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New investigation at Parc Saint Léger: nothing has changed for animals at the settled circus

New investigation at Parc Saint Léger: nothing has changed for animals at the settled circus

New investigation at Parc Saint Léger: nothing has changed for animals at the settled circus
17.08.2023
New investigation at Parc Saint Léger: nothing has changed for animals at the settled circus
Circuses

After the April 2022 seizure at Parc Saint Léger, has Kid Bauer done what is needed to transform his settled circus into a haven of peace for the ring-tailed lemurs, lions and other animals? Not really! Our investigation from May 2023 shows that their situation is still as alarming, from the felines and raccoons imprisoned in ridiculous spaces and ring-tailed lemurs exposed to dozens of tourists inside their enclosure. While this is still happening, we are filing another complaint for illegal operation and mistreatment by a professional.

Nothing, or almost nothing, has changed since two muntjacs, a porcupine, a swan, two macaws, four tortoises, and a python were seized last year, which happened thanks to our investigators’ footage and our complaint for mistreatment. Far from taking a good look at themselves, the Saint-Léger-en-Braye settled circus continues to exploit the animals that they exhibit without changing any of their living conditions.

When the park is open, the ring-tailed lemurs have groups of fifteen to twenty people coming through their enclosure. The whole crowd is talking to each other. Led by the adults, some of the scared children cry while others shout with excitement and their ‘caregiver’ does not ask them to calm down. There is also no warning of the very real risk of zoonotic diseases, while visitors feed the animals perched on their shoulders by hand. Invaded from all sides, the ring-tailed lemurs have to endure these stressful moments if they want to eat, even if it means getting trampled. A scenario that is not improbable, since even the member of staff who shows them around the enclosure admits to having stepped on one of the lemurs’ tails earlier in the day. A surreal scene!

Raccoons who try to escape

In the raccoons’ miniature enclosure, the bowls are empty and wooden planks and concrete slabs litter the floor as a distraction. They have no trees and no swimming area to use, while in the wild they love climbing, swimming, and travel over a distance from one to three square kilometres. How surprising is it in such conditions that one of them, staring at us with his piercing gaze through the mesh, seems to be desperately looking for a big enough gap to escape through?

Lions and tigers still kept captive but not on the park map

Although Parc Saint Léger has not presented an elephant show since the ones Baby was forced to do in 2019 and seems to have abandoned the performances during which they brought a spectator into the lionesses cage, the trained big cats are still there. You could believe the opposite given that the lions and tigers no longer feature on the settled circus’ map or among the photos of the animals kept…

Shut up in an enclosure that does not allow them to hide or find any shade, all suffering from sterotypies, expressing their stress and boredom by the comings and goings that leave long, bare paths in the middle of the grass of these open-air prisons.

Nothing, neither the revelations from our investigations, nor the rescue nor the reminders to competent authorities, seems to have an effect on Kid Bauer. Are they waiting for the trainer to take an example from his brother and send his prisoners to die elsewhere, like at Belvédère, the Tunisian zoo where Gilbert Bauer abandoned Baby? Parc Saint Léger must close and all of the animals there must be placed into a sanctuary.

Every time, our footage has revealed the disastrous consequences for these animals. In 2023, the situation has hardly changed. For the pumas, giant tortoises, kangaroos, and all of the others, we are once again filing a complaint against the establishment.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Underground badger hunting with hounds: the State Council recognises protection given to the “young”

Underground badger hunting with hounds: the State Council recognises protection given to the “young”

Underground badger hunting with hounds: the State Council recognises protection given to the “young”
08.08.2023
Underground badger hunting with hounds: the State Council recognises protection given to the “young”
Hunting

Referred to by ASPAS, AVES France, and One Voice, on 28 July, the State Council returned its decision relating to the legality of the article from the Environmental Code allowing the opening of additional periods for underground badger hunting with hounds by prefects. Although this is a mixed decision, education has already had the effect of leading administrative tribunals to suspend the additional periods in place.

Underground hunting with hounds is a hunting practice that consists of digging out animals with the help of dogs to locate and corner them, then pickaxes and shovels to dig, and finally giant pliers and knives or guns to drag them out and then slaughter the so-called hunted animals. Prefects can authorise additional periods of underground hunting with hounds with decrees, which is in addition to the annual hunting seasons, and which therefore take place between mid-May and mid-September. A ministerial decree regulates the way in which the prefects can publish these decrees on a local level. It is this ministerial decree that our associations are attacking before the State Council.

ASPAS, AVES France, and One Voice have been condemning this cruel hunting method for years, and have specifically filed a complaint at the Bern Committee and obtained numerous suspensions of prefectural decrees in recent years, thus sparing thousands of badgers.

At the centre of the debates: the young

While rejecting associations’ pleas on the grounds that the contested article does not explicitly authorise killing the “young”, he recalls the ban on killing badger cubs. In doing so, he undermines hunters’ and the Ministry of the Ecological Transition’s arguments that consist of pretending that this ban does not apply to badger hunting.

It must be clarified that the “young”, in a scientific sense, are animals that are not able to reproduce and thus to contribute to the continuation of the species. Hunters taking weaning as the date that badgers become an adult is scientific nonsense because weaning is only one step in a badger’s feeding journey. Quite logically, no scientific study mentions weaning as a sign of moving into adulthood.

Then, without commenting on scientific studies relating to the species’ biology, the State Council took the debate back to a local level: they indicated that the Prefect is required to ensure, with regard to the local situation, that “such an extension [on underground hunting with hounds] is not likely to harm the state of the badger population or to favour ignorance, by hunters, of the legal ban on destroying young badgers”.

Incomplete or missing data

Yet, on one hand, campaigns by associations to gather information carried out in recent years around prefectures have shown that they keep very little data, or even none, on badger populations on a local level. The reality of the damage that the prefectures allege to base their decrees on is never shown, including when it comes to defending these decrees in front of administrative judges.
On the other, it has also been established that in most departments, up to 40% of those killed each year are young badgers that are not sexually mature.
As a consequence, based on scientific data, the administrative judges are suspending the additional periods for underground badger hunting with hounds en masse, specifically on the grounds of the impact on the badger cubs.

The decision by the State Council has convinced tribunals to follow their lead: since this decision was published, no less than five rulings have been delivered to suspend additional periods owing to: 1) their impact on “young” badgers; and 2) the lack of reliable data kept by prefectures both on the badger populations in each department and the damage that they are alleging.

While we regret that the State Council has not taken the opportunity to definitively put an end to this dispute, since tribunals on a departmental level are continuing to be referred to with pleas against inevitably illegal additional periods, we still welcome their contribution, putting an end to absurd debates and finally making prefectures responsible when it comes to badger hunting.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

The decree listing species likely to cause damage has been published. As promised, we are challenging it!

The decree listing species likely to cause damage has been published. As promised, we are challenging it!

The decree listing species likely to cause damage has been published. As promised, we are challenging it!
04.08.2023
The decree listing species likely to cause damage has been published. As promised, we are challenging it!
Hunting

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition has just published on 4 August 2023 the decree listing species likely to cause damage for the next three years. This law will consequently allow, via prefectural decrees, the trapping and slaughter of the animals listed on it in addition to the hunting period that they are already subjected to… Visibly preferring wildlife and animals dead rather than alive, the Ministry has therefore just published a law that also condemns hundreds of thousands of individuals.

Beyond the principle of considering animals as harmful (or pests) by nature, we also challenge this method that regulates how they are chosen, which is totally distorted from the start. The game is rigged for weasels, martens, foxes, crows… the agricultural and hunting lobbies are completely free to organise the declarations of damage on which the list is based at the French Departmental Commission for Hunting and Wildlife (CDCFS – Commission départementale de la chasse et de la faune sauvage).

If anyone still believes that the government was keen to defend wildlife and biodiversity, it is time to open their eyes. In reality, they are organising its decline in the more or less short-term. In this case as in so many others, hunting is well and truly a deadly problem.

The Ministry is deaf to public opinion

In total, 49,266 opinions were received on the public consultation led by the Ministry. 70% of participants were opposed to the classification project that they proposed – which is 5% more than the previous decree. Yet the final law is a complete copy-and-paste of this project, to which 7 out of 10 people were opposed to!

As we have announced, we are going to file, as are other associations, a plea before the State Council to fight this nonsense and to defend the animals being targeted by French authorities. Economic interests or human hobbies cannot systematically lead to the massacre of living beings who are just as significant!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

A new double victory for One Voice: responsiveness and belligerence write the case law for bears in Ariège!

A new double victory for One Voice: responsiveness and belligerence write the case law for bears in Ariège!

A new double victory for One Voice: responsiveness and belligerence write the case law for bears in Ariège!
02.08.2023
A new double victory for One Voice: responsiveness and belligerence write the case law for bears in Ariège!
Wildlife

Our determination for bears has allowed us not to dwell on last week’s negative decision. In fact, the Toulouse Administrative Tribunal has just suspended the two decrees published on Monday evening (31 July 2023). No scaring shots will therefore take place tonight nor the next on the Arreau and Ourdouas pastures (second suspension ordered this year).

The hearing set for this morning was presided by a judge who had never had to rule before on our freedom emergency interim proceedings since the start of our weekly battles with the Ariège Prefecture. Among the questions he asked, we remembered this one in particular: if the scaring shots are so necessary and significant, why pass decrees for such a short duration?

We found the reasoning given by the judge for the Arreau pasture magnificent, and even more satisfying after the rejection the week before. Several specific arguments that we struggle with every time have finally been accepted, in particular on the issue of night watchmen, proof of significant damage, and proof that these simple scaring shots have taken place before any escalation of the measures implemented.

For the Ourdouas ‘shepherding group’, it was the same: the judge also referred the Prefecture to its responsibilities. It is for them, among others, to prove that the bears are the cause, not for us to justify that they have nothing to do with it.

This time, and it is a huge relief, the decisions have been returned before the shots even started. They are in line with the position we defend and are argued by Hélène Thouy and Olivier Vidal. Beyond the principle, it is also about, and above all against, the abuse of the Prefecture, who, let’s remember, only publishes these decrees to satisfy the farming lobby, without having the legal justification to do so.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

The One Voice, AVES, and PAZ Associations are rallying so that Valentin the bear will not be exhibited in Troyes this summer

The One Voice, AVES, and PAZ Associations are rallying so that Valentin the bear will not be exhibited in Troyes this summer

The One Voice, AVES, and PAZ Associations are rallying so that Valentin the bear will not be exhibited in Troyes this summer
31.07.2023
The One Voice, AVES, and PAZ Associations are rallying so that Valentin the bear will not be exhibited in Troyes this summer
Circuses

The ‘hunting and countryside’ festival has been organised for 20 August 2023 at Château de Vaux and is planning to present a trained bear named Valentin to the public for two performances. The AVES France, One Voice, and PAZ Associations have joined forces and written to the festival organisers, the Aube department Prefect (Cécile Dindar), and to the Troyes Mayor (François Baroin). Our three organisations are asking that Valentin will not be presented to the public during this event. Support our action by signing our petition!

Updated 7 August 2023:

Victory for AVES, One Voice, and PAZ: Valentin the bear will not be shown at Château de Vaux

Following the petition by the AVES FRANCE, ONE VOICE, and PAZ Associations, the owner of Château de Vaux in Champagne, Édouard Guyot, responded to us in writing that there will be no shows with Valentin the bear during the ‘hunting and countryside’ festival.
He clarified: “the programme has not been updated since 2021. This show was not planned either for this year or last year. Furthermore, the owner is no longer authorised to go on public outings.” We thank him for having removed it.

Our collective rallying has thus allowed this clarification. We are glad about this and remain vigilant. We are calling for all festivals and other fêtes to stop enslaving animals for their shows. Regarding Valentin, we are asking for him to be placed in a suitable refuge so that he can finally live the life of a bear.

Bears are wild animals who cannot in any case be fulfilled in captivity. Some of them, like Valentin, are taken away from their mothers from a very early age in order to create a dependence between the animal and their trainer who keeps them in captivity. Through unnecessarily violent training, the bear ‘shower’ gets blind submission from their animal. These bears are enclosed for their whole lives and transported, sometimes over long distances, to places to be showed. Their living conditions are intolerable; we also very often see behavioural problems (such as stereotypies) and states of chronic anxiety. The fact that Valentin travels in an air-conditioned trailer from town to town to be exploited is in no way a guarantee of his well-being. It is just a diversion to make the public and organisers believe that this bear is treated well, while his simple participation in shows is against all of the needs of his species.

In accordance with the law of 30 November 2021 against animal mistreatment, keeping wild animals in travelling performance establishments will be banned from now until 1 December 2028, while acquiring them, commercialising them, and breeding them will be banned as of 1 December 2023. Regarding the bears and wolves, showing them to the public for travelling shows will become illegal from the end of the year.

While waiting for this law to be implemented, the AVES France, One Voice, and PAZ Associations are worried about the fate reserved for Valentin, and are asking that he urgently be put into retirement and be placed in a sanctuary as soon as possible. For this to happen, him being exploited for shows showing his complete submission must stop!

Furthermore, during the festival, many activities using animals have been offered to the public. To cite a few examples:

  • large game exhibition in one of the castle’s rooms;
  • presentation on foot of digging hunting dogs and packs of running hounds;
  • equestrian show – dressage;
  • falconry display;
  • big show of underground hound hunting.

Others could also be carried out, primarily aimed at children, such as visits to a puppy park, pony promenades, or even being pulled in a carriage.

On one hand, these demonstrations are not educational. What example do they give to young generations? The animals are considered as simple objects for entertainment that we can manipulate, exploit, and use without any consideration for their wants or needs. This reification of animals conflicts with the education of future generations to be more respectful of their environment and the individuals with which they share it.

On the other, this environment is totally unsuitable for the animals. Voluntarily subjecting them to such levels of stress for a purely recreational purpose is cruel and unethical. Dogs, horses, and birds, who incidentally have extraordinary cognitive and sentient capabilities, are reduced to numbers here.

We are also extremely concerned about the conditions that the animals are being kept in during the festival. In fact, the festival was organised right in the middle of August, when outdoor temperatures are often higher at that time of year. In these conditions, the individuals could suffer from the heat, in particular during their shows, and would also be subjected to the stress of visitors passing by and the noise, with no possibility of getting away from it.

As it stands, this festival and the displaying of animals certainly will tarnish Château de Vaux’s image, which also has an undeniable cultural interest.

For all of these reasons, we are urging the authorities (Prefecture and town council) and organisers to act in favour of the animals being shown during the ‘Hunting and countryside’ festival and to, from now on, stop the two scheduled performances of Valentin the bear, in order to favour more ethical shows instead. Our associations are willing to provide their expertise on this subject and remain at the disposition of anyone for any request for further information.

We are inviting the public to sign our petition !

Translated from the French by Joely Justice