News Archive - Page 15 of 129

Animal experimentation: guinea pigs killed to manufacture homeopathy, the State condemned to transparency!

Animal experimentation: guinea pigs killed to manufacture homeopathy, the State condemned to transparency!
31.05.2024
Animal experimentation: guinea pigs killed to manufacture homeopathy, the State condemned to transparency!
Animal testing

Sugared pills infused with guinea pig lungs? We couldn’t let this project, considered by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research as animal experimentation, pass without knowing more. Faced with the authorities’ reluctance to provide us with documents that were supposed to be public as soon as 2022 when we requested them, we won our case before the Paris Administrative Court.

After a hearing on May 16, 2024 and a two-week wait, the Paris Administrative Court ruled in our favor. We now look forward to the prompt communication of all data in its possession!

Killing guinea pigs to manufacture homeopathy

94 guinea pigs are involved in this project. First, they are tied on their backs by their legs. They then undergo an injection into the abdominal cavity, followed by an intravenous injection. Then their necks are broken to remove their lungs. All to produce homeopathic treatments.

As always when it comes to animal experimentation, the authorities refuse to be transparent. To obtain the precise files submitted for this experiment and the opinion of the ethics committee, we were forced to take legal action.

One Voice, a real counterweight according to the government commissioner

“I’d like to pay tribute to the One Voice association, whose work is truly of public interest and a real counterweight.” These were the words with which the government commissioner for the Paris Administrative Court began reading her conclusions on May 16.

The Ministry argued that we should have made do with the minimal data available online. The court rejected this argument, pointing out that the information available to the public is far from complete. From now on, the State has three months to send us all its data!

Another victory, a few weeks after INSERM was condemned to hand over the forced-swimming images of rats and mice, after a pitiful attempt to argue that automatic camera recordings should be considered artistic and covered by copyright.

More and more companies are abandoning these practices, and three quarters of French people are opposed to animal experimentation. Despite this, dozens of similar projects are authorized every day. So join us in calling for an end to these outdated methods, and write to the Minister:

Download the standard letter

Updated on June 2, 2024 at 9:15 pm with the addition of a link to the project under attack.

Val d’Oise: fox massacre in 75 villages, we go to court

Val d’Oise: fox massacre in 75 villages, we go to court
29.05.2024
Val d’Oise: fox massacre in 75 villages, we go to court
Hunting

The lieutenants of louveterie and pests in Val-d’Oise can rub their hands: at the end of April, the prefect authorized them to kill an unlimited number of foxes in almost 75 villages. The reasons given? To protect pheasants and gray partridges… bred in captivity to die under hunter fire. To add insult to injury, the decree was published several days after it came into force, which is of course forbidden! Even if this won’t bring the killed foxes back to life, we are attacking this decree and denouncing this intolerable scheme.

A relentless assault on foxes everywhere

To please the hunters, in the Val-d’Oise department, the hunting season is longer for foxes than for other species: from June to February, that’s nine months instead of six! Then there are traps of all kinds, veritable torture tools authorized under the Ministry of Ecology’s “ESOD” classification, which we have challenged at the Conseil d’État. And underground hunting, which lasts several hours and leaves cornered animals no chance.

A scheme to circumvent the law and allow the killing of red foxes

As if that weren’t enough, the prefect ordered the lieutenants of louveterie and pests – a kind of chief hunter under the authority of the State – to shoot an unlimited number of foxes at night in 75 villages of the department for almost three weeks. A hecatomb when the fox cubs have just been born. And to ensure that no one could take the matter to court in time, the State representative took care to sign his decree on April 29 and publish it on the 30th, for operations starting… on the 24th!

A scheme to replace foxes and hunt pheasants and partridges.

How can such massacres be justified? If pheasants and partridges are endangered, then they should be protected from hunters! A few months ago, judges in Dijon dismissed these fallacious arguments out of hand, and annulled beats ordered in the Nièvre department. Today, we are taking these three decisions, whose illegality is beyond doubt, to the administrative court in Cergy-Pontoise.

To speak up for the foxes, sign our petitions against the relentlessness of which they are victims, and for a radical reform of hunting!

Monkeys used in laboratories infected with tuberculosis? We call on the authorities!

Monkeys used in laboratories infected with tuberculosis? We call on the authorities!
27.05.2024
Monkeys used in laboratories infected with tuberculosis? We call on the authorities!
Animal testing

According to information gathered by our international collective, made up of Abolición Vivisección, Action for Primates, Cheshire Animal Rights Campaigns, Monkey Massacre in Mauritius, One Voice and PeTA, in April 2023, France alerted the Dutch authorities to a case of tuberculosis in a monkey imported into Europe via the Netherlands. Several dozen macaques subsequently tested positive… In addition to the health risks this situation poses for humans, it illustrates once again the terrible fate of animals exploited in experimentation centers. We formally call on the authorities to shed full light on the risk of the disease spreading!

In France, how many macaques are contaminated by tuberculosis in laboratories?

Every year, almost 10,000 individuals are shipped from Mauritius to be exploited in centers from which they will never leave. From capture to death, their lives are a living hell, as we showed in our investigation of the island’s breeding farms, which are partly financed with public money. At the end of 2023, a Mauritian farm won a CNRS invitation to tender for no less than 10 million euros.

Disastrous living conditions are compounded by disease. We alerted public opinion to the tuberculosis epidemic – which had spread as far as Michigan (USA) in the Charles River laboratories and was rampant in the Mauritian breeding farm BioCulture Ltd, leading to mass slaughtering of up to 200 animals a day. These inhumane practices failed to halt the spread of the bacterium – quite the contrary.

In April 2023, the French government sent a report to the NVWA (Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority) on a tuberculosis infection in macaques. Tests subsequently confirmed that several dozen macaques were infected…

Suffering for monkeys … and tuberculosis for humans?

The risk of a domino effect is high, as the disease is extremely contagious and can be transmitted from animals to humans. All this is facilitated by overcrowded conditions that encourage contamination. We have contacted the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Research to obtain full information on the current state of the disease. Over and above what the monkeys are suffering in the laboratories, public health is at stake!

At a time when more than 8 out of 10 French people are in favor of developing alternatives to animal experimentation (IPSOS/One Voice poll, April 2023), help us say stop to the import, trade and use of long-tailed macaques in French laboratories by signing our petition!

Two hearings in Besançon and Toulon to defend wolves against shooting

Two hearings in Besançon and Toulon to defend wolves against shooting
25.05.2024
Two hearings in Besançon and Toulon to defend wolves against shooting
Wildlife

Faced with the growing persecution of wolves, whose population has fallen by 9% in 2023, we are taking drastic steps. At the end of 2022, the Doubs authorities gave the go-ahead for “simple defense shooting” of wolves. With our partners – FERUS and the Pôle Grands Prédateurs – we have asked for this text to be annulled. The hearing takes place on Tuesday May 28, at 10:45 am, at the Besançon administrative court. At the same time, we called, on our own (and without being heard), for an emergency suspension of “reinforced defense shootings” in the Var department. On Monday June 3, at 9:45 am, at the Toulon administrative court, the merits of the case will be debated.

Update June 24, 2024:

Third victory in a week for the wolves! Following on from the Besançon administrative court a few days ago, the Toulon administrative court ruled in our favor today, annulling a decree issued by the Var prefecture authorizing reinforced defense shots, granted in 2022.

The judge admitted that the herd was not protected in an effective and proportionate manner, and that the administration had not provided any proof of the contrary. Worse still: a “diagnosis of vulnerability to wolf predation” had been drawn up by an agent from the Mediterranean Alps pastoral studies and projects center (C.E.R.P.A.M) as early as 2021 (i.e. a year and a half before the shooting authorization was granted). The study recommended several angles for improvement, considered by the author to be essential for the defense of the herd.

The Prefect of the Var department has not provided any details as to why these measures were not taken, nor has he demonstrated that their implementation was impossible.

It’s high time that the State finally took responsibility by supporting and training breeders to protect their animals, instead of handing out shooting permits at will! Wolves are not an adjustment variable for the irresponsibility of some, or even their manifest incompetence.

Derogations from flock protection measures out of principle…..

Leaving sometimes young and vulnerable bovines unguarded, while at the same time handing out permits to shoot wolves? For the public authorities, this means less aid to pay to protect herds of cows, horses or donkeys… Why bother ensuring the safety of animals that will end up in the slaughterhouse anyway? Their breeders will just have to terrorize the wolves instead.

Because, in agreement with the State, it has chosen to consider bovine herds as unprotectable to kill wolves rather than seek peaceful solutions, we have, hand in hand with FERUS and the Pôle Grands Prédateurs, attacked the Doubs prefecture at the end of 2022.

….. and wolf kills granted with eyes closed

A month later, the Var authorities did no better, authorizing reinforced defense shootings with very flimsy justifications… The lack of verification is blatant, with the State contenting itself with farmers’ declarations rather than offering them training or support… The judges ruled that there was no urgency to suspend the shootings. We’ll be at the hearing this time to discuss the substance of the problem.

As if the State’s hostility to wolves wasn’t blatant enough in the new 2024-2029 action plan, and even though 7 out of 10 French people want derogations authorizing lethal shooting to be banned (Ipsos/One Voice poll, September 2023), a ministerial decree published a few weeks ago makes it even easier to slaughter these cousins of dogs, our lifelong companions. Together with Animal Cross and AVES, we have lodged an appeal with the French Conseil d’Etat to have the decree annulled.

On Tuesday May 28, at 10:45 am, we will be at the Besançon administrative court with our partners the Pôle Grands Prédateurs and FERUS to defend the wolves killed in the Doubs department, then on Monday June 3, at 9:45 am at the Toulon administrative court for those in the Var department.

Support our fight by signing our petition so that wolves are finally respected.

The daily atrocity: a new selection of animal experimentation projects in France

The daily atrocity: a new selection of animal experimentation projects in France
24.05.2024
The daily atrocity: a new selection of animal experimentation projects in France
Animal testing

As announced a few days ago, we’re continuing to present you with certain projects, all validated by the French Ministry of Research, involving the use of animals in experiments. Join us, write !

Every day in France, a multitude of animals are subjected to experiments. These projects may be linked to research (fundamental and applied), or to regulatory and toxicological testing.

Between May 13 and 22, 2024, in just ten days, the fate of 28,9493 animals was decided: 17,2134 mice, 89,021 rats, 9,000 bats, 4,698 fish (mainly eels and trouts), 1,965 pigs, 1,670 birds, 869 dogs, 196 horses, 178 rabbits, 174 goats, 106 llamas, 4 monkeys… After being used as laboratory equipment, they will almost all be euthanized.

No species is spared!

The dogs, the majority of whom are beagles and whose breeding farms in France we have repeatedly pointed the finger at, will be subjected to administration of products by gastric intubation, inflicting pain and vomiting, cerebrospinal fluid sampling or force-feeding for gastric juice extraction.

Pigs, or piglets, will undergo coelioscopies, kidney removal followed by the induction of a kidney disease resulting in severe pain, electrode implantation with simulation tests, multiple behavioral tests, or heavy surgeries with irradiation resulting in severe pain.

As for small herbivores, they are always the most affected: 17,2134 mice, 8,9021 rats, 1,480 hamsters, 7,200 guinea pigs and 75 gerbils… Unbelievable but true, the following list is only a selection – representative, of course, but not exhaustive – of published projects:

Exposure to alcohol by various means (free consumption, inhalation or injection) over periods ranging from eight weeks to one year. Rats will be isolated for the entire period and undergo surgical procedures to implant intracranial cannulas, as well as repeated intraperitoneal injections and electric shocks: 4,480 of them will suffer severe pain and be euthanized.
As part of the toxicity evaluation of a product, it will be administered to rodents to assess its effect on the reproductive system. Animals will undergo vaginal lavage prior to mating and alterations in mating behavior, difficulties with implantation, gestation, delivery, lactation, alterations in maternal behavior and adult sexual development as well as fetal and post-natal development of offspring: 14,840 mice and 59,624 rats will be used and euthanized at the end of the procedure ;
Mechanical wounding of the anorectal area. Mice will receive injections and acts of anorectal wounding (twice a week for two or four weeks) where the area will be scraped with a scalpel creating significant pain. Some will receive a transplant via an injection to the anorectal area: 3,424 mice will be used, some of them experiencing severe pain. All will be euthanized ;
Injection of West Nile virus, which can cause death in infected mice less than a week after infection due to neurological damage: 2,380 mice will suffer severe pain and will be euthanized ;
Injection of an immune disease. Animals will receive a maximum of 140 administrations. The appearance of necrosis at the injection site, weakness of the tail, paralysis of the limbs, weight loss and joint inflammation in the limbs can be observed: 2,940 rats will suffer severe pain and will be euthanized ;
Up to 336 administrations, 44 blood samples and numerous behavioral tests to study depression and anxiety: 9,400 mice and 7,200 rats will be used and euthanized at the end of the project ;
Induction of endometriosis and placement of an osmotic mini-pump with severe pain, stress and transient weight loss: 2,400 mice will experience severe pain and will be euthanized ;
Brain damage with epileptic seizures induction and transmitters installation: 2,605 mice will be used, most of them suffering severe pain. All will be euthanized ;
Injection to develop lymphomas. This will cause severe pain, stress and loss of mobility due to large lymph nodes: 1,493 mice will suffer severe pain and will be euthanized ;
Induction of peritonitis: 600 mice will suffer severe pain and be euthanized ;
Production of humanized mice. This involves the use of immunodeficient, genetically modified animals who will undergo transplantation of human stem cells capable of generating a human immune system: 5,120 mice are involved and can be reused in other projects if the conditions are met. If not, they will be euthanized.
Induction of intoxication resulting in weight loss, severe pain, stress, tremors, fasciculations and loss of muscle tone: 920 mice will suffer severe pain and will be euthanized.
Injection of a henipavirus. The project mentions the potential appearance of paralysis, tremors, dizziness or respiratory symptoms: 100 mice will experience severe pain and will be euthanized.
Injection of tumor cells resulting in mild to severe skin lesions (necrosis), movement difficulties or respiratory difficulties: 1,080 mice will experience severe pain and will be euthanized.

We call on laboratories to systematically favor available alternative methods, as required by law, and on professionals to train in animal-free testing. We also urge political representatives to support increased funding for research into these methods. Despite an agreement in principle, real political will is required to move forward, and more investment is needed to put an end to the use of thousands of animals as victims of experimentation.

To put an end to these methods, join us in calling for an end to animal experimentation, and write to the Minister of Higher Education and Research: download the standard letter.

Arche de Noël: the person responsible to be tried on May 27, 2024, One Voice present at the trial

Arche de Noël: the person responsible to be tried on May 27, 2024, One Voice present at the trial
23.05.2024
Arche de Noël: the person responsible to be tried on May 27, 2024, One Voice present at the trial
Zoe Cell

Following our months-long undercover investigation into the fake shelter known as l’Arche de Noël, the authorities, accompanied by animal protection associations, finally moved in on November 30, 2023 to rescue the animals. Two months after the rescue, the man in charge, Noël Azzopardi, was again taken into police custody and placed under judicial supervision pending trial. He will be tried by the Béziers judicial court on May 27, 2024 at 2:00 pm. We’ll be there to demand justice for all the animals who have suffered at the hands of this torturer.

Update 06/18/2024

Noël Azzopardi and his association “Arche de Noël” were found guilty of the charges. He received a suspended prison sentence of twelve months, fines totalling €400, and a ban on working with animals. His association, as a legal entity, was fined €10,000, and is permanently closed. A very light penalty, when he was facing up to 3 years’ imprisonment and a €150,000 fine. As proof of his mistreatment of the animals, a mass grave containing no less than eight dead dogs was found on the day the authorities went to the premises in November 2023.

Update 05/29/2024

After a 4-hour hearing at which we made our arguments heard alongside numerous other animal protection associations, the prosecutor in charge of the case requested :

a 12 months’ suspended prison sentence
a 200€ fine for the defendant and his association
a 5-year ban on keeping certain types of animals, in this case only those seized;
a permanent ban on working with animals.

These are mild sentences given the seriousness of the events. On the day the animals were rescued, a mass grave had been discovered, with no less than eight dog corpses. We are disappointed, but unfortunately not surprised: for years, Noël Azzopardi had openly circumvented the law and mistreated animals for all the world to see. Veterinary reports drawn up ten years earlier had already identified a number of shortcomings. At least since 2019, the authorities have been aware of the existence of a mass grave. However, it wasn’t until 2023 that things finally got moving, following the broadcast of our undercover investigation. The verdict will be delivered on June 17. Almost a hundred dogs, 9 tortoises, 8 Florida tortoises, 2 snakes and numerous birds had been rescued from this hellhole on November 30. Unfortunately, one snake had already died.

Undercover investigation into the heart of horror

In October 2022, we arrived at the Arche de Noël for the first time. Our months-long investigation confirmed the many reports we’d received about this place. In truth, the place that had been called a “refuge” hid an entirely different reality. There, we saw horror and death. Dogs beaten and slaughtered; disastrous hygiene with serious consequences: puppies left to die one after the other of an epidemic, bitches treated like uteruses on legs locked up in rabbit hutches, a site infested with rats who were themselves victims of atrocities; dogs sold under the counter with no guarantees whatsoever, while exotic wild animals were illegally kept in terrible conditions.

We filed an initial complaint in February 2023, accompanied by videos, followed by a supplement in June. However, despite our numerous reminders, it was radio silence, forcing us to publicize the case in November with a petition and a report on TF1.

On November 30, 2023, a seizure of the animals was finally ordered, putting an end to years of mistreatment and animal suffering. At the same time, Azzopardi, the man responsible, was taken into custody and a judicial inquiry was launched.

Trial on May 27, 2024 at the Béziers judicial court

The investigation, which was completed two months later, at the end of January 2024, led to a second police custody, during which the defendant continued to deny the facts despite the evidence we provided thanks to our images.

He was placed under judicial supervision pending trial. He will be tried for several offenses: undeclared work in the sale of dogs, abandoning domestic animals or animals held in captivity by failing to provide them with adequate care and accommodation, opening an establishment holding non-domestic animals without authorization, operating an unregistered environmental facility, and illegal dumping of garbage.

According to the prosecutor’s statements, Noël Azzopardi faces 3 years’ imprisonment and a €150,000 fine, in addition to a ban on practicing or holding animals. His association will also be tried as a legal entity, and faces a fine of up to €750,000.

We will of course be present at the hearing to obtain justice for all those animals who have suffered in this sordid place for years, and to ensure that Noël Azzopardi and his association are never again allowed to hold animals or engage in any activity related to them.

In Lyon, we cohabit with coypus rather than slaughtering them all the time

In Lyon, we cohabit with coypus rather than slaughtering them all the time
22.05.2024
In Lyon, we cohabit with coypus rather than slaughtering them all the time
Wildlife

Every year, hundreds of thousands of coypus are killed in France. To attack them and make the most of their “hobby”, hunters like to resort to an old-fashioned method: archery. As always, the animals pay a high price so that these amateur aspiring Robin Hoods – more like cavemen… – can have a few hours’ fun in the forest. And this despite the fact that alternatives do exist, such as in Lyon, where the city council will be launching sterilization campaigns. Proof that, with the right will, it’s possible to put a stop to the mortiferous approach that too often prevails!

Hunters’ logic: kill!

Kill with a rifle, kill by digging up, kill by trapping…! In the Isère department, we learn that hunters prefer to shoot coypus with a bow! For these animals, it’s a real ordeal: the arrow is rarely lethal on the first shot, and many end up wounded and die after a slow agony, sometimes next to their young.

Beyond its cruelty, the whole approach is absurd. By slaughtering nearly a million foxes a year, who are the coypus’ predators, hunters are upsetting a fragile balance. Then, as always, they come running and claim to be repairing the damage they themselves have caused, by “regulating” the species, as they put it. QED.

More animal-friendly alternatives

Sometimes, political courage can bend this deleterious logic. In the Lyon area, where a few years ago coypus’ bodies were pierced with arrows and their heads crushed with clubs by hunters, the town council has radically changed its approach as part of an “action plan to improve the condition of animals“.

In particular, an experiment is planned to sterilize coypus. This is proof that barbaric measures aimed at killing animals arbitrarily considered to be a nuisance can be replaced by a more respectful approach to these sensitive beings, even if it means still imposing our rules on the wild world, provided the authorities give themselves the means to do so.

Because it is never justified to make animals suffer and kill them, join us in demanding a radical reform of hunting by signing our petition!

Foxes killed and abandoned in a Jura river: hearing on May 23!

Foxes killed and abandoned in a Jura river: hearing on May 23!
21.05.2024
Foxes killed and abandoned in a Jura river: hearing on May 23!
Wildlife

Every year in France, nearly a million red foxes are slaughtered. Hunters, trappers, poachers… all have just one wish: to kill more and more of them, using methods each more appalling than the last. Last March, a lieutenant of louveterie and pests, commissioned by the prefect to carry out yet another massacre, simply abandoned dozens of fox corpses in a river. Together with the Centre Athénas, we filed a complaint. On May 23 at 9am, at the Besançon judicial court, we will be present to ensure that justice is done.

Update of May 23, 2024:

In a decision dated May 23, 2024, the Besançon judicial court sentenced the lieutenant of louveterie and pests who had killed dozens of foxes and dumped their bodies in a river to a €1,000 fine, of which €500 was suspended. A weak penalty, but one that sends a clear message to all those who consider nature to be a dustbin and animals to be waste!

In the Jura department, a lieutenant of louveterie and pests takes foxes for garbage and nature for a dustbin.

In March 2023 in the Jura department, a lieutenant of louveterie and pests, not content with killing foxes, piled their lifeless bodies on the banks of a river and left them to decompose on the spot. Quickly identified thanks to the complaint we filed with the Centre Athénas, the culprit, who acknowledges the facts, will be tried on May 23 at 9am at the Besançon judicial court.

Such actions show a blatant lack of respect for animals. What’s more, their decomposition in a waterway poses a serious pollution risk for all the creatures living there, as well as a major health hazard. We expect an exemplary sentence to send out a strong signal to all those who use nature as their garbage can and morbid playground.

A relentless attack on these cousins of dogs

The foxes of our forests are targeted from all sides: in addition to hunting and administrative beats – which are often illegal – they are victims of underground hunting. Hunted down where they think they’re safest, they are killed with pliers, among other things, after hours of stalking, as we showed in our undercover investigation. As if that weren’t enough, the State has classified them as “ESOD” in dozens of departments. With a simple authorization from the prefect, anyone can ask to have those present on their land killed! We have challenged this iniquitous classification.

While awaiting the decision of the Besançon court, and to say stop to this relentlessness, sign our petition to remove foxes from the “ESOD” list and demand a radical reform of hunting.

Badger digging: suspensions in Aveyron and Cher, new hearings in seven other departments!

Badger digging: suspensions in Aveyron and Cher, new hearings in seven other departments!
21.05.2024
Badger digging: suspensions in Aveyron and Cher, new hearings in seven other departments!
Hunting

While the hunting season has just opened in several departments, administrative courts are once again suspending one after the other the decrees authorizing the supplementary underground venery period (PCVST) for badgers. In the Aveyron department, where we were attacking with AVES, and in the Cher department, where we were alone, the courts ruled in our favor. Nearly 400 individuals will have their lives saved. And this is just the start of a new marathon to save badgers! On May 23, the courts in Rennes and Rouen will examine the tracking operations starting this month in the Eure and Côtes-d’Armor departments at 10.30am and 3pm respectively. On May 30 at 9.45am and June 6 at 10.45am, the courts in Limoges and Orléans will hold hearings to give final rulings on previous years’ orders in five departments (Corrèze, Cher, Loir-et-Cher, Loiret, Eure-et-Loir).

No underground venery in the Aveyron and Cher departments!

Every year at this time of year, nearly 200 badgers are killed in each of these departments. But once again, the judges ruled that there were young badgers in the burrows, and that digging them up endangered them, even though the law protects them.

After our victory, with AVES, in the Finistère department, badgers will now be able to care for their young in three departments without the risk of being hunted down for hours and killed in cold blood. On May 23, in front of the administrative courts of Rennes (at 10:30 a.m., for the Côtes-d’Armor department) and Rouen (at 3 p.m., for the Eure department), we will be doing our utmost to obtain further suspensions.

Meanwhile, files from previous years are in the process of being definitively settled.

Last year, we launched no fewer than 37 emergency appeals against the supplementary period. The result: 31 victories, and nearly 4,000 badgers saved! For these cases, once the emergency period is over, the courts must give their final verdict. On May 30 in Limoges (Corrèze 2023 PCVST decree) and June 6 in Orléans (Cher 2024, Loir-et-Cher 2023, Eure-et-Loir 2023 and Loiret 2023), they will be able to confirm their position against all these decrees, which they have already suspended.

If they rule in our favor, then the message sent to the prefects will be crystal clear: stop authorizing the supplementary underground hunting period! Enough is enough, stop adopting year after year orders that everyone knows to be illegal! It’s high time that the authorities, instead of systematically taking the hunters’ side, finally sided with the general interest, the law… and the animals.

For all badgers, support us, sign the petition to ban digging and demand protection for badgers, and even more widely, for a radical reform of hunting!

The documentary produced by Terra Mater studios, Orca – Black & White Gold, by Emmy award-winning screenwriter Mark Monroe, will be screened at the Cannes film market

The documentary produced by Terra Mater studios, Orca – Black & White Gold, by Emmy award-winning screenwriter Mark Monroe, will be screened at the Cannes film market
15.05.2024
The documentary produced by Terra Mater studios, Orca – Black & White Gold, by Emmy award-winning screenwriter Mark Monroe, will be screened at the Cannes film market
Press release

On the occasion of the launch of the film Orca – Black & White Gold in France on May 20 (entry by free registration or accreditation), One Voice is joining forces with the impact campaign for this documentary film, whose team supports the French animal rights organization’s long-term work for the orcas in the tanks of Antibes.

What struck the filmmaker in particular about One Voice’s tireless work was their previously unrivalled success in blocking the departure of this family to another dolphinarium (as early as 2020 in China, then more recently just a few months ago in Japan), to enable the orcas exhibited and trained at Marineland to discover life in a marine sanctuary, as close as possible to a life worth living, after having known only captivity and the repeated deaths of their loved ones in the tanks.

Today, Terra Mater Studios announces its new docu-thriller Orca – Black & White Gold from Emmy Award-winning screenwriter Mark Monroe (The Dissident; The Cove). The film marks the debut of Terra Mater producer Sarah Nörenberg as a filmmaker. Orca – Black & White Gold will screen next week at the Marché du Film during the Cannes Film Festival, after winning several festival awards, including Best Film at the Jackson Wild Media Awards, and the HP Social Impact Award at the Blue Water Film Festival.

The film is being screened on May 20, 2024 from 2:30 to 4:00 pm at the IMAX Cineum Cannes, 13, avenue Maurice Chevalier, in cooperation with the Blue Water Institute. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Sarah Nörenberg and Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice (free admission with registration).

Orca – Black & White Gold offers an unprecedented look at the international trade in endangered orcas, with unprecedented access to activists, former orca trainers and the captors themselves. With a unique 360-degree perspective and access to the mafia businessman behind this multimillion-dollar global trade, this gripping and topical film shows how the export of an American business model is influencing the illegal trade in endangered wild killer whales on every continent.

Screenwriter Mark Monroe won the Emmy for Best Writing for a Non-Fiction Program in 2022 for Lucy and Desi, and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2021 for the documentary The Dissident. Monroe also wrote the Oscar-winning films The Cove and Icarus. Sarah Nörenberg, from Terra Mater, is known for Yours in Freedom, Bill Baird, Tarzan and Sea of Shadows. Composer Sonya Belousova created the original score for Orca and is known for Netflix’s The Witcher and One Piece.

Terra Mater Studios is implementing a hybrid strategy to maximize the film’s distribution and reach audiences worldwide. The studio is actively interested in partnerships with distributors, while retaining educational rights for private and virtual events, with organizations such as One Voice, to share the film with audiences worldwide.

To release captured orcas into marine sanctuaries, Terra Mater Studios actively works with organizations such as The Earth Island Institute, which was responsible for the release of Keiko, the star orca of Free Willy.

Many orcas are still in captivity around the world, making this film an urgent call to action for the public to join the campaign against this trade and help save these animals from a life of forced breeding and captivity. Currently, the world’s only family of orcas in captivity lives in Antibes, France, and is threatened with being sent to another marine park. One Voice has led a successful campaign to ban the orcas’ relocation until an independent expert assessment has been carried out.

“I made this film after realizing that even 31 years after Free Willy and 11 years after Blackfish, we still have just as many orcas in captivity around the world. The market is simply moving from West to East. ORCA – BLACK & WHITE GOLD shines a spotlight on the realities of orca capture and captivity in the Far East, continuing to rally public support for the rejection of a morally bankrupt international market. The commercial value of orcas (originally around $10 million per animal) only increased after the Russian trade was seized. This business of displaying marine mammals for show began in the West with SeaWorld and is still active today. We have a moral duty, as a society and as a role model for the children who visit these parks, to pass on an education based on ethics and allow these sentient and intelligent beings to reach marine sanctuaries whenever possible.”

Sarah Nörenberg, director and producer of Orca – Black & White Gold “Russia has been a major player in the captivity industry, generating millions of dollars and immense suffering for orcas, as the film so aptly shows. In France, the only family of orcas in captivity in the world is threatened with transfer to another dolphinarium. I truly hope that audiences who see Sarah’s film will open their eyes and their hearts, as it must be the final nail in the coffin of this abominable industry.”
Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice

About Orca – Black & White Gold

Chronicling the capture and release of 100 orcas and belugas in the Russian Far East and their rescue from a tragic fate in one of China’s SeaWorld-inspired aquariums, the film follows the captured animals’ journey through urban Russia, the frozen Kamchatka Peninsula in the Sea of Okhotsk, and the thriving Chinese marine park industry. While investigating the marine animal entertainment industry that emerged in the West decades ago, Orca – Black & White Gold documents the ongoing battle between a network of Russian businessmen, mobsters, orca capturers and bureaucrats who now run the global captivity trade, and the formidable resistance of journalists and activists who take great personal risks to protect the animals.

The outcome will determine whether the animals can survive the damage done to their population by the global marine park industry and spend the rest of their lives in a coastal sanctuary – or whether the fate of this threatened population is already sealed.

www.orcafilm.net

Notes on the film’s impact

ORCA – BLACK & WHITE GOLD is the latest in a series of films that have raised public awareness of the plight of orcas in captivity. But even 31 years after Free Willy and 11 years after Blackfish, there are still just as many orcas in captivity around the world. The market has simply shifted from West to East. ORCA – BLACK & WHITE GOLD shines a spotlight on the realities of orca capture and captivity in the Far East, continuing to rally the public to reject an unethical international market.
Today, 22 orcas are in captivity in China. All were captured in the wild by the capture team featured in ORCA – BLACK & WHITE GOLD, or were born to these captive orcas.

About Terra Mater Studios

Terra Mater Studios is a Red Bull subsidiary based in Vienna, Austria, with an additional office in Berlin. In 2024, the company was ranked by Realscreen as one of the world’s top 10 producers of factual films. Terra Mater Studios produces documentaries, fiction, factual programming, formats, digital content, media labs and much more. Terra Mater is committed to the highest production values of visual excellence, innovative technology and powerful storytelling. The company’s diverse portfolio includes over 300 hours, rewarded with more than 450 international film festival awards and over 1200 nominations. Ecological production guidelines are applied to all projects.

In the tradition of its feature-length documentaries – including THE IVORY GAME (Netflix Original, Oscar-nominated) and SEA OF SHADOWS (National Geographic Documentary Films, 2019, Sundance Audience Award), for which Leonardo DiCaprio is executive producer – Terra Mater Studios places great importance on a powerful story that resonates more deeply with audiences.

Project credits:

Directed by : Sarah Nörenberg
Producted by : Walter Köhler, Sarah Nörenberg, Michael Frenschkowski
Executive producers : Laura Nix, Dinah Czezik-Müller
Written by : Mark Monroe

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