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December 7th: Jane Goodall will be with One Voice in Tübingen!

December 7th: Jane Goodall will be with One Voice in Tübingen!

December 7th: Jane Goodall will be with One Voice in Tübingen!
16.11.2016
Germany
December 7th: Jane Goodall will be with One Voice in Tübingen!
Animal testing

On December 7, One Voice, Doctors Against Animal Experiments and Cruelty Free International are organizing an event to call for an end to the use of primates in neuroscience, with Jane Goodall at their side.

The chosen location: Tübingen, Germany, where Léa and her six macaque companions, born in French parks and sent to the Max Planck Institute for invasive experiments on the brain, are notably locked up. Since December 2014, One Voice has been campaigning for their release and return. The mobilization follows a joint investigation by our partners in ECEAE that revealed the horror of brain experiments and trepanning. The investigation report from the German police following the investigation is under examination by an expert for several months now. His conclusions are anticipated…

Around Jane Goodall, Sir David Attenborough and 19 other scientists, primatologists and animal welfare experts, who have recently called for the cessation of all cruel primate testing in laboratories. In the European Union, 6,000 of them have been victims already each year. One Voice, who has been a referent of the animal experiment group in the Animal Policy collective, welcomes this call for the abolition of experiments on apes. France is the European country that experiments the most on them.

To attend the conference (which will be held in English), you can purchase a ticket at www.goodall.aerzte-gegen-tierversuche.de

“My team and I have been studying chimpanzees (…) for over 50 years (…). We have also studied baboons and other monkeys and there is no doubt that they also experience suffering, fear, depression, anxiety, frustration and many other emotions. Closing our close relatives in laboratory cages and subjecting them to experiments, often stressful
and painful, is morally unacceptable to me. Restricting their movements and depriving them of water is inhuman and extremely cruel. We do not have the right to exploit them in this way for any reason”,

Jane Goodall said.

Aïcko is dead

Aïcko is dead

Aïcko is dead
10.11.2016
Loire-Atlantique Aïcko is dead
Exploitation for shows

The 9th of November 2016. Aïcko, the dolphin held by Planet Sauvage (Wild Planet) and on whose behalf One Voice had filed an additional complaint, died on Sunday. The association has asked the prefect to take up the issue.

We had made our fears public concerning this issue. On the 29th of October, we visited Planète Sauvage with Dr. Naomi Rose, a world recognised specialist in marine mammals. Her conclusion was very clear: Aïcko was dangerously thin and his body was covered with deeper rake-like bite marks than those of the other dolphins in the aquarium. Since the improvement of Galéo’s state of health following our complaint last June – which for us now means we are fighting a counter-complaint from the park – Aïcko had become the new whipping boy of the rest of the group. These are the last images that we would ever take of him.

Driven by these findings, on the 7th of November One Voice had filed an additional complaint, accompanied by a full report signed by Dr. Rose. But Aïcko couldn’t hold on long enough. He was too small, too fragile. He should have been excluded from these shows and not present whilst they were in progress.

He didn’t even join in on the show, either because the trainer didn’t ask him to – would his tail fin have been capable of supporting his weight for a “tail-walk”? – or because had cut the contact with him.

Now that he is no longer, who will the older dolphins attack? Galéo again? The two babies currently growing up in the improvised maternity pool alongside their mothers have probably got some dark days to come. One Voice has referred the case to the prefect to ask him to formally demand Planet Sauvage to satisfy their animal welfare obligations before they have to suspend their activity. The Judge of Nantes has also been officially informed of Aïcko’s death and given the latest report.

Muriel Arnal, One Voice’s president, declares:

“The dolphinariums undermine the dignity of cetaceans which they keep captive. These animals are in such a state of stress and frustration that they attack the weakest group member. Who now will be the target of this violence? Galéo again? Or Amani and Nouma, the two little male dolphins born at the end of the summer? There has already been too much drama. It is time to close the dolphinariums and put an end to cetacean slavery”

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Aïcko, the forgotten baby

Aïcko, the forgotten baby

Aïcko, the forgotten baby
07.11.2016
Loire-Atlantique Aïcko, the forgotten baby
Exploitation for shows

At Planète Sauvage, Aïcko is withering away. Invited to visit by One Voice, Dr Naomi Rose wrote in her report following her visit on the 29th of October: “I have never observed such an underweight dolphin in captivity in my career”. One Voice will be lodging an additional complaint for the little Aïcko.

Latest news: Aicko is no longer. Following the little dolphin’s death on the 9th of November, OneVoice has asked the prefect to take up this case.For more information please see our press releaseconcerning Aicko.

The little baby that everyone loved

“He’s like a little shrimp, he seems so small and fragile next to his mother and godmother. Aïcko was born on Saturday and has since been stretching his fins in the Park Asterix pools. He weighs a tiny 12kg, compared to his parents, the pretty Aya, 14, and the seducer Guama, who weigh 180kg“. Guama is also Galéo’s father. Aïcko can count on his mother hen, Aya, and on Beauty, his elderly Godmother of 35 years, to protect him from danger: “They follow his every move. Beauty swims alongside between him and the pool edge to avoid him hurting himself on the pool-sides, and the minute there is any sign of aggression in the pool, Aya quickly rushes to his other side so that he can’t get hit by the other dolphins“, explains Christel, his keeper. (1)

This was Aïcko’s birth announcement (Aïcko means “Little Love” in Japanese) in August 2010. However, to create space and to avoid “that the young males breed with their mother and / or their sisters” as admits Park Asterix, Aïcko was sold along with his half-brother, Galéo, to Planète Sauvage in January 2015 (at sea, no dolphin would dare violate its parents!). Without his pretty mother or Godmother to protect him, he has to fend for himself in ‘Scarface’ Péos’s territory. Péos is a large aggressive male who also suffered some serious traumas during his childhood, himself a victim of his past.

Aïcko sinks into his own despair

This is the state in which Dr. Rose has found him, after having visited Marine City on the 29th of October with One Voice. She discovered a worryingly thin Aïcko. “I have never observed such an underweight dolphin in captivity in my career”

Like Galéo a few months ago, Aïcko is presenting signs of serious malnutrition, and open deep raked bite-marks can be seen on his body. With the exception of the two new-borns, Aïcko is the youngest dolphin in the park. Not yet six, he has been plunged into the lowest ranks of the fierce hierarchy that reigns at Planète Sauvage. In the wild, subordinate dolphins are able to flee from aggressive interactions with older individuals. The scars on wild dolphin’s bodies are much less serious marks from child-play. It’s nothing like that in captivity, where insanity reigns in a ridiculously tiny closed world.

During the noisy show, far removed from their natural environment, Aïcko disobeys or throws himself at his half-brother who swims with a trainer. His behaviour indicates his extreme confusion and stress. Perhaps he will survive, but it is upsetting to have to drag a dolphinarium through justice to ensure that it correctly looks after its life-timers.

Dr. Ingrid Visser’s visit seems, however, to have had an effect. Galéo is doing a bit better, he has gained some weight and his wounds are healing. But what an awful life! It is not normal, asserts Naomi Rose, that the park leaves junior dolphins to the mercy of aggressive adults in this way.

Stop the babies!

Dr. Rose is also worried about what the future holds for Amani and Nouma, the two young males born at the end of the summer. What do they think of the world, shut up day after day with their terrified mothers, whilst Péos angrily clacks his teeth in front of the door that separates them from the main pool? The walls of the maternity pool where they are being raised are becoming covered with black algae, being left to grow on a layer of excrement, to reduce reflection from the sun. Why not provide shade to all of them using just a simple canopy? Captive dolphins suffer from UV overexposure as a result of the unnatural amount of time spent near the surface of the water.

Naomi Rose concludes that the two young dolphins cannot develop normally in this pool, and Planète Sauvage should put an end to the reproduction programme. But a new baby means more clients! So tough luck if the “little shrimps”, so popular when they are newborns, become the whipping boys for the other dolphins who have been driven crazy by captivity and boredom! Pity has no place here.

Sign and share our petition

Naomi Rose

The holder of a doctorate in animal biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Naomi Rose is an international expert in the domain of captive marine mammals. The author of more than 30 scientific peer-reviewed articles, as well as many articles and chapters in several books, she has testified four times before the United States congress on issues varying from polar bear sports hunting, the welfare of captive marine animals and the impact of human-caused noise on marine mammals. Doctor Rose has been a member of the International Whaling Commission since the year 2000, in which she participates in the sub-committee on the observation of whales and in a permanent workgroup which considers the environmental issues. After having worked over the last 20 years defending marine mammals at the International Humane Society, for whom she wrote an enlightening report “The Case Against Marine Mammals in Captivity” (2), she is currently working at the Animal Welfare Institute. For this organisation, she has recently participated in negotiations with SeaWorld to end Orca breeding, and together with Dr. Lori Marino, she is preparing to open a rehabilitation centre for captive cetaceans with the Whale Sanctuary Project (3). Naomi Rose is an essential player in the European coalition, Dolphinaria-Free Europe, of which One Voice is a member.

1. http://www.leparisien.fr/plailly-60128/aicko-le-no…
2. https://www.worldanimalprotection.us.org/sites/def…
3. http://www.whalesanctuaryproject.org/

The suffering of captive dolphins: the legal fight on the poolside

The suffering of captive dolphins: the legal fight on the poolside

The suffering of captive dolphins: the legal fight on the poolside
25.10.2016
Loire-Atlantique
The suffering of captive dolphins: the legal fight on the poolside
Exploitation for shows

Planète Sauvage (Wild Planet) is fighting One Voice at the Tribunal of Nantes at 9am on the 27th of October to demand the annulment of the official bailiff’s report, which was carried out under the judge’s authorisation and deals with the dolphin’s detention conditions and their state of wellbeing. One Voice does not understand this fierce opposition from Planète Sauvage and is demanding new investigations following the births of the two baby dolphins.

One Voice had reported on the particular situation of the young Galéo, 7 years old, born at Park Asterix in 2009, who was taken away from his mother four years later. Since his arrival at Planète Sauvage in January 2015, this young dolphin has become the whipping boy for the other dolphins. His body is covered with injuries and worrying skin disfiguration.

In April 2016, One Voice rushed Dr Ingrid Visser, the world-recognised New Zealand marine biologist, with many expert witness testimonials under her belt, to Planet Sauvage. Her conclusions regarding Galeo’s state of health led to a complaint being filed for maltreatment and a petition being launched (more than 10,000 signatures collected to date). In her 20 years of experience following captive and wild cetaceans, Dr Visser has never seen a dolphin in such a poor state, also condemning the inadequate detention conditions there. Confronted with these circumstances, One Voice had to obtain a bailiff’s report on the state of the dolphins, Galeo in particular, and their detention conditions.

Planète Sauvage objects to the publishing of the bailiff’s report, which highlights the absence of shade to protect the cetaceans from light, the brightness of the pools, the presence of algae, the complete lack of enhancement of the pools, the bare concrete walls with nowhere to retreat to… and records Galeo’s turnout, “a small dolphin […] with many teeth marks inflicted by the dominant members of the group.”

The dolphinarium is hiding behind the latest verification carried out by the DDPP* following One Voice’s complaint. But this report is clearly incomplete and out of date. Two dolphins have since been born, and the five adult dolphins, including Galeo, are now confined in the show pool.

In Planète Sauvage’s smear campaign against One Voice, they haven’t hesitated to question the competence of its president, of its committee, of the European coalition Dolphinaria-Free Europe of which One Voice is a member, and of Dr Ingrid Visser, who it introduces as a Doctor of Philosophy when she is, in fact, a Doctor in marine biology.

Muriel Arnal, One Voice’s president states:

“We are asking the tribunal to validate the official bailiff’s report or to allow us to undertake another one. I am very worried about the birth of the two baby dolphins. In the dolphinariums, they are brought up by mothers who are isolated and unsure how to bring up their young in this artificial environment, from whom they are taken away very early. They can’t benefit from the handing down of culture and group dialect and are sentenced to turn in circles in empty pools. We won’t give up on Galeo, One Voice will continue to fight for his freedom and that of all captive dolphins.”

* Direction départementale de la protection des populations: Local French authority concerned with animal welfare (amongst other things)

 

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Action for the namibian orcas

Action for the namibian orcas

Action for the namibian orcas
19.10.2016
Namibia
Action for the namibian orcas
Exploitation for shows

A request has just been issued to Namibia by China to capture hundreds of marine mammals in its seas to fill its dolphinariums. We must convince Namibia to say no.

The transporters are waiting

Ryazanovka’s bow lines up alongside a deserted quay, in the Namibian port, Walvis Bay. The team on board keep boredom at bay by playing cards under the burning South African heat. Their mission: to capture ten orcas, a thousand fur seals, five hundred African penguins and almost two hundred dolphins of various species, without counting the sharks. The Ryazanovka is notorious: this is the blue-sided boat which captured three wild orcas for China in the Okhotsk Sea in the extreme Russian Orient some years ago. But the sailors who are smoking on the decks aren’t going anywhere; they are waiting for the go-ahead to start the hunt.

To satisfy the Chinese ‘Moloch’s’ appetite

Welwitschia Aquatic and Wildlife Scientific Research Ltd, who arm the vessel, are also waiting for the green light: authorisation from the Namibian government. Owned by a Chinese businessman registered in Namibia, this company works hand in hand with a Peking-based company, who specialise in raising captive animals.

Hiding behind this vessel, the captivity industry is prepared to devastate the wild fauna that still flourishes in the Benguela current, along the Namibian desert coastline. China will soon have 53 marine parks. Some are colossal, like the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, whilst others are tiny, tucked away in shopping malls with polar bears and belugas on display behind glass panes. Having ‘sampled’ the Zimbabwean elephants, China is now turning its attention to Namibia. The Moloch’s appetite is insatiable.

Namibia’s choice

The Namibian government could well be tempted by the request. China is committed to opening a military base in the country and is promising subsidies to revive the fishing industry. According to them, the surplus of marine mammals in its waters is affecting the fishing! Namibia should be praised for its efforts developing eco-tourism, but it is ambiguous in its position regarding its wild fauna. It knew how to preserve its environment but it authorised trophy hunting and is advocating the opening of the ivory market. This previously German colony’s decision is far from being made.

Dealers under the spotlight

Luckily, in order to preserve the wildlife that they love and protect, small local associations are speaking out to confront the government and to demand that it renounces this disastrous industry. They are small when compared to the Chinese promises, but all of the world can stand alongside them, thanks to the magic of social networks. The whole world is looking on, horrified at these secret capture operations.

One Voice is 100% behind the Walvis Bay activists is asking you too to support them. Just a small message will help, addressed to the Namibian Fishing Minister, Dr. Maurihungirire. Such as:

“Please don’t sell the remaining cetacean populations to China. The riches of Namibia are its flora and fauna. Ecotourism is your future”

Together, we can prevent this catastrophe!

Angora rabbits: the fight continues

Angora rabbits: the fight continues

Angora rabbits: the fight continues
17.10.2016
Angora rabbits: the fight continues
Fashion

Since the publication of our investigation into the torture of Angora rabbits on French farms, our images have been seen all over the world. To put an end to this disgraceful practice, we have written to the French Minister of Agriculture, and our petition has already gathered over 50,000 signatures.

One Voice went public on the 15th of September with the shocking images of angora rabbits in French farms, where they are being exploited for their wool. Over a several month period, One Voice investigators went undercover in this industry and filmed the epilations showing the rabbits crying in pain. They witnessed their skin being torn off with their fur, and the solitude of these rabbits, who live in tiny cold and uncomfortable cages. They experienced first-hand the odour of ammonia coming from the uncollected urine. They discovered how the farmers treated them, who seem to have forgotten that these rabbits are sensitive beings.

Our images around the world!

The images have now done a tour of the globe. Following on from the Chinese angora rabbits in PETA’s investigation, their French counterparts have made news in Vietnam, Japan, South America, the United States and in England! As for Italy and Germany, our partners there are preparing the campaign launch with our images, as in Denmark where headlines were recently made with the leading newspaper there. It is no longer possible for consumers to ignore the suffering of these rabbits tormented for their wool. An unprecedented worldwide mobilisation is underway… Our petition has already collected more than 49,000 signatures!

Our action

One Voice has filed a complaint against one of the farmers who had admitted to selling certain cancerous rabbits to an experimental laboratory. A letter has also been sent to the French Minister for Agriculture, Stéphane Le Foll, to ask him to outlaw these farms, along with the angora business. We have asked him to participate in a meeting with PETA France in which we will hand him the petition signatures to add weight to our request…

You can help in several ways:

  • Continue to sign and share the petition!
  • And evidently, stop wearing angora and send us your clothes containing angora, along with those of your friends and family. They will be sent on to our partner refuges to provide comfort and warmth to abandoned cats this winter.
  • Support our action and allow us to follow through with these investigations.

One Voice & ECEAE satisfied with EU court ruling in landmark cosmetics testing case

One Voice & ECEAE satisfied with EU court ruling in landmark cosmetics testing case

One Voice & ECEAE satisfied with EU court ruling in landmark cosmetics testing case
29.09.2016
One Voice & ECEAE satisfied with EU court ruling in landmark cosmetics testing case
Domestic animals

One Voice and the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE) have welcomed a decision made today by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to reject an argument by the European Federation for Cosmetics Ingredients (EFCI). This would have enabled companies to evade the cosmetics animal testing and sale bans by testing on animals under other European or overseas legislation, before using the data to access the EU cosmetics market. The organisations are now urging national regulators to ensure the ruling is enforced effectively across the EU.

Wednesday 21st September

The case was brought last year by EFCI, which represents most cosmetics ingredients manufacturers in Europe [1]. The Federation, backed by the French Government, argued that cosmetics companies should be able to sell in the EU cosmetics containing ingredients tested on animals – as long as the tests were nominally carried out under some legislation other than the EU Cosmetics Regulation.

However, the CJEU has today agreed with an advisory ruling by the Advocate-General in March 2016 proposing that the Court reject the industry’s argument and find that a company cannot rely on animal test data, wherever generated and for whatever purpose, to support the safety of a cosmetics product [2]. The Court also rejected arguments by the UK Government and the European Commission which would also have significantly weakened the animal test bans.

In December 2015 Cruelty Free International, along with the ECEAE, the coalition of animal protection groups it leads, presented arguments at the Court against the cosmetics industry’s attempts to water down the historic ban on cosmetics testing. The ECJ has today make it harder for companies to sell cosmetics in the UK and EU if they have been animal tested elsewhere in the world [3].

Michelle Thew, Chief Executive of Cruelty Free International and ECEAE said: « We are very pleased that EFCI’s attempt to circumnavigate the ban has today been roundly rejected by the Court. This is a victory both for common sense, and for the public who passionately back the landmark animal testing ban. We urge national regulators to stay vigilant and ensure that the cosmetics ban is upheld to prevent the suffering and death of animals, as the Court has signalled. »

Muriel Arnal, president of One Voice
, declared: « This attempt by the EFfCI once again demonstrates the importance of remaining vigilant, even more so in France where the government has again clearly revealed its position. The decision taken by the court is a genuine ethical victory. Animal suffering doesn’t mean a lot to certain manufacturers, irrespective of scientific advances. Today real justice has been upheld, and it’s a good omen for the future. »

Companies have previously sought to use animal testing under other EU legislation, such as the chemical safety programme REACH, to help market cosmetics in the EU, undermining the spirit of the cosmetic testing ban. EFCI attempted to narrow the ban only to apply to cases where the animal testing was specifically carried out with the Cosmetics Regulation in mind (which would be virtually no tests).

NOTES TO EDITOR

[1] The case was brought by the European Federation for Cosmetic Ingredients (EFCI), technically against the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills in the UK. The case was referred to the European Court of Justice by the High Court in London and affects the interpretation throughout the European Union. Cruelty Free International and the ECEAE were the only NGOs accepted as official participants in the case. The recommendations of the Advocate General are not binding on the Court, but are accepted in the majority of cases.

[2]
http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=183602&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=641808
[3] Whether to continue the cosmetics animal testing and marketing bans post-Brexit will be one of many questions facing the UK Government. For the moment the UK is bound by this ruling.

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Big protest against hunting on Saturday 1st October

Big protest against hunting on Saturday 1st October

Big protest against hunting on Saturday 1st October
28.09.2016
Big protest against hunting on Saturday 1st October
Wildlife

September 28th 2016

The French are fed up with hunting. The survey* conducted by One Voice inpartnership with ASPAS has just recently shown that 78% of Frenchpeople want to ban hunting on Sundays for obvious safety reasons. 91%of French people want a hunting reform.

Yetthe public authorities are strangely deaf to this strong expectationof our fellow citizens. And our politicians even more.

LaurentWauquiez, President of the “Republicans” of theAuvergne-Rhône-Alpes, has just offered some 3 million euros tohunters in its region to restore their hunting huts or to intervene in our schools to “train” our children in a certain idea of biodiversity…

The President of the Republic has killed it in the bud the long-awaited National Agency for Biodiversity, by not including in it the National Office of Hunting and Wildlife. This public establishment and its 1200 officials remain in the hands of the hunters who are in the majority on its board of directors.

To denounce this, but also the death of 30 million animals each year for a “Past Time” from another age, the Collective of September 21st which brings together 78 associations (joined by Sea Shepherd, the Foundation Brigitte Bardot and One Voice), organizes a large demonstration to end hunting and trapping.

October 1st from 10 am to 1 pm, Place Joachim-du-Bellay (Paris 1st)

Numerous association stands and catering on site

After the demonstration a Kate Amiguet’s film, Hunter- killer – imposter?

will be screened at the Jean Dame cinema at 2:30 p.m. (entrance at 2:00 p.m.)

It will be followed by a debate with the director, Gérard Charollois (president of the CVN, author of the book On Ending the Hunt) and Pierre Athanaze (president of Action Nature, author of the Black Book of Hunting).

List of associations from the collective of September 21st:

269 LIFE FRANCE, Acta Anti speciesism (or Acta Gironde), Embassy for Pigeons, Action Nature Rewilding France, AEC, Animal Cross, AEP,
Animalsace, Animalibre, APIE (Environmental Protection and Initiation Association), Association of the Animal Collective of 06, Association Protection of Château de Flée, AVES France, AVF (Association Vegetarian of France), AVRE, Bio Living in Brie, Brouillard
Définitif, CAUSA, C’est Assez, C’Topoil, CCE2A (Collective Against Animal Experimentation and Exploitation), CHAMADE (Animal Theaters and Mediation), C.H.A.N.T (for Harmonious Cohabitation with other Animals and Nature on Earth), CNPA (Collective Nantais For the
Animals), Collectif Société Anti-Fourrure, Combactive, CHÂTEAU de FLÉE, Monument historique, C.RÉ.DO. Pigeons et Protection Animale, CREL (Recognition and Self Help Club with Greyhounds), CVAAD, CVN  (Convention Life and Nature), DDA (Animal Rights), Droit des Animaux Sud, Dignité Animale, Entre Chiens et Loups, Groupe d’Actions Animales Moselle, Guadeloupe Animaux, F.G.N. (fairy gardians of
nature), GREEN, Humanimo, INFO VÉGANE, Initiatives Terre, Jack et Jessie Protection Animale, la fondation M.A.R.T. (Movement for the
animals and respect of the land), La Griffe, La Voie de l’Hirondelle, La Tribu de Sapeur, L’arche de Valudo, Le Klan du Loup, Les Désobéissants, L214, Laissons Leur Peau Aux Animaux (LLPAA), Les compagnons de Freya, Ligue Universelle pour la Nature et les Animaux, Les 3A, Les Crins Verts, Liberté Égalité Animale 49, Matoucœur, MFP (French mission for the protection of monkeys), Mouvement pour la Cause Animale, Oïkos Kaï Bios, Oiseaux Nature, Patacha, Point Info Loup Lynx, RAC (RAssemblement pour une France sans Chasse), Protection Faune Sauvage Sedan, RAN (Respect of animals and for Nature), Respectons, Initiatives Terre, Refuge « Ame’Ni’Maux », Refuge
« Amis des Bêtes », Sauvetage et Chats en Détresse, Secourisme Animalier, SSA49, SVPA (Société Vosgienne de Protection Animale), Stop Souffrances Animales 49, Vigilance Citoyenne pour le Pâtis, Wolf Eyes Asbl.

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