News Archive - Page 16 of 144

Ubellule, another victim of jaw traps!

Ubellule, another victim of jaw traps! 06.03.2025
Mainvilliers, Eure-et-Loir
Ubellule, another victim of jaw traps! Domestic animals

Caught in the steel jaws, Ubellule must have been terrified. The little cat has suffered an open fracture and dislocation and may need to have her toe amputated. We have filed a complaint on behalf of this latest collateral victim of traps.

Ubellule is only 17 months old. Like all little cats her age, she is curious, loves to explore the surroundings of her home in Mainvilliers (Eure-et-Loir), and to bask in the sun. On 28 February, around midday, she set off for a carefree stroll. Twenty minutes later, her family found her in agony on the terrace, a jaw trap attached to her paw. What happened in the meantime? How did Ubellule manage to drag herself home? As these traps are designed for larger animals – they are also known as wolf traps – it is likely that someone unhooked the chain holding her prisoner: Ubellule could never have freed herself.

To free her paw from the steel jaws, her human had to call on her neighbours for help. Shortly afterwards, the vet made the diagnosis: Ubellule had suffered an open fracture and dislocation of the third phalanx on her second toe, was at risk of amputation and was trying to recover from the trauma. Because beyond the physical injuries, hunters’ traps cause profound distress and intense stress to all wild and domestic animals that fall victim to them.

In her misfortune, Ubellule was lucky. Not all are so fortunate, and the young cat is far from being an isolated case. Last year, Snooky was trapped in the Loire-Atlantique region. Before him, there was also Cooper, Red Collar, who lost a paw, and Mani, who was found dying. Tigrou died.

Stop the impunity

And yet, jaw traps have been banned since 1995! Their presence everywhere in the wild, despite a law that dates back three decades, is proof of the lack of control and the total impunity enjoyed by the hunting community. Hunters are also authorised to use snare traps. And they do not hesitate to do so. Every year, they indiscriminately decimate our familiar companions and wild animals: foxes, martens, pine martens, polecats, but also protected animals such as forest cats and even wolves. Some are strangled, others endure a slow agony for several days and eventually die of hunger and thirst. All of them go through a real ordeal!

For Ubellule, we will go to court. As we did for Cooper, Mani, Tigrou and all the others.

Back in 2018, One Voice called for a ban on these indiscriminate traps which kill wild as well as domestic animals and even protected animals. It is high time to radically reform hunting and urgently ban the most cruel practices.

Europe won over to the lobbies, wolves pay the price

Europe won over to the lobbies, wolves pay the price
06.03.2025
Europe Europe won over to the lobbies, wolves pay the price
Wildlife

March 6, 2025 will forever be a terrible day for biodiversity. Wolves have officially been downgraded in the Bern Convention, because Europe has submitted itself to lobbies with greedy and destructive wishes. But the fight for wolves and ecosystems has only just begun, and we will be, as we have always been, at the forefront of their defense.

A dark period for wolves and biodiversity as a whole…

March 6, 2025. That’s it, Europe went straight for disaster, biodiversity head first. Wolves have been downgraded in the Bern Convention. The European Commission had to wait until this date to propose its adaptation of the Habitats Directive accordingly. This will make them even more of a target for those who want them dead at any price.

Who has been rubbing their hands for weeks now, torpedoing years of wildlife protection efforts? Breeders, hunters and the public decision-makers under their thumb.

During an exchange between the Parliament and the Commission, MEP Valérie Deloge applauded the Commission’s decision and asserted the need to “reaffirm the primacy of agriculture and livestock farming over the ideology of rewilding, because without our breeders, there will be no more European food sovereignty.”

As for Lozère senator Guylène Pantel, she’s not ashamed to claim that “if one animal is slaughtered, that’s one less animal on the territory.”

Are these two lobbies fanatics not aware that, without wolves, there would be no viable ecosystems? They are ignoring science and the opinion of 86% of French people, who consider that these animals have their rightful place in nature.

Wolves are no longer strictly protected in Europe, sold out to the lobbies of leisure hunting and insatiable intensive agriculture. How far will the puppets of the European Commission go, doing their bidding and selling off our infinitely precious and fragile heritage? When will we see courageous politicians standing up to defend it and put a stop to a cowardice that is as destructive as it is disgusting?” Muriel Arnal President of One Voice

… but the fight for the cubs goes on!

Downgrading is coming into force in the Bern Convention, and certainly very soon in the European Union, but our warnings have not gone unheeded: our joint request for the European wolf cubs before the European Court of Justice has been accepted.

We have long been ready for this long obstacle course and will not abandon these wonderful animals, thanks to a colossal inter-associative commitment!

In Europe, as in France, we are ready to take legal action whenever wolves are harmed: from their scientifically unfounded downgrading, to the relaxation of conditions for killing wolves, to shooting orders with no legal basis, the list goes on and on, but we are relentless in our fight against these cruel and unfounded decisions.

To support wolves and stop their persecution, sign our petition.

In the Gers region, an order to cull 660 foxes for “experimental” purposes

In the Gers region, an order to cull 660 foxes for “experimental” purposes
27.02.2025
Gers
In the Gers region, an order to cull 660 foxes for “experimental” purposes
Wildlife

In the Gers department, four lieutenants of louveterie and pests have been given free rein until December 2025 to kill 660 foxes in the name of a pseudo-study aimed at gaining a better understanding of their diet. This is utter nonsense, given that several thousand foxes are already killed in this region every year. One Voice is challenging these decrees and will be at the Pau Administrative Court on 4 March at 2:30 p.m. to seek their urgent suspension.

Constantly hunted, foxes know no respite

The prefect has given carte blanche to the lieutenants of louveterie and pests. The aim? To examine foxes’ stomachs to find out more about the diet of these red-coated animals. The usefulness of this study is questionable, not to mention the many non-lethal alternatives that could have been implemented. The killings will be carried out day and night, by all means, in 70 municipalities. And once again, the prefect is taking advantage of the situation to transfer to sworn hunters the responsibility of deciding where, when and how they will intervene. One can easily imagine them delighted: “If you want something done right, do it yourself!”

This is no longer just inconsistent, it is outright persecution. It is difficult to imagine animals that are easier to kill: classified as ESOD, they can be dug out of their burrows, trapped and shot all year round. While we await the outcome of our appeal against this audacious classification, it is a bloodbath. Not to mention recreational hunting, which begins on 1 June for these animals, instead of September for other species.

Hunting in the name of science: a new trend in France?

The state is prepared to do whatever it takes to authorise the killing of wild animals in the name of the sacrosanct “leisure” of a small influential minority. Last-minute publication of decrees, the opening of certain hunts in several stages in order to confuse us, as well as unlimited hunts –we are used to these plots.

Never short of ideas, it is now invoking science, as it so often does to authorise massacres in the name of experimentation. But this is not entirely new: after our repeated victories against traditional hunts, the state is seeking to reintroduce them in the name of “scientific experimentation”, which we managed to suspend partially.

We are challenging these four decrees in order to combat the persecution of foxes and the misuse of science. We will be present on 4 March at 2.30 p.m. at the administrative court in Pau. In the meantime, please sign our petitions to demand a radical reform of hunting and the removal of foxes from the list of animals that can be killed without restriction!

No to the beheading of animals at the Lesmont festival!

No to the beheading of animals at the Lesmont festival!
26.02.2025
Aube
No to the beheading of animals at the Lesmont festival!
Exploitation for shows

We have been informed by a whistle-blower of the annual goose neck “game” at the Lesmont festival in the Aube region. While the 2025 program has yet to be unveiled, we call on the village to abandon this tradition, which is cruel to animals and deleterious to spectators -including minors- who are encouraged to cheer for the worst violence.

It’s not just in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region that geese, hens, ducks and rabbits are killed before having their bodies decapitated to “entertain” the gallery. In 2015, the Lesmont patron saint’s festival, in the Grand-Est region, saw fit to conclude its festive weekend with bloodshed. What better way to end on a high note than to blindfold yourself and slit the throat of an animal put to death for the occasion? In 2024, although the event was renamed Lesmont’s Festival in 2017, nothing had changed: the “goose neck” was still on the program, slipped discreetly between two concerts.

Festivities marred by barbarism

Under the pretext of tradition, we should continue, year after year, to mutilate corpses? Even if it means inculcating in young people, whether they are encouraged to applaud or participate, that the lives of animals have no value, and that empathy is a quality they must discard? The perfect recipe for making our society even more violent…

We will never cease to denounce this practice, as we did in Beaux, in the Haute-Loire region, and then in Arfeuilles, in the Allier region. At the end of summer 2023, our investigative images of the Saint-Bonnet-Près-Riom patron saint’s festival, together with our complaint against the organizers, led to its cancellation in the village in 2024. We call on the Lesmont events committee to abandon this morbid custom too.

For the geese, rabbits, chickens and ducks targeted every year, sign our petition to demand the abolition of this practice throughout France.

Illustration photo from our images at Saint-Bonnet-Près-Riom in 2023

Suspicious death of the wounded wolf in the Saône-et-Loire region? We request a copy of the autopsy report

Suspicious death of the wounded wolf in the Saône-et-Loire region? We request a copy of the autopsy report
26.02.2025
Saône-et-Loire
Suspicious death of the wounded wolf in the Saône-et-Loire region? We request a copy of the autopsy report
Wildlife

On Sunday February 16, the crippled wolf that had been the target of a relentless attack in the Saône-et-Loire region for over a year was found lifeless. On Monday, the Chalon-sur-Saône public prosecutor’s office announced the opening of an investigation into the wolf’s death. Why? Did the autopsy reveal a possible act of poaching? We have requested access to it. And we’re filing a complaint against a person unknown.

He was the last wolf in the department. Since he was wounded in the leg in December 2023, he had survived with difficulty, still a victim of the obsession of breeders and authorities determined to finish him off. Our proposal to the prefecture to take him in had gone unheeded… In its view, it was clearly better to wait for him to die, one way or another. In mid-February, its wishes were granted.

But the story doesn’t end there. Yesterday, the Chalon-sur-Saône public prosecutor’s office announced the opening of an investigation into the wolf’s death. Why are the courts taking up the case? Has the autopsy revealed that it was not a natural death? Was the wolf shot illegally? Or worse, had he been cowardly poisoned, like others before him?

Wherever wolves are endangered, we counterattack

In the Alpes-Maritimes region, too, the authorities are stubborn. So much so, in fact, that they are extending the reinforced defense shootings, without carrying out any new examination of the situation. We have, of course, called for these measures to be suspended as a matter of urgency.

Nurtured by the powerful livestock and hunting lobbies, hostility to wolves is such that the European Commission has not hesitated to call for an accelerated adoption of the proposal to downgrade these animals. A lethal measure at a time when wolf populations remain fragile, and for which there is no scientific justification. We immediately made an inter-associative request, which was accepted. With our partners, we are now taking our arguments to the European Court of Justice. And we’re launching the European Action Wolves campaign to amplify the voice of wolf defenders throughout Europe.

Join the mobilization by signing our petition to put an end to the persecution of wolves.

Justice for Aslan, a wolfdog killed at point-blank range with a hunting rifle

Justice for Aslan, a wolfdog killed at point-blank range with a hunting rifle
21.02.2025
Alpes-Maritimes
Justice for Aslan, a wolfdog killed at point-blank range with a hunting rifle
Domestic animals

How far will they go? Tens of millions of wild animals are slaughtered each year during hunting season, but that’s not enough for them: pets are also victims of this deadly pastime and its accompanying horrors. While in 2020 Willy Schraen supported the trapping of cats, on 17 February a dog was shot in cold blood in the Alpes-Maritimes region while out walking with his owner. Perhaps this animal was targeted because of its resemblance to a wolf… We demand justice for Aslan and are filing a complaint!

Animal killers who are all powerful and unpunished, know no bounds

On 17 February, as they had done every day since they were puppies, Aslan and Nala’s family took their dogs for a walk in the forest in the commune of Peille (Alpes-Maritimes). A few moments of inattention were enough. As Aslan strayed a few metres away from the family, a first shot rang out, followed by unbearable cries of pain. Then a second shot, and silence. No trace of the shooter. Their companion was lying on the ground, his body riddled with pellets.

The seven-year-old wolfdog had already been targeted by hunters because of his appearance. One of them had even made explicit threats: “If we ever see your dog, we’ll shoot him”. This is further proof of the hatred directed at animals that resemble wolves, at a time when the European Commission is preparing to lower their protection status in the face of relentless pressure from agricultural lobbies.

How many victims will it take before something is done?

An X-ray of Aslan’s body revealed hundreds of pellets scattered throughout his body, suggesting that the shots were fired at close range. Aslan thus joins the sad list of domestic animals killed by increasingly dangerous weapons, like Memphis, Connemara, Olympe and New Song, horses who died “accidentally” from bullets and pellets. Not to mention those who have been maimed by the traps that litter the ground in our countryside, such as Snooky and Cooper.

We are filing a complaint to obtain justice for Aslan in support of his family, who called on us for help. Yet another case dismissed without further action would be unacceptable: the justice system must do everything in its power to identify the perpetrator. Join us in demanding, again and again, peace for wolves and a radical reform of hunting!

Our joint request on behalf of wolves to the European Court of Justice was accepted!

Our joint request on behalf of wolves to the European Court of Justice was accepted!
19.02.2025
Europe
Our joint request on behalf of wolves to the European Court of Justice was accepted!
Wildlife

Our inter-association request to the European Court of Justice has taken one step further: it has been accepted! With our four partners, we look forward to defending our arguments before the Court, so that Europe’s wolves can live in peace.

Now the fight for Europe’s wolf cubs has taken a new turn: our request, filed in December 2024 with four other European associations before the Court of Justice of the European Union, has begun.

When the European Union forgets about science to the detriment of wolves…

Too prompt to harm wolves, the Council of the European Union (EU) had underestimated internationally important reports and calls from the scientific community indicating that their population in Europe was not immune to significant risks.

As it happens, the lack of scientific basis for the downgrading of canids was also highlighted in a recent scientific report on the ecology and genetics of large carnivores, funded by the EU.

The European Union, caught in its own trap: what’s the point of requesting scientific reports only to end up not following them and not relying on the best available science? And then disregard the principles of proportionality and precaution, which are necessary for derogations under the species protection system?

…we fight back and are heard by the courts!

Along with our partners, we are delighted to see that our arguments have been heard by the European Court of Justice. What satisfaction to have the opportunity to defend our request against the downgrading of wolves before the EU Court!

The legal work essential for this request was made possible thanks to the Gallifrey Foundation, which donated the funding for the legal costs, and to the work of the team at the Luca d’Agostino law firm.

We invite you to join us in joining forces: if you are a non-profit organization registered in the European Union, you can write to the following address: wolveseuropeancourtcase@greenimpact.it

Sign our petition to put an end to the persecution of wolves orchestrated by politicians.

Reinforced defense shots against wolves illegally extended: One Voice confronts the Alpes-Maritimes prefect!

Reinforced defense shots against wolves illegally extended: One Voice confronts the Alpes-Maritimes prefect!
Alpes-Maritimes Reinforced defense shots against wolves illegally extended: One Voice confronts the Alpes-Maritimes prefect!
Wildlife

At the beginning of January 2025, the Prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes region extended the deadline for killing wolves in the department by extending the reinforced defense shooting permits of six livestock farmers. All without deigning to check that their situation still met the conditions for maintaining these shots with a tenfold effect. On February 26 at 8.45am*, we will be asking the Nice administrative court to suspend these texts, which we believe are blatantly illegal.

In France, any excuse is good for facilitating the extermination of wolves: from the irresponsible government’s position that cattle herds cannot be protected, to the numerous illegal decrees issued by prefects! The Alpes-Maritimes prefect is no exception, renewing for 2025 the reinforced defense shooting authorizations granted to six farmers in 2024. The problem? Apart from his perpetual wolf-bashing, he didn’t see fit to check that the conditions for extending these texts were still in place. And yet, the law requires it!

A prefect who issues shootings indiscriminately, flouting the law

The prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes region no longer even bothers to do his job. He is supposed to re-examine the particular situation of the beneficiaries before once again allowing them to shoot wolves from all sides: literally up to 10 shooters can target at the same time those unfortunate enough to venture near the farm animals.

Worse still, the prefect doesn’t care about the rigor required for derogations to the (still) strict protection of species. Indeed, he has not even made the effort to write specific recitals for each beneficiary: the decrees are virtually identical!

Over-indulgent with breeders and quick to harm wolves, he limited himself to a general affirmation of the implementation of protective means, without checking their effectiveness as it was his duty to do before extending the death warrants for wolf cubs and their families for the year 2025.

Progressive, gradual killing: wolves’ lives illegally taken

Those “likely” to attack the herds (which are then led to the slaughterhouse without the tears or cries of their owners) are supposedly killed gradually: first “gently” (euphemism) with three simultaneous shooters, then “violently” by mobilizing the equivalent of a combat group to assault them with gunfire. After all, wolves are still a protected species, and the last thing we need is to give the impression that the public services are out to get them. That’s a likely story!

As the Prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes region is abusing his position, it is urgent to suspend the effects of these orders. When the judge grants us a hearing to overturn them, it will be too late for the wolves already killed because of irresponsible decrees! Let’s not allow the massacre of animals that are precious in their own right, and that have their rightful place in nature in fact as well as in the eyes of the majority of French people.

To put an end to the abominations suffered by wolves, sign our petition!

*Our hearing originally scheduled for Wednesday February 26 has been moved by the Nice Administrative Court to Friday February 28 at 9:30 am. We’ll be there for the wolves!

Six associations, including One Voice, are swinging into action to defend chamois

Six associations, including One Voice, are swinging into action to defend chamois
France
Six associations, including One Voice, are swinging into action to defend chamois
Wildlife

Persecuted by hunters, poached by elected officials, denounced for spurious reasons, chamois are in distress. Nature and animal protection associations, including One Voice, are rushing to their rescue. Together with our partners ASPAS, Focale pour le Sauvage, Humanimo, Pôle Grands Prédateurs and Vigie Jura, we are expressing our dissatisfaction to the public authorities. Joint letters, legal action… We are using all the means at our disposal to stop the persecution of these animals.

From the Doubs to the Alpes-Maritimes region, via the Territoire de Belfort, chamois are the victims of a huge disinformation campaign.

Indifferent politicians, or worse, chamois poachers

Chamois are peaceful animals, capable of self-regulation, that delight mountain walkers when they are lucky enough to spot them. However, to please hunters and farmers, prefects accuse them of being “aggressive” towards animals destined for slaughter or of “damaging” forests. How ironic! They are an integral part of the mountains, just like other high-altitude creatures, which are also being hunted down.

Sold out to hunting lobbies, prefects are destroying wildlife and their habitat (which is incidentally ours). Why would they be interested in the lives of these animals, or at least their role in the environment, while they can get gun owners on their side ?

Public decision-makers are so committed to destroying biodiversity that they sometimes poach chamois themselves.

It’s only a short step from letters to the courts to chamois!

The hatred of chamois knows no boundaries between departments: despite a drastically declining population, the Drôme region wanted to cull 1,000 in the spring of 2024, and the Doubs region almost 600 this winter.

Chamois are peaceful animals that cause no trouble to anyone in the mountains, where our human species occupies every single inch of land. On the contrary, encountering them on a mountain trail is just magic ! We must protect their habitat and leave them in peace, for their sake and for future generations.” Muriel Arnal President of One Voice

The State remains decidedly blind and deaf to living in harmony with nature and the other inhabitants of the planet. And this is not the first time that the Doubs prefecture has been in the news…

After the peregrine falcons and the big ravens, we will not let it attack the chamois in this way. Following multiple letters co-written with our partners ASPAS, Focale pour le Sauvage, Humanimo, Pôle Grands Prédateurs and Vigie Jura, the executive continues to turn a deaf ear (or perhaps it has selective hearing: only the wishes of hunters are the frequencies it picks up).

You can read our joint letter by clicking here.

In alliance with ASPAS, we have taken legal action against the Doubs decree on hunting plans for chamois for 2024/2025.

Sign the petition to implement about ten urgent measures to radically reform hunting.

In regards to forced swimming tests on rats: the Ministry of Research wants anonymity from the public and to continue inhumane testing without disclosure…

In regards to forced swimming tests on rats: the Ministry of Research wants anonymity from the public and to continue inhumane testing without disclosure…
18.02.2025
France
In regards to forced swimming tests on rats: the Ministry of Research wants anonymity from the public and to continue inhumane testing without disclosure…
Animal testing

Since 2022, One Voice has been fighting to obtain information about a project involving forced swimming and electric shocks on hundreds of rats.

The Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MESR) has, as usual, turned a deaf ear to our requests. Despite the court ruling in our favour, it continues to withhold documents, allowing us to see only what is convenient for it. The road to transparency about what animals suffer in laboratories is long, and the ministry is not making our task easy, but we will not give up!

One animal experimentation project caught our attention in 2022. It had the charming name “Modulation of tVTA in mood disorders” or, in other words, “how to induce depression and anxiety in rodents”. The answer is simple: by subjecting them to dozens of electric shocks and endless forced swimming tests. We requested the documents regarding the project from the MESR, but received no response.

After an initial statement was filed in October 2022, the hearing on 23 October 2024 before the Paris Administrative Court ruled in our favour. The court’s case law is clear: the ministry cannot refuse to disclose documents relating to the authorisation of an experimental procedure.

However, the decision allows “the concealment of information relating to privacy or business secrecy”. This information was taken literally by the Ministry, which continued to conceal everything in order to mask the reality of what the animals are suffering:

The Ministry only shows its public what it wants to!

But the minimum he shows is still damning…

Nevertheless, we are not duped! We have therefore taken the matter to court to ask for the judgement to be properly enforced and for these documents to be disclosed so that we can learn more about what these hundreds of rodents endured.

Let us remain mobilised in favour of real transparency for animals and their use by various institutions in France! Join us in calling for an end to these archaic tests by signing our petition.