News Archive - Page 45 of 146

Chronic pain and depression: ‘moderate’ suffering for animals?

Chronic pain and depression: ‘moderate’ suffering for animals?
12.10.2023
France
Chronic pain and depression: ‘moderate’ suffering for animals?
Animal testing

When a laboratory wants to implement animal testing, they must indicate to what degree the animals will suffer (called the ‘degree of severity’). The Ministry for Research, despite several exchanges with us, finds it normal that projects involving inflicting chronic pain and an anxious-depressive state on rodents are classified in the ‘moderate’ category. One Voice is seriously considering going further to make their voices heard.

Our first letter went out in April 2023. Three projects that had just been approved jumped out at us. For one, whose classification as ‘non-recovery’ was clearly wrong (fish exposed to pollutants while fully awake), the Ministry has noticed its error and has simply corrected the classification – without explaining how such a major error was able to pass through the filters of the ‘ethical committees’ and APAFiS National Services in charge of project authorisation.

As for the others, they didn’t give up: depression, chronic pain… regardless, these experiments would be classified as ‘moderate’ or even ‘mild’. A well-practised classification to reassure the public… but we will not give in one bit.

‘Mild’ injections with psychotropic drugs and inappropriate tests

The second project, classified as ‘mild’, specifically involved repeated injections of psychotropic drugs into the abdomens of baby mice. We spotted mentions of anxiety and depression measuring lasting five to ten minutes – which immediately made us think of the forced swimming test, still used despite very questionable scientific interest and widespread public opposition.

According to the Ministry, forced swimming would not be used in this project. In fact, “the test used to evaluate depression is the Classic Labyrinth Test”. Here is another problem. In fact, this test is normally used to measure anxiety, and not depression at all, in rodents. Did the research team blindly choose its tests without checking what they were supposed to be used for? Another letter from us – as yet with no response.

Chronic pain: ‘moderate’?

The third project, classified as ‘moderate’, is even worse, with more than 1000 baby mice being subjected to chronic pain for five to twelve weeks. In response to our report, we simply read that the surgery (done to induce chronic pain) is carried out under anaesthesia and that cut-off points are defined to kill the animals if they suffer too much. But also that “in this model of neuropathy, animals show no clinical signs of severe pain”.

The Ministry has clearly forgotten the regulations that they wrote and passed themselves more than ten years ago – which state that any chronic suffering should be classified as ‘severe’. Again, we received no response.

Sweet nothings to reassure the public

Meanwhile, other experiments received approval from the APAFiS Service to make animals suffer and to kill them. And as part of the ‘moderate’ group, we found even more aberrations that we have also reported. Thus, in one project, almost 200 mice will be made to be stressed by repeated electric shocks, then kept in individual cages for weeks to study post-traumatic stress. In another, more than 500 rodents will endure “chronic pain along with the development of anxious-depressive problems” and electrodes being implanted into their skulls.

This is no laughing matter when each year we read in statistics published by public powers that for “all species combined, the least restrictive procedures, that is to say moderate or mild classifications, are the most numerous”. With the number of ‘mild’ projects decreasing while ‘moderate’ experiments increase year upon year, we understand why the industry tries to manipulate public opinion, even when three quarters of French people are opposed to these practices. Experiments that are done, still, to the detriment of animals that are victims of laboratories.

For a more precise look at the statistics in animal testing and the suffering endured by animals, our analytical website allows a better idea of the reality.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Hearing of 12 October 2023: wood pigeons in the Pyrenees victims of hunting deserve a clear defence

Hearing of 12 October 2023: wood pigeons in the Pyrenees victims of hunting deserve a clear defence
11.10.2023
Pyrénées
Hearing of 12 October 2023: wood pigeons in the Pyrenees victims of hunting deserve a clear defence
Wildlife

In March 2022, we were successful in partially suspending a decree by the Aude Prefecture authorising the slaughter of wood pigeons in the middle of their migratory period. On 12 October 2023, we will be at the Montpellier Administrative Tribunal to ask for the cancellation of this same law and to protect these animals in the long term. The persecution of these birds, already victims of intensive farming and growing urbanisation, must stop.

Wood pigeons, wild geese, rooks and carrion crows, and even grey partridges and larks… One Voice has been fighting for years for all birds that are subjected to hunters’ destructive obsession, even when their survival is already endangered by human activities. It is hard to believe that these trigger-happy people will only stop when nature is silent… We will never accept these killings.

Wood pigeons used as targets

By classifying wood pigeons as a ‘species likely to cause damage’, the Aude Prefecture authorised shots to start again on 20 February 2022, ten days after the end of the hunting season and in the middle of the spring migration. A law that trampled all over the European ‘Birds’ Directive in addition to providing no proof of the damage supposedly caused to crops.

These nomads, simply passing through our coastal skies on their return from Spain, will be killed before even being able to land on French soil. We were also successful in partially suspending this decree, whose sole aim was to prolong a deadly hobby, and we have been asking for a year and a half that it be annulled to be able to draw a line under this case once and for all.

Hunters want to replace the beating of wings with the whistling of bullets… we oppose this!

Already in 2018, the Ministry of the Ecological Transition, whose complacency towards our opponents is more a rule than an exception, had given them authorisation on a plate to kill greylag geese flying through our skies from February onwards.

For wood pigeons in the Pyrenees, we will be at the Montpellier Administrative Tribunal on 12 October 2023 for the hearing, starting at 10am.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Justice: six associations are filing a plea against marmot and mountain hare hunting in Savoie

Justice: six associations are filing a plea against marmot and mountain hare hunting in Savoie
11.10.2023
Savoie
Justice: six associations are filing a plea against marmot and mountain hare hunting in Savoie
Wildlife

The Association Justice Animaux Savoie (AJAS), ASPAS, Animal Cross, AVES France, FNE Savoie, and One Voice are filing a plea against the prefectural decree authorising the hunting of marmots and mountain hares, emblematic animals in the Alps. These two species, protected by the Bern Convention, are in decline due to the destruction of their reproduction habitat and climate change. However, hunting them is still authorised! An interim hearing has been set in the coming days in Grenoble while a petition having gained almost 80,000 signatures is asking the government for a pure and simple ban on hunting marmots throughout the country.

A scandalous type of hunting on species that are protected and are threatened by global warming

Banned since 1992 in Italy, hunting marmots is still allowed in France where it caused the death of 427 animals in Savoie last year. Marmots are, however, protected by Annex III of the Bern Convention. Their ‘management’ must therefore “be regulated in order to keep populations out of danger”. The problem: to this day, there has not been an official count allowing us to know the exact state of their population, and this lack of knowledge is used to continue to authorise them being hunted.

However, marmots are doing badly as they are victims of the effects of global warming and many scientists are sounding the alarm, such as the Vanoise Scientific Council in the statement that they delivered in May 2023. An alarming finding also for mountain hares since, in 2017, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) revised their status in order to classify them as ‘near threatened’ given the marked decline in their population in the country.

A trophy hunt far from the discourse of hunters as “the first ecologists of France”

Hare hunting joins that of 24 species with an unfavourable conservation status in France, or 27% of huntable species. In reality, far from being the first ecologists in France, hunters are gravediggers for biodiversity. They hunt for pleasure and with a taste for trophies, with marmots being no exception. But French people are not fooled.

The Savoie Prefect authorised marmot hunting in opposition to citizens’ views

As part of the public consultation prior to the publication of the 2023-2024 hunting plan for Savoie, 88 citizens expressed that they were explicitly against this practice. The Prefect was thus forced to justify himself, putting forward arguments each more absurd than the last! According to the Prefecture’s official documentation, “burrows dug in meadows cause injuries to cattle, sometimes to farmers with sprains, breakage of mowing equipment, damage to watering hoses, etc..” Furthermore, in the document presented following the public consultation by the Savoie Prefect, there is no official count allowing us to know the exact state of the mountain hare and marmot populations. Neither Prefects nor hunters are above the law, which is why our associations have decided to file an appeal against the prefectural decree allowing the hunting of marmots and hares in 2023.

Legal action and a petition to the government

While these practices are not banned on a national level, each Prefect can decide arbitrarily whether or not to authorise these types of hunting. This is the reason why our associations have been rallying in a forum since 2022 to ask for an end to marmot hunting. The aim? To go from 78,000 to 100,000 signatures on the petition in order to get the government to ban marmot hunting throughout France once and for all.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

The government refuses to make hunting safe: we are launching a legal attack on them

The government refuses to make hunting safe: we are launching a legal attack on them
10.10.2023
France
The government refuses to make hunting safe: we are launching a legal attack on them
Wildlife

Every year, 45 million animals fall victim to hunters’ bullets, as well as the human victims. Since 2003, more than 400 people have lost their lives, to which are also added hundreds who have been injured. Three months ago, we formally requested that the Minister for the Ecological Transition acts. Despite our repeated alerts, authorities continue to do nothing and have completely ignored our request. Because this moral ‘hobby’ more than ever represents a threat for animals and humans, along with victims’ families, we are launching a legal attack on the State. Our plea has been filed before the State Council.

The government and hunting: lies and inaction

A few months ago, the State Secretary for Ecology announced with his hand on his heart that from then on, hunting under the influence of alcohol would be banned, following the limits for road safety. All of this was nothing but a big joke: in the end, it would only be being ‘visibly’ drunk that would be banned! In other words, as long as they are not staggering around, hunters can continue to shoot wildly in forests… Under these conditions, it is difficult to be reassured.

Faced with these small measures that are inadequate for the scale of the problem, two months ago, we formally requested that the Minister for the Ecological Transition take the necessary measures to limit the risk of accidents. It is no great surprise that he did not even bother to respond to our letter. Yet more proof of the contempt that he brings to all those who simply want to benefit from nature without massacring animals, and to the 87% of French people who believe that hunting poses safety issues.

The countryside does not belong to hunters and must no longer be regarded as their playing field. Animals have a right to live here without fear and families have the right to benefit from it without risks. We have therefore filed a plea at the State Council against this culpable silence, and so that effective measures will finally be taken.

Semi-automatic weapons and expansive bullets

The report that we ordered from an expert in weaponry and ballistics, which was used in developing our plea, is final: today, hunters have an almost military arsenal at their disposal to practise their ‘hobby’.

In 2013, the government legalised ‘30-06 Springfield’ ammunition, previously reserved for military use, which can be loaded into rifles with a range of more than 3 kilometres. In addition to these bullets is ‘expansive’ ammunition, which rips the animal open causing maximum suffering and damage. And what about sighting instruments and other gadgets that can be purchased on the internet without ever having been regulated by a professional…?

A more than incomplete regulation

Armed to the teeth, hunters are not subjected to any sight or hearing tests, beyond a ‘medical certificate’ at the time of obtaining a licence. In 2022, hunting accidents were caused by shooters over 80 years old. When it comes to young people, who can hunt between 15 and 16 years old without having passed the farce that is a hunting licence, they are subject to absolutely no tests.

Why are they so stubborn in refusing any medical examinations? This stubbornness is all the more incomprehensible given that those practising sports shooting have to have a check by a doctor every year…

Our concrete and effective solutions to limit the risks!

The reforms to be implemented urgently are therefore clearly identified. We are solemnly asking the government in particular for:

a ban on hunting on Sundays, bank holidays, and during the school holidays;
a strict ban on hunting being carried out under the influence of alcohol or drugs;
to reinforce checks on hunters’ physical fitness;
to reinforce the hunting licence exam;
to ban the use of certain weapons and ammunition in hunting;
to make checks by an expert on sighting instruments obligatory.

To push the State to act, beyond legal actions, we need you more than ever! Sign our petition to demand a radical reform on hunting!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

One Voice volunteers rallying to defend wolves

One Voice volunteers rallying to defend wolves
09.10.2023
France
One Voice volunteers rallying to defend wolves
Wildlife

One Voice is organising militant action in several towns in France in the month of October 2023 to inform the public about wolves: their sensitivity and intelligence, their organisation centred around a strong family unit, and their vulnerability.

Because the official protection that they should receive is violently abused by French authorities who order exceptional shootings (which could even resemble a planned extermination as the quotas increase from year to year, and questions relating to the counting of wolves are subject to controversy) and barely concealed poaching.

On a European level, their protection is now also called into question. One Voice has been opposing this at administrative tribunals, at the State Council, and also at legal tribunals for years. Likewise, we are constantly raising awareness among the public and public decision-makers, but the task is proving difficult.

The reason: irrational fears and a collective imagination that reinforces these fears, based on fantasies and an inability to think calmly about our coexistence with nature and animals (its inhabitants) other than from a perspective of power and by invading. Intensive farming on the mountainside no longer has the idealised image that people want to portray to us, of lone shepherdesses accompanying a few sheep to high altitude pastures.

Wild animals are disappearing from our planet, those who live in France and Europe are no exception, and the crisis that we meet on a climatic level should not solely be thought about with regard to a transition to clean energy. It also has a lot to do with our way of understanding others, including animals, of which wolves are an integral part. Will systematic killing continue to be the chosen option?

One Voice activists will therefore be working closely among the public to raise awareness of wolves, these wild and free cousins of dogs, and getting them to sign our petition to end their persecution.

Organised events:

Saturday 7 October:

Nice (06)

In Nice specifically (which is starting the ball rolling for these events), in addition to a magnificent banner showing a photograph of a wolf, we are planning two marquees, including a classic information stand and another focused in particular on the ‘youth’ with cuddly toys and information appropriate for children.

A street interview will also take place, around our classic ‘audience participation event’, with signs and wolf masks, as well as an awareness speech. We will play a forest soundtrack. Our activists will meet the public.

Sunday 8 October:

Bordeaux (33)

Saturday 14 October:

Amiens (80)
Digne-les-Bains (04)
Montpellier (34)
Limoges (87)
Metz (57)
Aix-en-Provence (13)
Troyes (10)
Flers (14)

Sunday 15 October:

Rouen (76)

Saturday 21 October:

Nantes (44)
Bar-Le-Duc (55)

Saturday 28 October:

Strasbourg (67)

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Galliformes: hundreds of lives hanging on court decisions

Galliformes: hundreds of lives hanging on court decisions
07.10.2023
France
Galliformes: hundreds of lives hanging on court decisions
Wildlife

The hunting season for mountain birds is at its peak: in the Alps and Pyrenees, for a few days, shooters relentlessly hunt down grey partridges, ptarmigans, and even black grouse. Whilst we have just learnt that our request has been rejected by the Pau Administrative Tribunal (AT) and that we are still awaiting decisions for Haute-Savoie and Isère, new hearings have been set: 9 October at 9:15am for Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Hautes-Alpes (at the Marseille AT), 10 October at 10am for Savoie (at the Grenoble AT, alongside ASPAS with whom we have worked together), and 11 October at 10am for Ariège (at the Toulouse AT).

Today, the life of a mountain bird is a real obstacle course. They have to fight against global warming, the urbanisation of natural areas, intensive herding… and of course hunters’ bullets. So many scourges for these summit inhabitants who are dying in silence and whose populations are decreasing day by day.

However, each of these mountain birds is simply looking to live in peace. Because this right is constantly denied them and because the State and hunters set upon them, One Voice has been rallying for several years and condemns this type of hunting which is harmful for all animals and mountain environments.

For grey and rock partridges, black grouse, rock ptarmigans, and hazel grouse, we have initiated around ten proceedings. During the hearings, prefects and hunters were content with repeating their usual talking points: it does not matter that guns separate families and that these species are ‘near-threatened’; as long as they are not extinct, they should be able to continue killing them without having to worry!

These arguments are, unfortunately, enough to convince the Pau administrative judge. With no explanation, the Tribunal rejected our plea, even though we were proven right in this department last year.

Department after department, we are giving a voice to each bird, because, threatened or not, none of them deserve to be slaughtered for the pleasure of a few people. The hearings continue; in the days to come, we will be in Marseille, Toulouse, and once again in Grenoble, where we will relentlessly defend these animals that are in danger of dying.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Propaganda on animal testing in Mauritius: “a monkey or your child?”

Propaganda on animal testing in Mauritius: “a monkey or your child?”
02.10.2023
Ile Maurice
Propaganda on animal testing in Mauritius: “a monkey or your child?”
Animal testing

Breeders of Mauritian primates for laboratories have this week published shameful propaganda in the Le Défi Plus newspaper. In this fake “ Consent Form for Medical Treatment ”, the public thus had the choice between recognising “ the importance ” and character of the “ necessary sacrifice ” of experimenting on animals, or giving up “ known medical treatments ”, “ cutting-edge treatments capable of saving millions of lives worldwide ” that involved testing on primates. As for the monkeys and what they will endure here, who cares? Certainly not the Cyno Breeders Association. One Voice’s critical analysis.

With Air France having stopped transporting primates and the shocking revelations on laboratory practices, both in Mauritius and in France, the animal testing industry feels that change is coming. For more than a century, when it considers itself sufficiently threatened to give up on any rational ethical discussion, it falls back on fear: “a dog or your child?”

150 years of appealing to selfishness

Reading such outrageous claims, we can see that its defence has not changed much. Since 1884, its « invariable” tactic was reported on as follows by Paul Viguier*:

«We are launching(…), in the form of impartial assessments, statements of medical discoveries that are credited with vivisection, and which are likely to pique the fierce egoism of “everyone” who is unwell, or who feels capable of becoming unwell. — From there to concluding that the torture of forty thousand dogs is nothing compared to the relief of a single patient, there is only one step: and this step is left to the frightened public to take. — If necessary, if they hesitate, we help them.» Paul Viguier, 1884

Today, the public is no longer hesitant: the detailed opinions published by Ipsos and One Voice in spring 2023 revealed that in France, almost eight in ten adults are opposed to animal testing. And the situation is the same throughout the world. This is how the appeal to fear takes over…

Fear is never advised

So, a monkey or your child? This is not a new question, and it has already received a clear answer for more than one hundred years**: «To save my child, I should, very possibly, be prepared to vivisect the honourable Member who asked [that question], but that would hardly be accepted as proof that I was morally right in so doing.» G. G. Greenwood, 1913

Even for those who do not categorically refuse these practices, if an ethical debate must take place, it should still be done in a rational way, without being influenced by fear which all too often causes discrimination and fundamental injustice.

The fight is not over

The good news? If Mauritian breeders have come to this conclusion, it is because testing on primates is starting to disappear. This is a disappearance that will not upset many people! But the fight is not over. This propaganda, which calls on each person’s egoism, is dangerous.

To help us put an end to these horrors, you can sign our petitions for the closure of NeuroSpin and for stopping the importation and use of macaques.

*Cited by François-Victor Foveau de Courmelles in La Vivisection: erreurs et abus [Vivisection: errors and misuse] (1912), p.36.
**Cited by A.W.H. Bates in Anti-Vivisection and the Profession of Medicine in Britain: A Social History (2017), p.148.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

The unbearable persecution of mountain Galliformes meets our resistance!

The unbearable persecution of mountain Galliformes meets our resistance!
29.09.2023
France
The unbearable persecution of mountain Galliformes meets our resistance!
Wildlife

Between mid-September and the beginning of October in the mountainous areas of France, mountain Galliformes have been in hunters’ and prefectures’ line of fire. The hunting period for these six emblematic species from the Alps and Pyrenees is open from three weeks to two months. Because this hobby that some people practise will never justify the killing hundreds of animals, we are asking for an urgent suspension of the prefectural decrees.Four emergency interim hearings are set in the coming days in Grenoble and Pau.

Birds wiped out, but hunting them is still authorised

In the heights of the Alps, a family of birds with unique plumage, changing from mottled brown in summer to white in winter, walk around peacefully. The parents live together for several months and are accompanied by their young. All is calm when, suddenly, a gunshot breaks the silence. The snow is stained with blood; those that survive take flight and a shooter comes to collect the remains of their prey. Rock ptarmigans, like all mountain Galliformes, are killed one by one.

Prefects try to hide behind calculations, caps, and other quotas to justify the unjustifiable: continuing with relentless hunting for the sole pleasure of an ultra-minority and far too influential group. But behind each bird killed is a flock, meaning that the whole species is threatened. Slaughtering is everywhere: no more black grouse in the Ardennes or Franche-Comté, no more grouse in Languedoc-Roussillon, and a situation of near extinction in Alsace and Auvergne where populations of rock partridges are increasingly confined to the tops of the mountain ranges…

Pleas in the face of decrees that cannot be defended

In Isère, the Prefect has authorised each hunter to kill two rock ptarmigans and an unlimited number of hazel grouse. That is hundreds, or even thousands, of birds that could therefore be massacred with the State’s approval. In short, it is like Christmas has come early for hunters.

In Haute-Savoie, rock partridges and black grouse are entering a period of many dangers. For the black grouse, the Prefect has not even bothered to set a tally: it was the president of the departmental federation himself who determined the number of individuals to be killed! Once again, animals are getting ready to pay with their lives for the uncontrolled power of this lobby and the wrongful abstention of the State.

And these plans are repeated in all Alpine and Pyrenean departments… By acting in this way, prefects sign decrees to kill thousands of animals who simply want to live peacefully in the mountain ranges that are their last refuges. We will be present at the Grenoble Administrative Tribunal on 2 October at 10:30am (Isère), on 5 October at 1:30pm (Haute-Savoie), and on 10 October at 10am (Savoie) for them, and at the Pau Administrative Tribunal on 4 October at 3pm (Pyrénées-Atlantiques).

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Never mind the government’s opinion, One Voice continues its fight for wolves

Never mind the government’s opinion, One Voice continues its fight for wolves
29.09.2023
France
Never mind the government’s opinion, One Voice continues its fight for wolves
Wildlife

A few days ago, the government presented the key features of the future national action wolf plan 2024-2029 and expressed its barely concealed desire to continue pursuing the eradication of wolves in France. Simplifying the procurement of shots, using night-vision goggles more widely… the objective is clearly to kill the largest number of wolves possible. However, massacring them with the support of the law is not even enough for those who are ready to do whatever it takes to eliminate them, including poaching. One Voice will be present at the Annecy Legal Tribunal on 2 October for one of their victims. Pursued by a reckless driver trying to purposefully run it over, this wolf narrowly escaped a collision and certain death.

Since 1 January, 135 of them have been killed with the State’s approval, and six have also been victims of poaching. When they manage to avoid being shot, they are subjected to “accidental captures”, poisoning, or road accidents.

A defendant who incriminates himself…

In March 2023, one of them was almost the victim of an illegal act in Haute-Savoie. An unfortunate new circumstance: a vehicle tried to hit it. Although he was simply trying to cross a road, a wolf was pursued by a driver deliberately changing direction and lanes to run him over. Proud of himself, the driver filmed his actions to brag about it to his friends, undermining his defense in denying the facts. It was this video that allowed the French Office for Biodiversity to identify the accused.

Although, very thankfully, the animal narrowly escaped this attempt to kill him, One Voice has filed proceedings to get justice for him, to recognise the persecution of wolves in France and demand that the accused is sentenced. The accused was in fact given a punishment of up to three years imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros for “attempting to destroy a protected species”.

Poaching wolves is an open secret

How many other wolves have actually been purposefully run over, but their deaths have been ruled as accidental due to lack of proof? Last year, we filed a complaint against several farming lobbies inviting people to kill wolves with no qualms completely illegally, and getting rid of the bodies to hide any evidence, hiding behind balaclavas and weapons.

Until wolves have peace, One Voice will defend their right to live without risking being killed, legally or otherwise, and will fight so that they can finally receive an effective protection system and for shots to definitively be banned. Help us to push this fight forward: sign our petition to stop the persecution of wolves in France.

*addition of the mention of the fine on October 6, 2023

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Forced swimming: a long-term battle

Forced swimming: a long-term battle
27.09.2023
France
Forced swimming: a long-term battle
Animal testing

Since we discovered that a project involving inflicting electric shocks and forced swimming tests on hundreds of rats had been authorised, we have been trying to find out more, obtain footage of similar projects already carried out in France, and to motivate businesses and French universities to commit against this test. To face resistance from authorities, One Voice is referring to administrative tribunals.

The forced swimming test is one of the most criticised practices in animal testing nowadays. Not only have businesses and universities committed to no longer authorise its use globally for several years, but an Australian parliamentary committee has recently taken an interest in asking for it to be abolished. Closer to home, a British committee on the scientific use of animals has received numerous requests regarding this test. But either way, authorities’ responses clearly lack ambition and imagination.

Authorities and their waffle

In France, authorities are still less receptive. The Ministry of Research has already confirmed the existence of the project that we condemned to the media, all while qualifying it with the usual reassurances of ethical committees following the ‘strictest regulations in the world’: a response void of any content and that you would probably also receive if you wrote to the Ministry.

Not content with having passed the buck, the Ministry continues to authorise projects involving stressful and painful situations for animals, but also the forced swimming test. In November 2022, a project was approved that would subject more than 3000 mice to various stressful procedures in order to make them depressed in different ways. Forced swimming is part of a range of tests destined to assess the value of these depression ‘models’.

We would like more information

Our letter did not only contain an allegation. It also asked the Ministry to provide us with the documents containing the details of the project and on the deliberation by the ethical committee that approved it.

The Ministry has refused to grant our request. We contacted the French Committee for Access to Administrative Documents [Commission d’accès aux documents administratifs (Cada)] who proved us right. But with the Ministry still turning a deaf ear, we had to resort to the Administrative Tribunal – a lengthy and fastidious procedure, but one which will force the administration to provide us with the requested documents.

Forced swimming footage in France

But can these same laws be applied to obtain the footage taken in laboratories by the research teams themselves? While footage of forced swimming is relatively rare on the Internet, a fortiori
when it comes to France, we have asked three university teams to provide us with the videos of forced swimming that they have taken.

The first claimed to have already deleted them, which raises questions about the transparency of the research and open science, important concepts in the 21st century. The second did not bother to reply at first, then said that they too have already deleted the videos from 2012 to 2017. And finally, the third tried to refuse to send us the footage due to… copyright! As though videos of standardised tests would constitute an original approach to the point of it being elevated to intellectual creation rank in the eyes of the law.

Administrative tribunals must make a decision.

Sign to put an end to the forced swimming test

One Voice’s campaign against the forced swimming test:

Electric shocks and forced swimming in France in 2022 (13/06/2022)
Forced swimming: footage (17/06/2022)
Forced swimming: the businesses moving forward and the industry that resists (16/08/2022)
Forced swimming: other approaches are possible (08/11/2022)
Forced swimming: a long-term battle

Translated from the French by Joely Justice