders are duly registered in the LOF (the French Origins Book, guaranteeing purebred dogs), had been the subject in 2011 for yet another seizure of animals in danger, illustrated well by a potent video report. The investigators then found 46 dogs of all ages (Bordeaux dogs and bulldogs in particular) all in terrible living conditions: locked in their cages, these animals had never been let out, obviously lacking care. They could hardly walk out of their hell.

Brought to justice for in particular serious abuse and acts of cruelty against domestic animals, continuation of a business classified as non compliant and incompetent. All this despite formal notices for breeding activities without a certificate of capacity and the being heavily fined with a prison sentence of 6 months for the breeder.

The follow-up from the Zoé Cell an investigation and intervention group of the One Voice association, highlighted the need to act again.
These people have in fact continued their activity, in total violation with a prohibition to keeping animals who were beaten (an offense punishable by 2 years in prison and 30 000 € fine).

It is not yet clear how many animals will be affected by this seizure. The full investigation will determine the nature of these new
offenses, adding to a very heavy liability for exploiting animals in
unworthy conditions.

French law has recently tightened its requirements in face of multiple abuse of animals on breeding farms, pet shops and Internet sales. But the multi-billion-euro domestic animal trade in France still generates numerous accounts of abuse and trafficking that must be fought against on a daily basis. One Voice is demanding a stop to the pet trade on the Internet, through classified ads, in salons and pet shops and the call for more resources for the authorities.

Muriel Arnal, president of One Voice, says, « What these breeders are practicing in is not a trivial matter. One Voice is hoping this time for an exemplary judgment in order to put an end to a long and painful affair. »

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Dolphinarium decree: not passed as ‘discretely’ as intended

Dolphinarium decree: not passed as ‘discretely’ as intended
04.05.2017
Antibes
Dolphinarium decree: not passed as ‘discretely’ as intended
Exploitation for shows

Whilst France was preoccupied with the debate between the two presidential candidates, Ségolène Royal was signing the far from unanimous dolphinarium statute… A drama for the dolphins, and a total disregard to the outcome of the public consultation, which One Voice will not let pass.

Breaking news: An immense victory! The statute has just been published, we had demanded right up until the last minute that dolphin reproduction be banned, and this measure has been added! More than 16,000 people had protested on the Minister’s website against the original statute at our request. We were heard! 4,500 pages of comments opposed this draft statute, the result of the public consultation from February this year. Animal rights, as well as the environment, may be the gaping holes in the candidate’s programmes, but the French are no less committed.

The timing

As with any unpopular measure, the right moment had to be chosen to push through this statute. What better than a televised debate between the two candidates in the final round of the presidential election, keeping the whole of France busy. It was right at the beginning of that evening on the third of May, that it was announced by the Minister of the Environment that Madame Royal, several days before her departure, had signed the statute, an unexpected gift to the captivity industry. This is despite the expert’s opinions, despite the opinion of the French public, and despite the opinion of personalities such as Nicolas Hulot, who we must congratulate for his unambiguous tweet:
« Our civilisation should no longer tolerate dolphin captivity. It is time to finish with the #dolphinariums«

Notre civilisation ne devrait plus tolérer la captivité des dauphins. Il est temps d’en finir avec les #delphinariums pic.twitter.com/DTiYsQdjEt

— Nicolas Hulot (@N_Hulot) 20 avril 2017

Smoke and mirrors

We could believe that this statute signifies an improvement for captive cetaceans. But who can consider that increasing the depth of the pools by 1 metre will change the dolphin’s daily lives? That to be obliged to ask the opinion of a commission for their reproduction (but not be obliged to act upon it) will limit this reproduction? These « measures » are ridiculous. On the 27^th of April, Marineland declared that its four orcas will be the last to be held in their pools, confirming that the ban on detaining orcas, like the other measures, had been taken with the backing of the captivity industry, curbing the pressure on the dolphinariums. It is pointless to demonstrate in front of their gates, the statute has been enacted and they now have 3 years to comply…

The only possible predicament is the definitive end to cetacean exploitation. The dolphins need only one thing: freedom. But the real change brought about by this statute is that it clearly authorises the creation of new dolphinariums, and by legitimising them, it assures the continuity of their activity. Even if the lack of popularity of these types of projects allows us to hope that this will not be the case, the fact remains that years of work will be again needed to discuss this text. We cannot let this industry continue. It is essential to support its evolution and to obtain the end of dolphin and orca exploitation.

We will have two months to launch an appeal to the State Council from the date of this statute’s publication. One Voice will not give up. You can support our action by signing and sharing our petition.

Femke, a broken-hearted mother

Femke, a broken-hearted mother
27.04.2017
Oise Femke, a broken-hearted mother
Exploitation for shows

The tragedy continues in the dolphinarium… One Voice is sounding the alarm for Femke, broken by the industry who tore her away from her family and the ocean, and then took her son, Ekinox.

She could behave like other typical captive cetaceans: she could gnaw against the concrete pool sides, throw herself against the walls and attack other captive dolphins… But Femke, born free and captured off the Florida coast, is not there yet. After almost 40 years of captivity, she is totally adrift and seems to be dying of sadness. When she was filmed
last October, Femke stayed away from the other dolphins and had stopped participating in the presentations. She was fading away, isolated in her despair after her only reason to survive in these tiny, sad pools was torn away from her.

Arriving in Park Asterix in 2008, Femke gave birth to Ekinox, her only son – a blessed moment in her long life in captivity. She also survived a normally fatal serious illness. Today, she is unable to swim normally because of her poor deformed and scarred body.

In 2016, her child, who was still very young, was taken away from her to stock the Attica Park pools, a Greek zoo which is a member of the marine circuses network organised throughout Europe. Ekinox, released with the other males, who have also been separated at a young age from their mothers, will probably waste away there. But in the name of genetics, transfers must be encouraged…. So families are torn apart, individuals are crushed.

As for Femke, she seems to have given up already. The images filmed at the beginning of the « season » are distressing. What sort of a show has a limp dolphin present, meandering lethargically in its bowl whilst the others perform!

« Femke’s mental and physical state is extremely worrying and requires urgent specialist veterinary expertise », attests our veterinary consultant, Pierre Gallego, who observed her at length on the 19th of April. One Voice has referred this request to the prefect and doesn’t count on just doing that whilst Femke’s state deteriorates.

This tragedy affects all dolphinariums. Share the story of Femke and
Ekinox on your networks and sign our petition! Let’s stop this suffering…

The horror of fur farms in Europe!

The horror of fur farms in Europe!
26.04.2017
The horror of fur farms in Europe!
Fashion

The Czech organisation Animal Defenders, One Voice’s partner in the global coalition Fur Free Alliance, has launched a campaign following the release of two staggering videos on the 27th of March.

The European fur industry’s official line regarding the care lavished on these animals is now severely discredited. An incredible film investigation has been led by Animal Defenders and its president Marek Vorsilka, resulting in
two videos. The first one documents the killing of a silver fox: roughly dragged out of its hutch, then hung by its paws and subjected to a sordid and mismanaged anal electrocution. The screams and the desperate movements of the animal during the whole procedure, as well as the executioner’s indifference, make us shudder. A lack of respect for animal life is well recompensed in the fur industry…

The second film produced by
Animal Defenders sends a shiver up the spine. In this film the camera shows how minks transported in barred cages are shoved into a kind of wooden trailer towed by a mini-tractor. Pipes linking the tractor to the trailer can be clearly seen, which will serve to suffocate the ten minks who are locked inside this teenager driven ‘tourist train’ with the tractor exhaust fumes. This vile gas chamber method is unworthy of the 21
^st Century…

According to industry published figures on this EU member country, ten farms exported 20,000 mink and fox skins for a turnover of 5 million euros in 2015. In a few weeks, the Czech parliament will announce whether it is for or against the banning of such practices on its soil, a vote desired by 70% of Czechs. However, the vote risks being unfavourable because of the ANO, a young party led by a liberal Europhobe and magnate entrepreneur, Andrej Babiš. Animal Defenders has launched a
petition. One Voice fully supports this appeal and asks you to please like and share these informative videos. From Prague to Paris, cruelty is still cruelty, a lie is still a lie… Enough!

Through my eyes

Through my eyes
24.04.2017
Through my eyes
Animal testing

One Voice invites you to discover animal experimentation through the eyes of animals. These are the dogs, the monkeys, the rabbits who are sacrificed every day in the French laboratories.

« They came and pulled me out of my cage. I was firmly held and something long and thin was inserted into my mouth. I did not like that. I got angry when they put it deeper down my throat. It was not food. I felt it slipping down inside me. I was suffocating. I understood that it was not normal. Every day, for months, it started again. They took me out of my cage and forcefully inserted this tube in the back of my
throat where they leaked something. What they put in my belly started to make me feel sick. After that, I did not always want to eat what
was brought to me. When I did eat, I sometimes threw up everything. After several months, I was out of my cage one last time. They held me firmly and shaved my leg. I then felt something sharp sink into it. A feeling of cold suddenly swept over me when a liquid was spilled into my veins. I suddenly felt very tired. I remembered the smell of my mother. I would have liked to have been with her again. »

Support our fight to see an end to these experiments on our companions !

« I screamed in panic when they brutally strapped me to a restraining device, but no one came to help me. My head was firmly maintained. A device was implanted into my skull, which was hurting me so much, it was the pulled up and fixed on a bar above me. I could not move. On a big screen in front of me, sets of patterns began to appear. For months I endured this trauma, I learned that when this pattern was
repeated, I had to quickly press a button in front of me. I was then rewarded with a little fruit juice delivered drop by drop into my mouth. I wanted this juice. I had not had any liquid for several hours and I was very, very thirsty. After several hours, I was released from this device and put back into a cage. I did not fight this time. I wanted to sleep. I wanted to forget. »

Support our fight towards the end of primate experiments !

« I curled up in the cage when a hand tried to catch me. Stronger than me, she manages to grab me. I was then locked in a box from where only my head was sticking out. I could not move. I looked around and saw rows of my companions locked up in the same way. Then a man
walked towards me. I began to breathe faster. I struggled to escape, without success. The man lifted one of my eyelids and instilled something in my eye. Everything has become vague. The substance burned as my vision began to disappear. I saw almost nothing and the burning sensation persisted.

I wanted that to stop. I wanted to remove this stuff but I could not. It was so bad. I was struggling, I could not scratch my eye. Finally, the man came back. After examining my eye, he put me back in my empty, cold cage. I was alone, scared, and in pain. I hoped he would not come back. »

Support our fight for the end of animal experimentation !

One Voice is the French representative of ECEAE, the European Coalition to End Animal Experimentation.

Presidential elections 2017: answers from the candidates about the animal cause

Presidential elections 2017: answers from the candidates about the animal cause
20.04.2017
Presidential elections 2017: answers from the candidates about the animal cause
Other campaign or multi-campaigns of One Voice

One Voice wrote to presidential candidates to ask them to position themselves on the priority animal issues. Here are the answers we received.

The themes on which all the candidates were solicited by One Voice are circuses, dolphinariums, mink breeding (for fur) and angora rabbits, wolves, animal experimentation and stray cats.

Only 4 responses were received. They come from Nathalie Arthaud, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron.

Stop mink farming in France!

Stop mink farming in France!
13.04.2017
Stop mink farming in France!
Fashion

Two mink farms in Franche-Comté call for an increase in the size of their capacity. Even more suffering? One Voice is against it. Let’s mobilize together, quickly!

In the case of the first breeder, revealing serious infractions is worth describing.

The company opened at Emagny in 1985. From the beginning, it broke all regulations, moved into a protected natural area, feeding its mink with the skinned corpses of their predecessors pours its dirty water directly into the river Ognon. Warnings of abuse, recommendations, procedures and seals, its manager is finally sentenced in 2016 to imprisonment. But what is this benevolence shown by local authorities? Thus, the Prefecture had to be called to order, for the lack of binding measures against the breeder a repeat offender. The municipality, meanwhile, has revised its land use with plans to reclassify the agricultural area, the plot illegally occupied by the farmer and allow him to stay there.

Here the breeder, just out of court with a monitoring bracelet on his ankle, asks the regularization and extension of his breeding, with construction of 10 additional buildings. The total capacity of his farm would increase to 18,200 mink including 3,200 for breeding. The public inquiry runs until May 20, 2017 and everyone can file a comment. A second breeder located in Montarlot-lez-Rioz, probably linked to the first one, wants to pass to 5,000 mink.

Why do mink farms need to be banned?

Firstly, because they make animals suffer. Mink are semi-aquatic mammals, forced to live from birth in tiny mesh cages without access to water. All of them eventually go crazy and most end up like at Emagny, gassed in groups of a hundred in an airtight box connected to the exhaust of a heat engine: so as to not soil the fur with blood.

Then, because the farms pollute terribly. The excrement of mink, their blood and their carcasses generate a real environmental risk. These nitrogen and phosphorus-laden wastes pollute water by runoff and lead to eutrophication of rivers, which is fatal for fish. Large quantities of ammonia gas, nitrogen oxide and methane are also released into the air, affecting the quality of life of the surrounding inhabitants and contributing to global warming.

Finally, with captive animals constantly escaping, American mink reared in these farms quickly adapt to our biotopes and their invasive presence affects local wildlife, especially mink in Europe. They end up cruelly trapped or drowned as harmful pests.

For all mink, please signify your refusal on the extension of the breeding centre of Emagny, please leave your comments on the site of the services for the department in the Doubs, from April 18th to May 20th, 2017.

http://www.doubs.gouv.fr/Politiques-publiques/Amenagement-du-territoire-Construction-Logement-et-Transports/Amenagement-et-developpement-durables/Enquetes-publiques/Enquetes-ICPE/Formulez-vos- comments-Breeding-of-aim-a-Emagny

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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