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The State’s lack of action to stop feline straying: One Voice is going to court

The State’s lack of action to stop feline straying: One Voice is going to court

The State’s lack of action to stop feline straying: One Voice is going to court
15.11.2023
The State’s lack of action to stop feline straying: One Voice is going to court
Zoe Cell

On 30 November 2021, a new law was created to fight against animal mistreatment in France. However, almost two years later, its aims are clearly not being met. Pet animals, among others, are not to be outdone: the sale of cats and dogs in pet shops will be banned from 1 January 2024, but puppy shows are still allowed, and commitment certificates continue to go nowhere. When it comes to stray cats… they can be left dying for even longer, while the Ministry of Agriculture couldn’t care less.

While the requirement to neuter stray cats that have been taken in by communities was initially planned for, it has been quashed under pressure from local councillors. Instead of this, there are campaigns led on an experimental basis by the State in cooperation with mayors and presidents of local volunteer communities. An initial step all the same… yes, but…!

Even writing a report seems to prove too complicated for the State…

To begin this experiment, the government must hand a report providing a detailed assessment on the issue of feline straying to Parliament, estimating the cost of capturing and neutering as well as financial methods, all while presenting recommendations to respond to this problem. All of this is to be done no later than six months after the enactment of the law… so by 1 June at the latest. We have written to the Ministry of Agriculture several times, who have not deigned to respond to us, thus showing their disdain for the suffering of stray cats. One year later, last June, the government announced that the work was underway. If the Ministry does not want to face up to their responsibilities, we will force them to before the courts. Now that the deadline has passed by a year and a half, we have today filed a plea before the Paris Administrative Tribunal so that it can order the government to hand over this document.

A life of misery

While waiting, stray cats continue to breed and to suffer. When they are not under the protection of a volunteer, they fight daily to find something to eat and lay dying for days when they are ill or injured. Instead of helping them, many towns do all they can to get them to disappear in a heartless way: they ban feeding them, they destroy their shelters, but above all they will not pay a penny to get them neutered and take this weight off their shoulders. When they are finally captured, it is not to be cared for and loved: they are sent to a pound, where they are left to die. After the legal limit for keeping them there has passed, they are quite simply slaughtered. The arrival of the Olympic Games this summer does not bode well, since sporting events often generate large-scale eradication campaigns.

To put an end to this infuriating cycle of suffering and mass slaughter, there is one solution: obligatory neutering, as is already the case in neighbouring Belgium and Spain. Ask for an urgent national plan for stray cats with us: sign our petition.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Against all odds for Samba, the last ‘circus’ elephant, whose suffering has broken the State’s indifference

Against all odds for Samba, the last ‘circus’ elephant, whose suffering has broken the State’s indifference

Against all odds for Samba, the last ‘circus’ elephant, whose suffering has broken the State’s indifference
14.11.2023
Against all odds for Samba, the last ‘circus’ elephant, whose suffering has broken the State’s indifference
Circuses

While the Cirque d’Europe circus reappeared for the second time in November 2023, after almost 6 months with no news of Samba, we are worried about the government’s shift regarding the law against mistreatment – already lacking – which has been confirmed again and again. According to a leaflet boasting of the merits of the show combining the exploitation and training of endangered wild animals, a note to towns requires them to accept circuses with animals despite the imminent implementation of the 2021 law (which should ban them from moving around) and implies that any checks would only aim to prove the absence of suffering… A practical exercise in Épinay-sur-Orge.

In July, the publication of our latest investigation footage, along with the announcement of our complaint to which testimonies from veterinarians specialising in elephants were attached, sparked things off… Or rather, Max Aucante, Samba’s trainer, had done a runner, before the planned performances had even started.

Since then, we feared that the last circus elephant in France would be sent abroad, like Dumba, then Kamala, and around the same time Bambi and Rosa as well as Nelly and Brigit, and finally Baby… with authorities helping or turning a blind eye. Samba’s ordeal would have continued, and we would then no longer have had any legal leverage to offer her a better life.

Authorities are waiting for a ‘thank you’ from Samba and those who defend her…

Also, when the Cirque d’Europe circus was brought to our attention in Morangis, a suburban town next to Orly Airport, we didn’t think twice: we went there to confirm their presence and filmed them… prey to stereotyping. Since then, we had a bit more hope, but there wasn’t enough time for a check of any kind to take place.

Capturée, battue, dressée, exploitée… Nous avons retrouvé Samba, entre piste et camion, à deux pas d’un aéroport… ce qui n’a rien de rassurant. Que va devenir la dernière éléphante de cirque que nous défendons depuis plus de 20 ans? #UnSanctuairePourSamba #CirquesSansAnimaux pic.twitter.com/24RsiI5p9B

— One Voice (@onevoiceanimal) November 2, 2023

Yesterday, a supporter let us know of their presence in Épinay-sur-Orge, still in the Paris region. And there, once again, the pitfalls are piling up. The town published a press release stating that a veterinarian would be there “so that the animals’ suffering would be reduced”. The initial reaction was to celebrate, but why would we still let ourselves be fooled like this?

…or a “tide”?

A memorandum from the Ministry of the Ecological Transition, which we knew about and dated back to mid-October 2023, “relating to the checking procedure for travelling establishments keeping animals from a non-domestic species with a view to showing them to the public” specifically aims to put pressure on communities who refuse the presence of a circus with animals in their town.

The wording of this document and the accompanying email are totally biased. There was already a previous one a few years ago, between the ministerial measures and the law against animal mistreatment being drawn up.

This update is harmful: it presumes that the checks that it plans to carry out “will guarantee the absence of animal mistreatment”! In travelling establishments, this is specifically targeted.

An overwhelming step back after the passing of the weak 2021 law

Nothing surprises us any more when this so-called ‘Ecological’ Ministry, who has still neither written nor published any kind of implementing decree, even though the implementation of the law was supposed to take place on its second anniversary at the end of the month. Neither for the animals kept in lorry-cages nor for the rest of them either (feline straying, dolphinariums, etc.). It is no longer about resistance: we went past this stage a long time ago.

The captive animal portfolio, from their exploitation to their disappearance in the wild

The rare progress made in 2020-2021 has been reduced to nothing. Circus performers’ proficiency certifications are now the same as those for zoos, and the regulations of those is about to be reviewed at a cut-rate. We are going to go to the State Council to fight against this dumbing down.

Worse, a leaflet glorifying the circus, written, created, and published by them, is being distributed by prefectures.

We will never stop calling out State ministers and junior ministers who follow each other’s lead: there has only been a guilty silence in response to our letters… But for Samba and all the others, after more than twenty years of persistent fighting, nothing will stop us.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice