News Archive - Page 3 of 146

The SACPA animal pound in Perpignan is due to appear in court for mistreatment of animals

The SACPA animal pound in Perpignan is due to appear in court for mistreatment of animals
10.12.2025
Perpignan
The SACPA animal pound in Perpignan is due to appear in court for mistreatment of animals
Animaux familiers

Irregular “euthanasia” of dogs, cats and kittens, animals left without care, unsuitable premises… On Wednesday 17 December, the manager of the animal pound in Perpignan and the SACPA group to which it belongs will be tried in court. One Voice denounces the role of the State in the mistreatment and mass slaughter within these structures where our companions are killed in perfect legality.

In 2023, the local associations Un Gîte Une Gamelle (A Shelter A Bowl) and the S.P.A. (Society for the Protection of Animals) of the Pyrénées-Orientales region took legal action after receiving a disturbing report from an employee of the animal pound in Perpignan. Due to a lack of sufficiently frequent visits by a veterinarian to the site, some dogs suffering from diarrhoea, purulent conjunctivitis or even a leg injury were left to fend for themselves for days without receiving any care. Not stopping there in terms of mistreatment and illegality, the manager of the facility vaccinated and ‘euthanised’ several cats, dogs and kittens himself, even though these procedures must be carried out by a vet. One dares not imagine the fear and suffering of these animals, sick, neglected and killed in their kennels…

The true face of animal pounds

Since 2022 and our investigation into the SIVU animal pound in Lot-et-Garonne, we have relentlessly denounced the hell that awaits animals behind the doors of these establishments. Lack of care and hygiene, mass killings, sometimes without justification or veterinary supervision… In Ranguevaux, Passerelles Vers l’Emploi and SACPA in Vaux-le-Pénil, the negligence and abuse we have documented are shocking, whatever the accused establishments may say. And this nightmare is far from being confined to a few shady places. Even in those that are in compliance, dogs and cats picked up off the streets find only rows of tiny concrete boxes smeared with excrement, filled with anxious barking and meowing… and not a single gesture of affection to reassure them. After eight days, if no one has inquired about them and they have not found a place in the overflowing shelters, they are killed without hesitation before being sent for quartering.

The State at fault

Every year, thousands of dogs and cats are killed in this way, to the complete indifference of our leaders. Not content with looking the other way, they continue to fuel this slaughter by authorising puppy shows, online classified ads and even click & collect in pet shops which should have stopped selling cats and dogs since January 2024. As long as our companions are treated as mere consumer goods, impulse purchases and the resulting abandonment will continue, and with them the vicious cycle of stray animals and mass slaughter. It is time for the State to take its responsibilities!

On 17 December, we expect the court to hand down a sentence commensurate with the acts of mistreatment committed by the manager of the Perpignan pound. Sign our petitions to call for an end to the code of silence and killings in pounds and for a national plan to combat straying of cats.

Expansion of the primatology centre in Rousset: a month of actions with One Voice, and a mobilisation that is paying off

Expansion of the primatology centre in Rousset: a month of actions with One Voice, and a mobilisation that is paying off
05.12.2025
Rousset, Bouches-du-Rhône Expansion of the primatology centre in Rousset: a month of actions with One Voice, and a mobilisation that is paying off
Expérimentation animale

Since the summer of 2024, One Voice has been campaigning against the CNRS’s plans to expand the Rousset primatology centre to triple the number of monkeys being bred there for sale to laboratories. The unexpected public attention has led the CNRS to open a month-long consultation process. Presented as “voluntary” and “transparent” but conducted as a communication operation, it ended on 16 November.

Despite the obstacles, the call launched by One Voice and its partner associations was heard: more than 2,200 opinions, mostly unfavourable, were submitted. This is a strong signal on the eve of an official assessment expected mid-December.

June 2024: the CNRS attempts to discreetly launch a call for tenders to expand the primatology site in Rousset. As soon as this information was revealed, One Voice called on the government and the CNRS to obtain the official documents on this project which is contrary to European commitments to reduce the number of lab animals. Faced with their silence, we launched a large-scale campaign in April 2025 with 150 partner associations and organisations alongside the Collectif Vauclusien de Protection Animale (Vaucluse Animal Protection Collective). The media response was immediate. The CNRS, which had hoped to move forward quietly, then launched a preliminary consultation under the supervision of a guarantor from the Commission Nationale du Débat Public (CNDP, National Commission for Public Debate).

During one month this autumn our association mobilised to raise awareness around this project, organising a dozen events in the field with its activists. In total over 1,000 leaflets were distributed in Rousset and the surrounding municipalities.

Proclaimed transparency, organised opacity

Supposedly intended to inform the public, this preliminary consultation promised transparency. Instead, the CNRS provided a promotional brochure with no real alternative scenario and organised a single meeting in Rousset, the municipality most affected. Our actions brought dozens of residents to the meeting. Almost all of them expressed their opposition. Throughout the month of consultation, obstacles were put in place to prevent us from obtaining clear answers: crucial documents were withheld, questions remained unanswered, etc. This lack of transparency is widespread at the CNRS. Though present at all four meetings, the Gircor, an animal experimentation lobby group, did not even deem it necessary to inform the public. Its president, who is also a veterinarian at the CNRS, spoke without mentioning his dual role.

The battle continues

Without our mobilisation in April 2025, this consultation would not even have taken place. The CNRS attempted to use it to improve its image, to no avail. Despite the lobby’s attempts to influence the outcome, the opposition is overwhelming at first glance: of the 2,238 opinions submitted, more than 93% are unfavourable. The guarantor will give his official assessment in a few weeks’ time. Further consultations will follow in 2026. We will not give in: One Voice will continue its fight against this unjustifiable project to the very end.

You can still join us in taking action: sign the petition and pass it on

Join our actions in the field: militants@one-voice.fr

What are the mouse lemurs, bred for experimentation, enduring at the National Museum of Natural History?

What are the mouse lemurs, bred for experimentation, enduring at the National Museum of Natural History?
03.12.2025
Ile-de-France
What are the mouse lemurs, bred for experimentation, enduring at the National Museum of Natural History?
Expérimentation animale

For years One Voice has been fighting for transparency in animal experimentation, and recently we have lodged a request with the Administrative Court in Paris. The National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) refuses to provide us with all the documents we have been requesting for several years concerning the breeding of Brunoy mouse lemurs —the world’s largest population of these small lemurs destined for experimentation. The hearing will take place on Thursday 4 December. One Voice is asking the court to confirm the Museum’s obligation for transparency, as it not only sells these mouse lemurs to laboratories but also conducts tests on some of them.

Since 2021 and our rally in front of the MNHN, we have been calling for the closure of this breeding facility. Around 500 mouse lemurs are kept there in opaque conditions in view of experimentation in laboratories. To understand what is really going on there, we have demanded transparency from the MNHN regarding the management of these animals: entry and exit records, monitoring files, ‘animal welfare’ committee meetings and administrative correspondence.

Faced with the Museum’s silence, we referred the matter to the Commission for Access to Administrative Documents (CADA), which had already ruled in our favour in December 2022. Despite this favourable ruling, the MNHN has persisted in its refusal to provide the requested information.

One Voice is now asking the Paris Court to confirm the Museum’s obligation for transparency, as it not only sells these mouse lemurs to laboratories but also experiments on some of them, as reported in the literature. While some of the experiments carried out may appear to be “simple behavioural studies”, others are only harmless in appearance. In one experiment, for example, entitled “adaptability to its environment”, individuals were isolated, underfed for several days, then decapitated and sent to foreign laboratories.

This is the third request lodged against the MNHN which has already suffered two convictions, seeking to obtain public information relating to this breeding programme —proof of the Museum’s persistent resistance to any transparency concerning the fate of the animals it holds. This kind of unlawful opacity is widespread in the animal experimentation sector, where One Voice has just won a victory against similar practices by the CNRS and the University of Aix-Marseille.

One Voice will continue its fight until this breeding facility is closed, until the full truth about the fate of the Brunoy mouse lemurs is revealed, and until experiments on all lemurs are stopped. Join us in taking action by signing the petition!

A victory for the jackdaws: four deadly orders from 2022 and 2023 were illegal

A victory for the jackdaws: four deadly orders from 2022 and 2023 were illegal
28.11.2025
Bretagne
A victory for the jackdaws: four deadly orders from 2022 and 2023 were illegal
Animaux sauvages

On 27 November, the Administrative Court in Rennes overturned four orders authorising the mass culling of jackdaws in the regions of Finistère and Côtes-d’Armor in 2022 and 2023. This is an important victory for these birds which are shot relentlessly every year in Brittany, despite being a protected species. One Voice is calling on the prefectures to respect the court’s decisions and finally turn to non-lethal measures.

Every year, the prefectures of western France order the slaughter of thousands of jackdaws at a time when the young are still dependent on their parents. Although the courts, thanks to our action, urgently suspended three texts targeting these birds in 2022, thus saving 27,000 individuals, they remained deaf to their suffering the following year.

Non-lethal methods exist

On 27 November of this year, the Administrative Court in Rennes finally recognised that four of the orders we had challenged were illegal. These texts, which have once and for a all been declared null, were in no way necessary. In their eagerness to satisfy farmers, government representatives were once again unable to demonstrate that they had sought alternative solutions before ordering these killings. Blocking chimneys, using repellents, targeted feeding, crop rotation… there are many methods of cohabitation. In addition to sparing the animals, these are more sustainable, as shooting is not even effective against crop damage, which the judge was quick to point out, highlighting “the risk of exacerbating the problem by boosting jackdaw populations”.

The courts are no longer fooled

This victory is part of a growing body of case law favouring the jackdaws. At the end of 2024, the Administrative Court of Appeal in Nantes already emphasised the importance of using non-lethal measures before considering killing animals belonging to protected species. Six months later, we obtained the suspension of new orders in three regions, with the same call for the protection of animals.

Wherever jackdaws are targeted, we will continue to respond! Add your voice to ours by signing our petition for radical reform of hunting.

Wolves in utmost danger: a draft decree reducing their protection unveiled

Wolves in utmost danger: a draft decree reducing their protection unveiled
27.11.2025
Wolves in utmost danger: a draft decree reducing their protection unveiled
Wildlife

The draft ministerial decree on wolves marks a dramatic turning point for these animals: shooting them will become easier than ever –in many cases, a simple declaration will suffice– while measures to protect livestock will no longer even be mandatory. A massacre is on the cards to satisfy the demands of agricultural lobbies and hunters who have only one thing on their minds: the outright eradication of every wolf in France. Faced with this unprecedented assault, it is time for a widespread and massive mobilisation: until 19 December, take part in the public consultation to say no to this historic setback!

Wolves removed from the list of protected species: the great regression continues

The draft decree begins with a shocking announcement: wolves are purely and simply removed from the list of protected mammals in France. Instead, the government is trying to build a scheme out of thin air which pursues the clear objective of making culling ever easier and contains worrying legal uncertainty about the penalties incurred for poaching.

The text does formally maintain a general ban on killing, capturing or disturbing wolves, but the exemptions are so broad and so easy to obtain that they will become the norm. This draft is only one step, and we know where it will lead: to wolves becoming huntable. The government is not saying so, but the administrative machinery is in motion, and the agricultural and hunting lobbies are throwing their weight behind it. Only a massive mobilisation will defeat their nightmarish project.

Lethal shooting without herd protection: an intolerable shift

For most herds, the text now authorises lethal shooting in the absence of any protective measures. No more need for guard dogs. No more need for fences. No more need for guards. Nothing. In other words, farmers will be able to kill wolves in the name of defending a herd… that they have not even made the effort to protect.

The state is compensating for the lack of protection by offering the rifle as the default solution. This is a historic break with the principle of protecting endangered species… but one that nevertheless led to the killing of nearly 200 individuals each year. From now on, the first step is to shoot, and then perhaps protect, or perhaps not. This is a total reversal and an unprecedented act of violence against the wildlife of our country.

This draft decree paves the way for the mass slaughter of wolves and constitutes a serious break with any ethic of coexistence. We cannot allow such a setback for wild animals to happen. The heritage of future generations is at stake. Until 19 December, take part in the consultation to oppose the massacre of wolves, and sign our petition. If the decree is published as it stands, we will take legal action against it.

Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves!

Save the horseshoe crabs, victims of the biomedical industry’s blood factories

Save the horseshoe crabs, victims of the biomedical industry’s blood factories
27.11.2025
Europe
Save the horseshoe crabs, victims of the biomedical industry’s blood factories
Expérimentation animale

Despite more effective alternatives having existed for decades, pyrogenic testing* is still widely practised on animals. Although the European Union finally banned it on rabbits in 2024, horseshoe crabs are still subjected to it. Having existed for millions of years, they are now classified as endangered. More than 550,000 of them are captured each year for their blood, and of those around 150,000 do not survive. One Voice is joining forces with the ECEAE coalition to call for an immediate ban on these cruel tests and the systematic use of existing alternative methods.

Horseshoe crabs are not actually crustaceans. They belong to the same family as spiders and scorpions and live on the coasts of America and Asia. Protected from wild predators by a large carapace, they have ten eyes and five pairs of legs and have existed for around 450 million years! It is not however for their importance in the evolution of life, their exceptional morphological conservation or their ecological role but for certain properties of their blue blood that they are coveted by the biomedical industry, and for their flesh by the fishing industry. The four existing species are unfortunately classified as endangered.

Horseshoe crabs, survivors of five mass extinctions but threatened by the biomedical industry

Their blood is used in the vaccine and medical device business for pyrogenic testing to check the safety of products. Horseshoe crab blood coagulates on contact with certain bacteria. The LAL (Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate) test is based on this phenomenon.

Captured in the wild, horseshoe crabs are then kept out of the water in collection chambers where laboratories insert a needle into their hearts without anaesthesia and remove 30% of their blood. Horseshoe crabs have a nervous system, which makes them reactive to the stress of capture and blood collection. Released with a third less blood, between 10% and 30% of them die.

This exploitation is not only extremely cruel, but it also gradually weakens the global population of these creatures, even going so far as to decimate 90% of one species of horseshoe crab known as the three-spined horseshoe crab, in Asia.

Heterogeneous regulations around the world, which govern but do not protect

In the United States, biomedical companies must obtain an operating licence, comply with capture seasons and accurately report the number of animals collected. Blood is collected from live horseshoe crabs who must be released after collection in order to reduce mortality, even though a significant proportion of them do not survive.

In Asia, these living creatures are subject to varying restrictions depending on the country: protected areas, bans on capture during breeding season, or limitations on export.

In Europe, where horseshoe crabs do not live naturally, regulations mainly concern the importation of animals or animal products.

And yet a synthetic alternative has existed for decades

The European Union has been encouraging and, since 2020, authorising the use of a synthetic substitute, recombinant factor C (rFC) which has been available since 2003. This product replaces the molecules sought in horseshoe crab blood, it is already used in many applications, and it is much more effective.

The European Pharmacopoeia is the regulation that requires the pyrogenicity of medicines, vaccines and medical devices to be checked. Despite the existence of methods that do not use animals —and which produce superior results— the LAL test using horseshoe crabs is still mentioned in this regulation and is therefore widely used.

Let’s take action to end the suffering of 550,000 horseshoe crabs every year

One Voice is part of the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE) which is committed to ending animal experimentation.

The coalition, represented by Doctors Against Animal Experiments, will meet with the European Commission on 12 December to demand that it withdraw its authorisation for tests using horseshoe crab blood and instead promote the use of its more effective synthetic substitute.

Help us put an end to this lucrative and cruel business by signing the petition to give more weight to our request before 30 November!

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*Pyrogenic tests are used to check whether a substance or medical product causes a reaction in the recipient in the form of fever. Historically, these tests were carried out by injecting the product into rabbits, then observing their temperature rise before killing them. Other methods use the blood of other animals, including horseshoe crabs.

Hunts at the authorities’ initiative conducted in secret: a worrying trend

Hunts at the authorities’ initiative conducted in secret: a worrying trend
26.11.2025
Lot, Aveyron
Hunts at the authorities’ initiative conducted in secret: a worrying trend
Animaux sauvages

In the regions of Lot and Aveyron, hundreds of animals have been killed illegally… and how many more elsewhere in France? In these regions, hunts at the authorities’ initiative have been authorised without any official order being published, nor any public debate being organised. This has clearly been one of the prefectures’ strategies to prevent us from intervening. In the Lot region, no fewer than 33 roe deer and 103 badgers have reportedly been slaughtered in complete secrecy. We demand transparency and an end to the shooting!

After Loire-Atlantique, Lot and Aveyron: how many hunts have been organised in secret?

Last 7 November, in the minutes from a meeting published by the Lot Prefecture, we learned by chance that 125 wild boars, 33 roe deer and 103 badgers had already been killed in 2025 as part of hunts at the authorities’ initiative. The problem is that we have found no trace of the orders authorising these operations.

In Aveyron, according to the hunting federation, the administration has “issued a “historic” number of authorisations this year for the destruction of badgers, either by shooting or trapping” to “compensate for the absence of an additional period” of unearthing following our victories. Again, there is no trace of these authorisations.

How many municipalities –such as Frossay– or regions are currently the objects of such discreet interventions? Sometimes the orders are published… but only after the fact, when the animals are already dead. These practices –which we have denounced all the way to the Council of State– have a single objective: to prevent us from taking legal action to save lives.

For transparency… and an end to culling

All these operations represent genuine parallel hunting seasons conducted by officially appointed huntmasters accompanied by shooters of their choice, and they are regularly annulled by the courts when we challenge them. The justifications are implausible, as in the Nièvre region where the prefecture wanted to have foxes slaughtered on the grounds that they were accused of attacking pheasants bought from farms and released in view of being killed a few days later!

Today, we demand transparency. And even if these orders were correctly published, we would still reject the very principle of these actions which institutionalise the systematic slaughter of wildlife.

In the region of Loire-Atlantique, following our request, the prefecture has committed to publishing all orders. We will make sure of it. And we are writing to the prefects of Lot and Aveyron to ask them to do the same, so that we may intervene wherever we can to save animals!

Reunion Island: the court condemns the digging up of common tenrecs… and the collusion between the State and hunters

Reunion Island: the court condemns the digging up of common tenrecs… and the collusion between the State and hunters
19.11.2025
La Réunion
Reunion Island: the court condemns the digging up of common tenrecs… and the collusion between the State and hunters
Animaux sauvages

For several years, we have been challenging the hunting of common tenrecs on Reunion Island. Like badgers, thousands of them are victims of digging out every year. Despite the prefecture’s full support to this practice and the usual attempts to circumvent justice, the administrative court of Reunion Island has just ruled in our favor across the board by canceling the two decrees that authorized the killings from February to April 2024. This is a victory for the animals and a severe punishment for the prefect, who had allowed hunters to write his decrees.

Repeated victories and a relentless prefect

Nothing is spared for common tenrecs, these little-known animals belonging to a unique species whose appearance resembles that of hedgehogs. Already victims of intensive poaching, every year nearly 100,000 of them are dug up and killed. And this at a time when there are still many young animals that are dependent on their parents.

In February 2024, we obtained an emergency suspension of the digging, authorized by the prefect from February 17 to April 14. Despite this decision, the authorities had yielded to intense pressure from hunters. A few days later, a new decree was adopted to allow the killing of common tenrecs until April 14… with even more days of digging to compensate for the effect of the previous decision. This was clearly a strategy designed to circumvent the justice system.

We say no to backroom deals between the State and hunters to kill common tenrecs!

We also revealed that the decree and the presentation note intended to provide the public with objective information about common tenrecs had been written not by the prefecture’s departments… but by the director of the departmental hunting federation and her lawyer! This was a case of total and unacceptable collusion, which we had confirmed by a bailiff.

For the second time, the court has ruled that the decrees were illegal. Like underground badger hunting, the blind digging up of common tenrecs directly endangers the young, whose killing is nevertheless prohibited. The judges also sanctioned the prefecture’s multiple instances of negligence in the procedure for adopting the order and formally reminded the prefects that they cannot under any circumstances delegate their duties to the hunters themselves!

In Réunion, as elsewhere, thousands of citizens oppose these archaic methods that cause stress, suffering, and death to animals that only want to live in peace. We will not give in! To put an end to this deadly practice, sign our petition for a radical reform of hunting.

November 24 hearing in Béthune: justice for the roosters tortured in Norrent-Fontes

November 24 hearing in Béthune: justice for the roosters tortured in Norrent-Fontes
19.11.2025
Pas-de-Calais
November 24 hearing in Béthune: justice for the roosters tortured in Norrent-Fontes
Exploitation pour le spectacle

On November 24 at 1:30 p.m., at the Béthune legal tribunal, the trial will be held of a cockfighting organizer from Norrent-Fontes (Pas-de-Calais). Between 2021 and 2025, he illegally revived a sadistic practice that had disappeared from this town in 1999. We will be there to remind everyone that “tradition” cannot justify violence.

A practice from another time

Behind the closed doors of the cockfighting arenas, roosters fight to the death. These animals, mutilated and made aggressive by human hands, suffer for the simple pleasure of a bloodthirsty audience. Their combs are cut, their beaks are filed down, and sometimes blades or metal spurs are attached to them to increase the injuries inflicted on their opponents. All this for a bet, a thrill, a “tradition” that some refuse to see disappear and which children can watch, accustoming them from an early age to the glorification of sadism towards animals.

These scenes of extreme violence are neither part of our heritage nor our culture. The images we revealed in the summer of 2025 show what these “fights” really are: synonymous with suffering, stress, and often a slow and painful death, all to the applause of a complicit audience.

Norrent-Fontes: a tradition interrupted since 1999

Like bullfighting, these fights are acts of cruelty and are banned throughout France. However, an unjust exception remains in cases of “uninterrupted local tradition”. In Norrent-Fontes, this practice had ceased since 1999. Despite this, an organizer has revived the fights between 2021 and 2025, even though the prefect of Pas-de-Calais revoked his authorization in 2022. The Lille Administrative Court, in a ruling on December 26, 2024, confirmed that holding these fights in the municipality was simply illegal.

Béthune: a date with justice and compassion

We will be present at the Béthune legal tribunal on November 24 at 1:30 p.m. to make the voice of animals heard, support the prefect’s action, and remind everyone that the law must be applied everywhere, without exception or complacency. This trial is not just about one organizer: it symbolizes the resistance of an old world, one where violence against animals could still be hidden behind the word “tradition”.

Citizens are increasingly rejecting these cruel spectacles. Respect for living beings, compassion, and justice have become shared values. Cockfighting is not a heritage to be preserved, but suffering to be abolished. Together, let’s call for an end to these cruel spectacles: sign our petition!

Wolves in danger: One Voice’s national mobilisation on 22 November

Wolves in danger: One Voice’s national mobilisation on 22 November
13.11.2025
Wolves in danger: One Voice’s national mobilisation on 22 November
Animaux sauvages

Their names are Milo and Mina. They live in the Corrèze region and have had cubs. A discreet family with an exceptional genetic heritage, now threatened with death. While the government wants to make it easier to shoot wolves, and lobbyists are calling for their extermination, a national mobilisation is being organised. On 22 November, voices will be raised across France to defend the wolves.

A fast-track policy of destruction

Last September, the French government announced its intention to simplify the procedures for shooting wolves. Behind these technocratic words lies a brutal reality: to kill more easily, more quickly and with fewer controls. This headlong rush deliberately ignores the fundamental rights of sentient animals, scientific data, solutions for coexistence and ecological issues.

In the same spirit, several agricultural and hunting organisations have intensified their pressure. In the Corrèze region, home to Milo, Mina and their cubs, voices were raised calling for a hunt, with a barely concealed objective: to make this family disappear before they could settle permanently. Our mobilisation led to its cancellation.

22 and 23 November, throughout France

Faced with this political violence, pressure from lobbyists and the State’s failure to fulfil its duty to protect biodiversity, we refuse to remain silent.

Over the weekend of 22 and 23 November*, a coordinated national action will bring together around fifteen activist groups throughout France. In Amancy, Bar-le-Duc, Bordeaux, Brive-la-Gaillarde, Fréjus, La Rochelle, Marseille, Metz, Montpellier, Nice, Paris, Troyes** and many other cities, rallies, symbolic actions, distribution of information and happenings will take place to remind people that wolves have the right to live in peace.

We will not let the worst happen. Because Milo, Mina, their cubs —and all the others— deserve better than a complicit silence.

* Dates, addresses and times of the events are available by clicking on the name of each city.

** Exceptionally, the action planned in Troyes will take place on 15 November.