News Archive - Page 19 of 146

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.

Pregnant or ill? Wikie’s worrying weight gain at Marineland

Pregnant or ill? Wikie’s worrying weight gain at Marineland
Antibes Pregnant or ill? Wikie’s worrying weight gain at Marineland
Exploitation for shows

Since the captivity lobby confirmed the imminent departure of Wikie and Keijo to the Tenerife dolphinarium, the days have gone by with their share of news, both good (Agnès Pannier-Runacher’s mobilization for a dolphin sanctuary in Europe) and bad (the filing of permit applications to export the dolphins).

We are sending the Minister of Ecological Transition the factual and legal elements opposing this departure towards endless exploitation.

On this occasion, we also reveal Wikie’s strong weight gain in recent months – noticed by several observers, including Tilikum Spirit and whistle-blowers – and question her team about the reasons for it.

Is it an ongoing pregnancy? Until now, Wikie had never gained weight during the park’s annual closures. The only occasions when this had been observed were her previous pregnancies. Orcas’ gestation lasts 17 to 18 months, so the father could be Keijo, but it could also be her brother Inouk, or his other deceased son Moana. There is also the possibility of artificial insemination, or a health problem…

Has the government done what is necessary to ensure that Wikie and Keijo would be able to survive the planned trip? What would be the departure date? For the time being, the independent expert assessment we obtained in court has not been completed, and it prohibits any transfer.

So many unanswered questions. The future of the last two “French” orcas is at stake, and we’re doing everything we can for them.

We’ll be out in front of Marineland in Antibes again this Saturday, February 15. And we are in contact with our partners in Tenerife to take action in front of Loro Parque. We will remain extremely vigilant, in coordination with our French and Mediterranean partners.

Europe united to save the wolves: launch of the “European Action Wolves” campaign

Europe united to save the wolves: launch of the “European Action Wolves” campaign
12.02.2025
Europe Europe united to save the wolves: launch of the “European Action Wolves” campaign
Wildlife

On February 10, 2025, a broad coalition of NGOs, associations, committed citizens and public figures joined forces to create the European Action Wolves – #EAW campaign.

This initiative aims to prevent the downgrading of the wolves’ protection status, a decision voted on December 3, 2024 by the member States of the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention.

Urgent action needed for wolves

Although wolf populations in Europe are very fragile, they are subject to numerous culling and “regulation” plans. Some countries, such as Sweden, have not waited for the change in status to be definitively approved before sharply increasing shooting quotas for this species. Five associations, including One Voice, have made a request to the European Court of Justice against the failure to meet the implementation deadline.

From March 6, 2025, if nothing is done, wolves will lose their status as a “strictly protected” species and become merely “protected”, exposing these animals and ecosystems to considerable risks. We therefore have three weeks to act.

A citizens’ revolt to come

The campaign will kick off with a hard-hitting call-to-action video, widely relayed on major digital media such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube. The video will carry a message from personalities from eighteen countries. Every citizen will be encouraged to get involved by following the instructions on our website EuropeanActionWolves.org. In particular, they will be invited to address the delegates of the member countries of the Bern Convention, as well as the various Ministers of Agriculture and the Environment, and finally the members of the European Parliament.

Throughout the campaign, content will be produced and distributed by committed artists, influencers, NGO partners and celebrities, enabling everyone to express their views and make the voice of science heard.

A serious and irresponsible decision

In an alarming context in which the 27 countries of the European Union, joined by Liechtenstein, Andorra, Switzerland, Norway, Macedonia, Serbia, Armenia, Iceland and Ukraine, have approved the downlisting of gray wolves, only five countries have spoken out against the proposal. These were the United Kingdom, Monaco, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Tunisia and Turkey chose to abstain.

However, a survey carried out in November 2023 among ten thousand people living in rural areas of ten European countries (Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Denmark, Sweden and Romania) revealed that the population of the Old Continent was largely in favor of protecting wolves and other large carnivores such as lynxes and bears. Indeed, 72% of those polled considered it essential to maintain strict protection for these species, which are vital to the balance of ecosystems.

In November 2024, no fewer than 693 scientists and wildlife experts voiced their concern and alerted the European Union to the danger posed by this decision.

Join the European Action Wolves movement!

Today, NGOs, associations and activists are calling on everyone to join the European Action Wolves movement. Together, let’s join forces to preserve gray wolves and, by extension, the biodiversity and ecosystems whose health is intimately linked to our own. Beyond their ecological role, wolves have an intrinsic right to life. This right is enshrined in the Bern Convention, but legislators have chosen to ignore it. This is why we must act.

To support and guarantee the success of this campaign, which you can follow on our social networks, we and our partners are at your disposal for any media collaboration.

Marineland applies for orca export permits and Loro Parque looks forward to welcoming Wikie and Keijo

Marineland applies for orca export permits and Loro Parque looks forward to welcoming Wikie and Keijo
11.02.2025
Antibes
Marineland applies for orca export permits and Loro Parque looks forward to welcoming Wikie and Keijo
Exploitation for shows

Following confirmation that the orcas held by Marineland Antibes were to be sent even further from their parents’ Icelandic home waters to Loro Parque, in the Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, and that the application for export authorization would be submitted in the next few days, we are once again mobilizing for Wikie and Keijo. For the animals, against the government’s pretence, against the greed and cynicism of the captivity industry. This February 15, we’ll be back in front of Marineland.

Yesterday, it was confirmed that Loro Parque was preparing to “welcome” Marineland’s orcas. Alas, nothing really new, following the announcements by the French Minister for Ecological Transition (MTE). Despite the IGEDD report, Agnès Pannier Runacher had decided against Japan (late… if we hadn’t blocked the transfer of the orcas at the beginning of 2024, they’d be there) and had written to the Whale Sanctuary Project brushing aside the sanctuary solution with a wave of her hand, the opposite of the choice made by her scientific advisors… Today, the French park also confirms its desire to accelerate.

Why respect justice when you’ve got the executive in your pocket?

Clearly, Marineland and probably the Ministry of Ecology are wiping their feet on court rulings. As a reminder, the independent expertise ordered by the court and obtained by One Voice has still not been completed, and the ban confirmed by the Aix en Provence Court of Appeal on December 5 on transferring Wikie and Keijo anywhere is still in force.

If an application for a permit is made, despite the judicial ban, our lawyers are ready to challenge it.

Marineland Antibes, the Japanese dolphinarium or the one in Spain: no lesser evil for orcas to choose

They’d have us believe that Loro Parque, the place where four orcas have died in recent years, is a decent solution. Who are they kidding? What kind of animal welfare are we talking about when we send Wikie and Keijo to rot in these tiny pools?

At Marineland, the detained orcas are a family, there’s no conflict, and Wikie the matriarch regulates her little world (which is getting smaller and smaller…). At Loro Parque, on the other hand, there is a lot of fighting, and the orcas are aggressive towards each other. Morgan’s body bore 600 bite marks in the first few years after she was sold to the dolphinarium.

Aidan and Tekoa, the two surviving males there, will undoubtedly impose a violent hierarchy on little Keijo. Wikie, for her part, will have to reproduce with one of these aggressive males by way of mistreatment. She will be separated from her son for the first time, and won’t be able to protect him.

Well-being? An empty statement for those who thrive on animal distress

Marineland claims to have the biggest tanks in the world… So how can you talk about improving the welfare of orcas when you send Wikie and Keijo to rot in Loro Parque, which has smaller tanks? The underlying reason why the French dolphinarium wants to speed up the process is that it has let its infrastructures fall into disrepair: they are now 25 years old, and no investment has been made in them for years.

The captivity business is no longer profitable in France, and so much the better. But the Ministry of Ecology’s handling of this development is despicable. The Minister had announced the end of the shows: in Tenerife, the shows will continue. We were sold an end to captivity for this orca family, unique in the world, and instead of the solution chosen by the Ministry’s scientists, Agnès Pannier-Runacher takes the worst possible political decision. Wikie and Keijo are deeply loved. No one will forget.” Muriel Arnal President of One Voice

In France and elsewhere, One Voice will never stop defending these orcas.

We are mobilizing again in front of Marineland in Antibes this Saturday, February 15. And we have contacted our partners in Tenerife to take action in front of Loro Parque too.