News Archive - Page 21 of 129

Underground hunting with hounds: hunting down badgers was illegal!

Underground hunting with hounds: hunting down badgers was illegal!
26.01.2024
Underground hunting with hounds: hunting down badgers was illegal!
Hunting

Similar decisions come one after the other for badgers! The Clermont-Ferrand Administrative Tribunal, who we referred to with AVES, FNE Aura, FNE Haute-Loire, and LPO Aura, confirmed that the additional period for underground hunting with hounds in the spring and summer of 2023 in Haute-Loire was illegal.

After having cancelled the decrees by the Allier and Puy-de-Dôme departments, the Administrative Tribunal has just proven us right: the additional period for underground hunting with hounds in Haute-Loire was illegal! With our partners, we have already obtained an urgent suspension of this decree before hunting has even started, which has allowed the lives of hundreds of badgers destined for certain death to be saved.

Once again, in this department, the prefect thought he could quite simply ignore the procedural rules set by law. The decree was passed with no information of badger populations having been communicated to the public! And as a result, you only need to slightly scratch the surface to see that in reality, prefects do not have any data and only authorise this type of hunting to find a hobby for hunters during the time when hunting with guns is closed…

We will continue the fight, department after department. To do this, we need your help: support us and sign the petition to get digging out banned and to get protection for badgers!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Justice for Jon, Céleste, Patty, Hannah, and Marli: hearing in Évreux against the Cirque de Paris

Justice for Jon, Céleste, Patty, Hannah, and Marli: hearing in Évreux against the Cirque de Paris
25.01.2024
Justice for Jon, Céleste, Patty, Hannah, and Marli: hearing in Évreux against the Cirque de Paris
Circuses

The rescue of Jon and lionesses Céleste, Patty, Hannah, and Marli from the Cirque de Paris where they were kept will forever remain in our memories. And in those of the veterinarians who helped us with their rescue. A lion in the state that Jon was has never been seen by these professionals, even though they carry out their work in zoos and circuses in war-torn countries. The lionesses who were sharing their lorry-cage were dead on their feet. Unfortunately, the legal fight to ensure that they are taken to safety is not yet over: a new hearing has been set by the Évreux legal tribunal for 29 January 2024 at 1:30pm.

We have been waiting for this hearing for almost four years. The shock of this level of cruelty by the circus and cynicism of those who protected it has still not been absorbed. Since, a law against animal abuse has been voted in, supposed to protect animals kept in circuses in particular. Yet, for the lions and tigers, nothing has changed. Words, a law, sales… but in trailers and under big tops, the same unspeakable suffering still exists for these endangered big cats. Muriel Arnal President of One Voice

Professionals in abuse

The Gougeon family stands out for their use of whips from generation to generation. Among its members, poor treatment and negligence are common occurrences. Out of necessity, we are frequently at tribunals to get them convicted for wrongdoings and to save the animals that they keep, who they mate and undoubtedly trade. Last October, we also went to the Grenoble tribunal to put an end to the various sleights of hand at the Nouveau Cirque Triomphe, where the Gougeon cousins are at the helm.

In 2018, during our investigations into the circus, we crossed paths with Jon and his companions Céleste, Patty, Hannah, and Marli, kept within the Cirque de Paris in appalling conditions by Steve and Luciano Gougeon.

Proof of undeniable suffering

During their rescue, ordered by the legal system, almost two years later, our fears were confirmed: the lions were cachectic, their wounds uncared for, their teeth had been broken and their claws torn off.

In June 2020, with Jon’s arrival with our partner Tonga Terre d’Accueil, then the lionesses being rescued on 7 July for acts of abuse (a first in France for circus animals), they were able to offer a peaceful haven where they could regain their strength, thanks to a suitable diet and the care provided. Even if Jon did not have the chance to experience the green meadows of our sanctuary in Tuscany, he was surrounded by love and attention while being able to discover a taste of a life far from the circus for more than a year and a half before he died on 29 January 2022.

The trainer appealed the sentencing

Numerous complaints have also been filed against the boss and trainer from the Cirque de Paris. With the decision on 4 February 2022, Jon and his companions were confiscated from Steve Gougeon and he was banned from carrying out his professional activity for five years. Surprisingly, however, Luciano passed through the net, despite his involvement in lion trafficking. Steve Gougeon opposed this ruling. We will therefore be at the Évreux tribunal on 29 January 2024 at 1:30pm to finally get justice for Jon, Céleste, Patty, Hannah, and Marli.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Is it the end of underground hunting with hounds? Five new victories!

Is it the end of underground hunting with hounds? Five new victories!
24.01.2024
Is it the end of underground hunting with hounds? Five new victories!
Hunting

Our unfailing commitment against digging out in the spring and summer is bearing fruit! In Allier and Puy-de-Dôme, we have attacked, with FNE Aura, FNE 03, FNE 63, and LPO Aura, the decrees for the 2022-2023 season. In Indre, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne, we have contested the authorisations for the 2023-2024 season along with AVES. Tribunals everywhere have proven us right. Prefects: respect the law; do not authorise underground hunting with hounds this year!

The decisions obtained in these five departments confirm the suspensions that were given a few months ago, which have allowed thousands of badgers’ lives to be spared. From now on, doubt is no longer allowed: underground hunting with hounds is not only an archaic practice, but it is also illegal in spring and summer because it puts the young in danger.

The hell of digging out: thousands of animals massacred completely illegally?

Whether it be foxes or badgers, the victims of underground hunting with hounds experience moments of absolute terror when diggers decide to take them from their burrows and from their families. When proceedings are not botched by the prefects, in a hurry to satisfy hunters’ demands, and therefore cancelled with a click of their fingers, the tribunals now systematically confirm what we have been stating for years: this type of hunting leads to the killing, completely illegally, of badger cubs. Recently, in Réunion, the legal system has also taken up this argument in favour of tenrecs, who themselves are hunted in their burrows…

Stop the persecution: no exemptions this year!

Despite the decisions obtained being clear – 30 urgent suspensions and already 8 definitive cancellations – the State is set against these animals who simply aspire to live peacefully, far from the picture painted by hunters who accuse them of all evils (without ever providing any proof, of course). The few exceptions (in Savoie and Meurthe-et-Moselle, the additional period was never even opened thanks to our actions) do not hide behind the huge influence hunters have on the authorities that are supposed to represent general interests.

It is high time to say stop! We will continue the fight this year, anywhere where badgers are in danger. But we need you to put pressure on the authorities! Support our petition to get digging out banned as one of the pioneering measures of our radical reform on hunting, and to get badgers classified as a protected species! Address the following message to the prefecture in your department:

“Dear Sir/Madam Prefect,

For several months, tribunals have widely been cancelling the decrees authorising an additional period for underground badger hunting with hounds (recently 8 cancellations by the Caen, Limoges, and Clermont-Ferrand Administrative Tribunals). Please could you commit to following the law and not authorising the digging out of these animals in spring and summer while the young are present in the setts? For all of these animals promised to suffer unbearably, follow the law!”

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Animal experimentation is still resisting change: 2022’s detailed figures

Animal experimentation is still resisting change: 2022’s detailed figures
23.01.2024
Animal experimentation is still resisting change: 2022’s detailed figures
Animal testing

The detailed figures for 2022 have been provided by the Ministry of Research at One Voice’s request. While a few rare uses continue to decrease, the situation for primates is very concerning, the production of antibodies is rapidly expanding despite European recommendations, and tests on the nervous system (in particular involving chronic pain experiments) are using three times more animals than in 2015.

Each year, we have to request the complete file of laboratory declarations, which is much more detailed than the “statistical survey” published on the ministry’s website. And each year, we see the same thing there: almost nothing changes.

The good news: regulatory tests are decreasing

If we can find some good news within these figures, it is the continued decline of a particularly widespread type of use (the verification of “potency testing”), whose number has number decreased by two thirds between 2015 and 2022. This is because alternatives for this use have been increasing for at least twenty years. The huge reduction in this field has therefore led to these regulatory tests decreasing by half in seven years, which gives hope.

However, the industry has found it hard to adopt these substitution methods, which explains why almost 50,000 animals suffered from them in 2022. And animal experimentation is not limited to mandatory tests, with new ones in other fields being ever more concerning.

Rabbits and mice never stop suffering

Rabbits are the first victims. Unsurprisingly, they continue to endure “pyrogen” tests, which are disappearing very slowly despite valid alternatives having existed since 2005. But above all, the number of rabbits has continually increased over the years. The cause: exploiting their bodies as biological factories serving solely to produce antibodies.

As for mice, the cruel ascites method involves filling their abdomen with air, injecting it with products, and killing them to retrieve their antibodies. In the European Union, France
is almost the only one doing this. If truth be told, the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) has condemned this method for twenty-five years
due to the fact that other solutions exist, and once again called to put an end to it in 2020. But this did not stop France from increasing the number of these uses again in 2022 and from continuing to authorise the use of tens of thousands of rodents in recent weeks, with a vague mention of an imagined decree in 2030!

Mice are also the main ones affected by the unprecedented increase in experiments on the nervous system, which specifically involve exposing animals to chronic pain that is sometimes associated with anxiodepressive symptoms. Despite our requests, the ministry persists in qualifying this suffering as “moderate”.

Primates captured in France?

Yet more strange or even revolting: twenty brown lemurs were used in a “moderate” experiment for “species preservation” and noted as “F0” – they are, or were, free primates. The description of the project, found on the national Natural History Museum’s website, talks about the difficulties of cohabitation between farmers and monkeys in Mayotte. But it says nothing about what has been done with the individuals captured for this test…

One Voice is continuing its work to understand how such a use, theoretically illegal, took place. When it comes to the difficulties in verifying the reasons put forward by public authorities on the huge increase in figures in 2022, we have not had a response from those involved.

While waiting, you can consult our specialised website, which we will update as soon as possible with the details of the new data described here.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Foxes: the legal battle continues… Stop this carnage!

Foxes: the legal battle continues… Stop this carnage!
22.01.2024
Foxes: the legal battle continues… Stop this carnage!
Hunting

Have foxes in Nièvre been killed completely illegally? The tribunal responded positively to this question. These animals have been the target of relentless persecution: classified as a ‘species likely to cause damage’ in numerous departments, hunted down all year long by hunters, they are the subject of official hunts organised by prefects almost everywhere in France. In summer 2022, several operations of this kind were organised in this department. We are demanding justice for all of the lives stolen.

In Nièvre, hundreds of animals are targeted: a shameful decision

As if there were not sufficient ways of massacring foxes – from digging out to killing them as part of the scandalous classification of them as a ‘species likely to cause damage’ – the Nièvre Prefect felt it necessary to authorise eight official hunts at the end of summer 2022 for a duration of two months across land in 20 towns. We legally challenged these decrees that had the sole aim of satisfying hunters’ demands at a low cost. In fact, behind the stated objective of protecting plant and animal life, these authorisations to kill were in fact aimed at “protecting” pheasants and partridges… bought from breeding farms and released to be killed a few days later!

Outside of this department, each year in France, hundreds of thousands of animals are slaughtered in the name of the ‘damage’ that they will cause or due to the risk that they represent. But you only need to dig a little deeper to realise that these motives are each more fake than the next. The most recent example to date is in Melles, where dozens of goats had to be killed because of a few scratches on cars, and where we have had the decree suspended.

Lives stolen by illegal prefectural decisions

This decision, obtained by our plea and by AVES France and Loire Vivante Nièvre-Allier-Cher who have attacked independently, will not give hundreds of animals who have been massacred after hours of being hunted down their lives back and will not rebuild families decimated for the pleasure of a small number of those who follow archaic practices. But it creates an initial breakthrough in the scandal of official hunts, which allow tens of thousands of animals systematically accused of all evils to be killed each year!

In Dijon, the tribunal will not let themselves be fooled: it batted away all of the prefect’s justifications, specifically recalling that in no way did this regime aim to protect the practice of pheasant hunting… In other words, the judge reminded us that wildlife does not belong to hunters and that they do not have any right over the lives and deaths of animals as they see fit.

To give a voice to all of these animals mercilessly killed, we need you more than ever: sign our petition for a radical reform of hunting, and support us in our fight for foxes!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

One Voice filed a complaint after a wolf was run over and riddled with lead pellets in the Meurthe-et-Moselle region

One Voice filed a complaint after a wolf was run over and riddled with lead pellets in the Meurthe-et-Moselle region
22.01.2024
One Voice filed a complaint after a wolf was run over and riddled with lead pellets in the Meurthe-et-Moselle region
Wildlife

207 wolves were shot in France in 2023. 198 of them were legally killed, with the support of the State. But as this is never enough for their opponents, acts of poaching are commonplace. This year, at least nine wolves fell victim to acts as abominable as they are illegal. Many others have also succumbed to human activities that are increasingly reducing their habitats: trapped or killed in road accidents. In the case of the one found in Baccarat, we are filing a complaint with the prosecutor of the Nancy judicial court.

Collisions with vehicles are particularly frequent. On December 22, 2023, the body of a wolf was discovered lying on a road in Baccarat, Meurthe-et-Moselle. Although the autopsy determined that the cause of death was a collision with a vehicle, it was a shock to learn that the poor animal had been riddled with lead pellets.

Disturbing circumstances surrounding an accidental death

The French Biodiversity Agency (OFB) points out that the wolf did not die because of them, but that the bullet fragments obviously weakened him. We can only imagine the terrible suffering inflicted on him. This heavy metal, a substance widely used in hunting with shotguns, has deleterious effects on the environment, and is a real scourge for animals who are either directly affected or fall victim to it collaterally (by ingesting it, for example).

Poaching? Missed legal shot?

In order to shed full light on his death, we are filing a complaint. An investigation has been launched by the OFB to determine the circumstances of the shot that wounded the wolf. Legal or not, it doesn’t matter to us. We will continue to oppose the persecution of wolves. Like any other sentient being, they have the right to live in peace, without the risk of being killed.

Help us in this fight: sign our petition calling for an end to their slaughter and distribute our report on wolves.

The court prohibit Marineland from relocating the orcas before the end of the independent assessment

The court prohibit Marineland from relocating the orcas before the end of the independent assessment
17.01.2024
The court prohibit Marineland from relocating the orcas before the end of the independent assessment
Dolphinariums

Following our lawsuit, the judicial court of Grasse has forbidden Marineland to move the orcas before the end of the independent expert assessment ordered by the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal on September 21, under penalty of a fine in the event of failure to comply. This is a first step.

One Voice is pleased that the court has recognized the need to leave the orcas in the park for the duration of the assessment, to enable the experts to examine the family of cetaceans. This decision was eagerly awaited.

It will enable us to assess their state of health. We recall that Inouk is experiencing serious dental problems, Keijo is experiencing significant weight loss, and Wikie must be deeply affected by the death of her eldest son, Moana, last October.

The assessment will also provide an opportunity to observe the interactions of the three individuals, the state of the park’s facilities and the quality of the water. One Voice will collaborate fully in the interests of the orcas.

Save our orcas! A sanctuary for them, neither captivity nor exploitation in Japan (or anywhere else in the world)!

Sign the petition

Marineland: One Voice has obtained a temporary ban on moving the orcas – hearing on 16/01/2024

Marineland: One Voice has obtained a temporary ban on moving the orcas – hearing on 16/01/2024
15.01.2024
Marineland: One Voice has obtained a temporary ban on moving the orcas – hearing on 16/01/2024
Dolphinariums

One Voice has just obtained a temporary ban on Marineland moving the orcas. The hearing will be held on Tuesday 16 January at the Grasse legal tribunal to decide whether there will be a longer ban on the park moving the three orcas in order to allow the two legal experts appointed by the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal on 21 September 2023 to carry out their work with the orcas present. In fact, the legal expert report ordered by the Court of Appeal concerns both an examination of the dolphinarium’s Côte d’Azur facilities as well as the orcas’ state of health, even though one of them, Moana, who was barely 12 years old, died in mid-October. This is a significant victorious step for animal advocates like us, even if it in no way predicts the final outcome. The hearing is set for 16 January at 9am in Grasse.

A stress test that confirms the next departure

On Tuesday 9 January, a full-scale stress exercise took place for the transfer of the three orcas that have been held captive since their birth at Marineland Antibes, Wikie, her son Keijo, and her brother Inouk.

One Voice was present and produced almost live footage of the said test, which could well have turned into a transfer to Nice Airport, then to Japan where dolphinariums await them, if we are to believe those involved or the park’s caretakers.

On the Friday before, fences and cranes had appeared at the side of the orcas’ pools, and specifically the ‘medical’ pool. This pool had been nearly emptied since the morning to try to get Wikie onto the stretcher that would keep her in place during the entirety of the transportation. On Tuesday evening, the crane left.

One Voice activists from the Nice branch and nearby were there during the day and the evening. MEP Caroline Roose (EELV-Les Verts) also supported our approach for the whole day.

Since that day, there has been proof that the orcas are in fact destined to be sent to Japan very soon by the park – confirmed on one hand by the Ministry for Energy Transition, who denied only the date, and on the other by the presence of a Japanese delegate being there on the day in question – we spared no effort. We also had to face silence from Marineland, who refused any exchanges or communications.

The Ministry of Ecology’s expertise, who blocked the key focus from us

The first meeting for the independent legal expert report that we asked for and that was ordered by the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal was set, at Marineland, for 28 November 2023. The request from the Secretary of State for Biodiversity to shed “light” on Moana’s death six weeks earlier – an expert report with surprising conclusions – prevented the one we had obtained from taking place on that date. It was therefore postponed. The new date for the first meeting for the independent legal expert report was set for 19 January 2024.

Considering the significant movements around the orcas in the last few days, we believe there is an upcoming transfer for them planned, which would make the legal expert report that One Voice obtained almost irrelevant. This is the reason why we have asked for authorisation to subpoena Marineland from one hour to the next, and we have already had it confirmed that the park will be prohibited from moving them during this emergency interim proceeding.

This is one step towards victory thanks to our unfailing determination to find solutions

We would like to sit around a table to discuss the orcas’ future. The State has a responsibility towards these great mammals: in 2021, at the time of the vote against animal abuse, authorities clearly established that they would do everything they could so that these animals would be sent to sanctuaries and not be endlessly exploited. We will never give up: the marine sanctuary in Canada is just waiting for confirmation of Wikie, Inouk, and Keijo’s arrival to be able to get ready for them.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

The 2022 figures on animal testing have finally come out… and are not reassuring

Suffering, new announcements, and persecution against primates: the track record for animal testing in 2022 is not good.

Cats and dogs: the end of pet shop sales, the start of ‘click and collect’

Cats and dogs: the end of pet shop sales, the start of ‘click and collect’
15.01.2024
Cats and dogs: the end of pet shop sales, the start of ‘click and collect’
Zoe Cell

This is an innovation of the law of 30 November 2021: the sale of cats and dogs in pet shops has become illegal as of 1 January 2024. Although this is a step forward in the fight against reckless and irresponsible purchases ‘on paper’, in fact, with it having only just come into force, these steps are easily abused. One Voice is rising up against this abuse.

Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur/One Voice

For several days now, we have been receiving a multitude of reports throughout France informing us that this or that pet shop is continuing to display and sell puppies or kittens. But some also highlight even more despicable actions.

Animals sold like objects with ‘click and collect’

Some pet shops, refusing to put an end to their business that is now illegal, are offering new services: to avoid losing money, they are now encouraging people to buy the animal on their brand’s website before coming to collect it from the shop. Like we do for our grocery shop…

Without even trying to hide it, they also explain that the puppies continue to be delivered to the shop despite the sales ban that dates back almost two weeks! Just after the vote on the 2021 law, we were already denouncing the lack of implementation of these measures in pet shops on the Côte d’Azur.

The Ministry of Agriculture is an instigator

But perhaps our leaders had not anticipated this eventuality…? This is not the case. It is the Ministry of Agriculture themselves who came up with this idea, proposing to regulate this practice instead of banning it:

«The Ministry of Agriculture indicated […] that this ban on transferring consists of a ban on the physical presentation of dogs and cats in pet shops and not a more general ban on the transfer of these animals by pet shops. The Ministry therefore believes that, if pet shops are not authorised to present cats and dogs for sale in a pet shop, they can hand them over online in return for payment. The Ministry is therefore in the process of assessing this activity, in particular by considering regulating the conditions for keeping cats and dogs as well as the conditions for handing animals over. The Ministry thinks that a modification of the regulatory provisions or training will be necessary on this subject. (sic)»

A ban that is insufficient to a great extent

The spirit of the law has been completely perverted, and impulsive purchases will be able to continue. If we do nothing, this will not get better, because puppy show kind of events are still legal and blithely trample on the reflection period, an already minimal measure imposed by law. And as animal trade has good days ahead of it, personal classified adverts are also still relevant. We are demanding an end to online sales, and it is for this reason that we filed a complaint against Leboncoin last November.

Rodents, fish, birds, and reptiles are not protected and continue to be sold like simple consumer items while associations are regretful of the annual increase in them being abandoned.

As long as animals are sold as objects and then thrown away, our companions will continue to be mistreated. Together, let’s demand an urgent plan against feline straying to put an end to abandonments and to slaughtering in pounds.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice