News Archive - Page 47 of 146

Camarney: 30,000 macaques for animal testing laboratories

Camarney: 30,000 macaques for animal testing laboratories
01.09.2023
Spain
Camarney: 30,000 macaques for animal testing laboratories
Animal testing

For more than twenty years, our partner Abolición Vivisección has been fighting against the Spanish centre Camarney, part of the Noveprim company, which captures and breeds macaques from Mauritius. According to a new report from the association, with more than 30,000 crab-eating macaques being sold since 2005, Camarney is the biggest importer of primates in Europe.

Our partner Abolición Vivisección’s fight in Spain is very similar to the one that we led in France against dog breeding farms and primate imports for years, and their report describes the problems that we know all too well.

Therefore, the creation of Camarney was widely debated between 1999 and 2005, the legality of the authorisation issued by the town mayor having been called into question. A situation that reminds us of our opposition to the opening of United States giant Marshall in Montbeugny at the same time. But unlike us, Spanish associations did not win their case.

Camarney, le plus grand centre de distribution et d’expérimentation de primates d’Europe

Download the report

A network with questionable practices

Until recently, the majority of animals sold by the Spanish centre were imported from Mauritius. But in recent years, it has diversified its sources by turning to Vietnam, where crab-eating macaques are threatened by extinction. They are supplied in particular by Nafovanny, suspected of illegal captures in direct connection with Vanny Bio-Research in Cambodia, who are under investigation for illegal trafficking.

The Cambodian company, that One Voice already reported on regarding the capture and exportation of animals in 2008, had falsified primates’ exportation documents with the aim of making people believe that the monkeys captured had been bred in captivity. A truly worrying possibility when we know that Camarney sold primates throughout Europe – and in particular in France.

Infractions that were never punished

The report from Abolición Vivisección also reported on the lack of inspections despite the presence of repeated non-conformities over the years. Among the stated problems, we found the great classics that we know well in France: the staff are not sufficiently trained and the ethical committee is full of conflicts of interests.

When it comes to macaques, the company is no better. Other than the fact that their tally is approximate, their veterinary follow-up is not tracked and the causes of their deaths are not noted anywhere. Worse: the cages are not well secured, the temperature and humidity of the rooms does not correspond to the regulatory standards, and primates sold as “free from specific pathogens” are in fact regularly exposed to these pathogens – which means that the results of the tests that they are used for are falsified…

You can help monkeys

To encourage the Catalan government and the town of Camarles to put an end to these shameful practices, we encourage you to write to them.

You can send a polite email to conselleria.accioclimatica@gencat.cat and ajuntament@camarles.cat using the following template:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I have heard about the activities of the Camarney company thanks to the One Voice and Abolición Vivisección Associations.

It has shocked me profoundly to learn that such an establishment, despite repeated infractions, is not inspected every year or sanctioned as European regulations require. I am also concerned about its links with Vietnamese and Cambodian companies suspected of the capture and illegal trafficking of macaques in danger of extinction, who can then be sold by Camarney to European laboratories, in particular in France.

Animal testing is destined to disappear thanks to the development of research methods without animals (which are just as reliable, or even more so), which have increased in recent years. It is the duty of public authorities to facilitate this transition. I am therefore joining the associations to ask you to close the Camarney centre.

I thank you in advance for your attention to this letter.

Yours Sincerely,

You can also share these messages on Twitter/X:

With @onevoiceanimal and @StopCamarles, I am calling on @gencat and @ajcamarles to put an end to the impunity at Camarney and to stop trading primates for #AnimalTesting. Let’s prioritise the development of animal-free alternatives! https://one-voice.fr/news/camarney-30-000-macaques-pour-les-laboratoires-dexperimentation-animale/

Camarney does not respect the law and works with businesses suspected of the illegal trafficking of macaques captured in the wild. @gencat, @ajcamarles, I am asking for the closure of Camarney. Stop #AnimalTesting! @onevoiceanimal @StopCamarles https://one-voice.fr/news/camarney-30-000-macaques-pour-les-laboratoires-dexperimentation-animale/

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Toro piscines: terrorising animals… to better entertain humans

Toro piscines: terrorising animals… to better entertain humans
31.08.2023
France
Toro piscines: terrorising animals… to better entertain humans
Exploitation for shows

‘Toro piscine’ is a practice that involves penning a young cow in an enclosure with no escape and harassing them to make them cross a swimming pool – all completely natural – and is very in fashion at certain festivals in the south of France.We have written to the mayors of different towns for them to share our indignation and to ask them to put an end to these ‘shows’ that have had their day.

Several whistle-blowers have shared their dismay following the organisation of these types of events in their town, as was the case last week in Vendres and in Monclar-de-Quercy. Although toro piscines can at first glance seem inoffensive, with the young cows having their lives saved on the contrary to the bulls tortured to death in bull-fighting, they nevertheless are still an ordeal for the animals.

In 2023, some still laugh at others’ distress

The principle is simple: humans in need of a ‘thrill’ throw themselves into the ‘arena’ (in reality, a small, meshed enclosure making it easy to escape – ‘keep going’, ‘let’s run away’!) to pursue and torment a young cow to make it cross a swimming pool.

Surrounded on all sides by several people, in an unknown environment, with no possibility of ending this ‘game’ that they have not chosen to play, the young, frightened cow has no other option than to pursue its assailants in order to protect itself. The music, laughter, and shrieks from the crowd add their dose of stress to this.

When the human festival ends, exhausted, she is taken back to the farm. Like the majority of cows in France, she will be exploited for the rest of her life.

Individual cases and formulae are just as significant as the rest to move societies forward

Although some deem these practices as ‘pointless’ or ‘insignificant’, this certainly is not the case for the animals forced to take part. We believe that they carry a heavy symbolic value in fact. Putting an end to it is the only way to raise awareness and stop animal mistreatment in all its forms.

This is why we are writing to the mayors concerned and are inviting you to do the same. While waiting for an end to toro piscines, do not hesitate to contact us to report such events to us.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Deaths, deaths, and more deaths: the dramatic track record of hunting in France

Deaths, deaths, and more deaths: the dramatic track record of hunting in France
31.08.2023
France
Deaths, deaths, and more deaths: the dramatic track record of hunting in France
Wildlife

45 million animals killed, 78 accidents and 6 human deaths. These are the numbers from the 2022-2023 hunting season. Year after year, the report is the same: this hobby kills, and public powers have decided to do nothing. While biodiversity is disappearing before our eyes and wildlife is being privatised by a small group of armed individuals, it is no longer time for trivial measures but for a radical reform of hunting!

On 2 December 2020, Morgan Keane, 25 years old, was killed by a bullet while he was chopping wood on his own land. While this unintentional homicide could have remained confined to the pages of a newspaper, the tenacity of the young man’s loved ones allowed the shooter and the person leading the hunt to be convicted, in a proceeding which One Voice was part of and supported. But for this one conviction, how many cases were buried? Far from being anecdotal, this tragedy is symptomatic of a deadly activity for humans, animals, and wildlife, and reveals a total lack of will from public powers to oppose individuals who impose their rules on everyone else.

Hunting: a questionable hobby that leads to death

Every year, almost 45 million wild animals are killed in cold blood. More than ever, they are being attacked from all sides, from repeated administrative battles to exemptions to be able to dig out badgers outside of the hunting season, via classifying ‘species likely to cause damage’ allowing numerous species to be killed all year round and without any restrictions… And let’s not forget pet animals, victims of all of the traps that are strewn across the soil of our countryside, and sometimes killed in front of their owners for disturbing hunters in pursuit of their bloody hobby.

Animals are not the only victims: six people have lost their lives this year. As for representatives from the hunting world, they display a strange satisfaction and congratulate themselves on these six deaths, even though they were all hunters… These deaths add to the many that have hit the headlines in recent years, from the British cyclist killed in Haute-Savoie to this 25 year-old walker victim of a young 17 year-old woman, or even to Joël Viard, killed by a bullet while he was driving his car.

So many lives taken so that a handful of individuals can have fun killing!

Trivial measures and patch-up jobs: what are the government playing at?

Faced with this catastrophic situation, we had hoped for the beginnings of progress, after our hearing by the senatorial mission on securing hunting and the success of the petition launched by the Un Jour Un Chasseur [One Day One Hunter] Collective. But the government, once again, played for time and proposed trivial measures well below what is expected of them to cope with the scale of the disaster.

Today, hunters’ training is a true sham, as our investigation revealed regarding the licensing process, and hunters continue to do everything they can to fight against common sense proposals to limit or even eradicate risking human deaths, such as annual eye tests, or a ban on hunting at the weekends and during summer holidays. And the government dares to present blood alcohol limits as a step forward, which should have been put in place decades ago!

A hobby that shames ecology…

The refusal to tackle security deficiencies head-on is more proof, if it were needed, of the omnipotence of this lobby which is favoured by the Head of State, who proudly posed in front of a hunting painting in Chambord for his fortieth birthday. Hard to be shocked when Thierry Coste himself admits to practising
“frantic, assertive lobbying[…] without the slightest restraint”. And what can we say about these hunting representatives, oscillating between climate scepticism (for a long time and reiterating their dubious theories very recently through Willy Schraen, current President of the Fédération nationale des chasseurs [National Federation of Hunters]) and excitement at the idea of killing animals (for their predecessor)? They even have a permanent platform to carry out their deadly ideology…

While 87% of French people believe that hunting poses safety issues (IPSOS/One Voice survey, September 2022), as the countless deaths every year attest to, it is about time we tackle the cause of this mortal danger, and urgently demand a radical reform of hunting again and again!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

We are asking that the lions at Oran Zoo are put into a sanctuary

We are asking that the lions at Oran Zoo are put into a sanctuary
31.08.2023
Algeria
We are asking that the lions at Oran Zoo are put into a sanctuary
Wildlife

Warned by numerous people who are very worried about the living conditions of the lions at the Oran Zoological Park, we wrote to the French Ambassador in Algeria to ask that she get involved along with the Algerian government to get these animals rescued and placed into a sanctuary.

It was a young 21 year-old man who blew the whistle on social media a few days ago. Shocked by what he had discovered within this establishment, Ziyed published a video, thanks to which we found out about these animals’ alarming situation.

On the premises, several lions are forced to share minuscule cages that do not allow them to exert themselves, play, or even less to escape the watch of visitors and the surrounding racket. While they do not sit still, lethargic, they show heavy stereotypy behaviours, tirelessly repeating the same movements. Staring outside from behind the prison bars, a thin lioness roars.

According to our information, she and her unfortunate companions would only receive food once a day, and a visibly insufficient quantity of it.

Outraged by the distress and thinness of these animals, who remind us of that of Jon, Hannah, Céleste, Marli, and Patty when we saved them from the Cirque de Paris, or even the incessant comings and goings of the lionesses and tigers at Parc Saint Léger, we wrote to the French Ambassador in Algeria for her to intervene for these big cats along with the Algerian government.

We stand ready to find places in a sanctuary and to organise the transport fees for these lions to be taken from the Oran Zoo to a new life where cages, boredom, and hunger will be nothing but a distant memory.

Sign the petition launched by Ziyed

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

One Voice is back at the Administrative Tribunals to save mountain Galliformes

One Voice is back at the Administrative Tribunals to save mountain Galliformes
29.08.2023
France
One Voice is back at the Administrative Tribunals to save mountain Galliformes
Wildlife

Following our victories last year, in particular in the High Alps and Savoie, we decided to heighten our fight for mountain Galliformes. The hunting season is open, as are those from the hearings! The first one of this new 2023-2024 season will take place on 30 August at 2pm at the Montpellier Administrative Tribunal.

These wonderful birds truly have many threats weighing against them… for example, we are thinking about global warming that strongly affects mountain environments and the animals that live there, disruptions during sensitive periods due to tourist seasons, or even deforestation… And on top of this, they are still hunted despite common sense and their deplorable conservation status!

As an example, the grey mountain partridges are classified as ‘near-threatened’ on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list in France, which indicates that the species will be faced with a heightened risk of extinction in the wild in the near future.

Despite this sub-species of grey partridge only being present in the Pyrenean chain, the Pyrénées-Orientales Prefect has, within the decree opening the 2023-2024 hunting season, directly authorised killing two partridges per day and per head (with a maximum limit of 10 partridges per hunter) during the period from 17/09/2023 to 11/11/2023.

It is all the more unbearable that this morbid quota is perfectly arbitrary since the administration has not even waited for the results of the tally that took place in the summer to define a number of grey mountain partridges to be slaughtered. The Prefect has therefore not based this on any methodology.

Either way, continuing to authorise this massacre is quite simply absurd and unjustifiable. Slaughtering birds does not respond to any justifiable need to ‘regulate’ (impossible for hunters to hide behind this kind of argument) a species that is already threatened everywhere and whose representatives are just asking to live in peace. In other words, such a hunt has no other function than a hobby for those who practice it. An unhealthy and particularly debatable hobby on an ethical level, at a time when biodiversity and the living beings who comprise it are suffering a mass slump.

For all of these reasons, One Voice has entered a plea for a cancellation and an emergency interim suspension proceeding. The hearing, set for 30 August, will tell us if our sensible arguments have convinced the Tribunal. In any case, we will continue to fight for every grey partridge’s life and all the more so for all mountain Galliformes!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Report, new investigation and action on the ground: to stop breeding and testing on dogs

Report, new investigation and action on the ground: to stop breeding and testing on dogs
29.08.2023
European Union
Report, new investigation and action on the ground: to stop breeding and testing on dogs
Animal testing

At the end of the summer, One Voice published an in-depth report on dogs in animal testing in France (and its ramifications in the European Union and elsewhere in the world). This report of over thirty pages and the bibliography provided is accompanied by unpublished footage from the Mézilles and Gannat breeding farms, currently owned by Marshall BioResources, the New York giant in ‘bio-resources’.Rallies near the breeding farms have been set and implemented by local One Voice activist branches, as they do every year at the end of the summer, on 1 and 2 September in Gannat, and 2 September in Auxerre.

Deep-rooted public opinion in favour of ethical science

Three quarters of French people are against animal testing (IPSOS/One Voice survey, April 2023). This figure rose to 85% regarding tests carried out on dogs. However, our country is home to Yonne and Allier, two industrial breeding farms for thousands of beagles and golden retrievers – animals that are particularly gentle and friendly – destined exclusively to suffer then die in conditions that we would not even wish on our worst enemy. The One Voice team obtained, in 2019 and 2021 respectively, a cancellation for their expansion.

The requirement for transparency leads by example, with the public’s support

One Voice, cutting edge on the subject of animal testing in France since the end of the 1990s, has also made a site analysing the official data available and invites the public to sign their petition that is in particular in favour of closing these two dog breeding farms. The association is asking that these experiments causing ‘severe’ suffering for dogs stop, but also for the development of replacement methods (meaning without animals), and brings other key measures such as obtaining true transparency, because this environment has a rare lack of transparency, and State services are more than unwilling to hand over inspection reports that are public.

Constant work alongside our partners in Europe, because mass-production and legislation goes beyond French borders

By supporting the European Citizens’ Initiative against testing cosmetics on animals, One Voice has managed to get the European Commission to commit for a progressive decree on animal testing. Even more recently, the association took over a collective campaign showing the conditions of international transfers of dogs in the hold of an aeroplane via Denmark — conditions that they had already reported on in the past.

To find out more about dogs in animal testing:

Every year, there are almost 20,000 uses of dogs in laboratories in the European Union, and this is mainly for toxicity tests for medications and in research into diseases.

More than half of these uses relate to new dogs imported or ‘produced’ for experiments, while the rest are made up of dogs that are reused from one year to the next. Most of them come from specialised EU breeding farms, but almost a third of them are imported from the United States or elsewhere.

France is among the biggest consumers of dogs, and for tests causing the most suffering

Almost all of these dogs are beagles, but individuals from other breeds (particularly golden retrievers) can be tested on. France and the United Kingdom are the biggest ‘consumers’ of them in Europe, with more than 4000 procedures per year each. Germany follows them closely but has noted a progressive reduction in the number of uses since 2015.

By nature, animal testing causes suffering. France stands out in Europe with a high proportion of very painful or very stressful procedures.

We invite you to read our report on dogs in animal testing, to sign our petition, and to watch our investigation videos on the French dog breeding farms that are among the biggest in Europe. You are also invited to participate in the rallies at the start of September to ask for the closure of these miserable places, as well as a paradigm shift on a scientific level.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Open letter regarding Iberian orcas and their interactions with ships

Open letter regarding Iberian orcas and their interactions with ships
27.08.2023
International
Open letter regarding Iberian orcas and their interactions with ships
Wildlife

Cetacean experts, many of whom are those who regularly call upon One Voice to strengthen their stance, published an open letter to warn of the importance of not drawing hasty conclusions regarding orcas’ interactions with boats.

Photo: Michael Bamford – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The undersigned are experts in cetacean biology and behaviour, including several who specialise in orcas (also called ‘killer whales’).

Interactions between orcas (which we will refer to as ‘Iberian orcas’ below) and ships along the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) as well as in neighbouring waters provoke keen interest from the public. We are worried about the fact that factual errors regarding these interactions are repeated in the media and embellished with a story – devoid of any scientific or genuine basis – according to which these animals attack boats aggressively or look to take revenge on sailors. We believe that this story inappropriately gives cetaceans human motivations and we fear that its perpetuation does not result in punitive responses from sailors or administrators. Orcas have shown a wide range of behaviours during interactions, including many corresponding to playful social behaviour.

Consequently, we would like to clarify facts based on the scientific evidence available. Most of this information comes from a peer reviewed article published in Marine Mammal Science in 2022 by several signatories of this letter.

Iberian orcas are classified on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list as being in critical danger of extinction. Their population is likely less than forty individuals. These orcas represent a geographically isolated and genetically distinct sub-population, which mainly feed on bluefin tuna.

These disruptive interactions with ships truly started in July 2020. To date, at least eleven juveniles and four adult females have been identified as participating or observing. There is no evidence of the existence of a recognisable ‘leader’ who would be at the head of this interference. Researchers have given these fifteen orcas the Latin name Gladis
and an individual name: for example, Gladis Blanca or Gladis Negra (respectively White Gladis and Black Gladis in English). We discovered that the juvenile female Gladis Negra – initially reported to have interacted with boats – had a laceration on her head at the start of spring 2020 and an injury behind her dorsal fin later in 2021. The origin of the two injuries remains unknown.

The nature of the interactions is distributed as follows: no contact with the ship, light or moderate contact with minor or no damage to the ship, significant contact with serious damage (preventing sailing). Since spring 2021, at least five damaged ships sank. Serious damage is produced in only 20% of these interactions.

Despite damage caused to ships, we believe that is it wrong to consider these interactions as ‘attacks’. Although the boats (rarely) had teeth marks in some places, the predominant damage to the rudders and the keels were due to collisions or water hammers to the head or body. Orcas do not demolish the rudders like they would if they were hunting. Even if their behaviour is scary (and costs money) from a human perspective, from the orcas’ perspective it appears rather recreational.

Orcas, like any other species of dolphin, are incidentally known for starting cultural ‘trends’ – meaning new behaviours that last briefly in time and develop within a given population, such as carrying dead fish on their heads, and which we could compare to our clothing ‘trends’. Although interactions with ships can represent a similar phenomenon, they persist for a longer time than a trend kind of behaviour, spreading it throughout the population, and have a more and more significant impact. Nevertheless, it is possible that, following the examples of previous trends, this behaviour will disappear as suddenly as it appeared.

We are urging the media and the public to no longer construct projective stories about these animals. In the absence of any additional proof, people must not presume to understand their motivations. The orca is an intelligent and socially complex species. Each population has its own culture which includes various vocalisations (called dialects), preferences when it comes to prey, hunting techniques, and even different social structures and migratory behaviours. Iberian orcas present a behaviour which, among cetaceans, has never been seen with such regularity. Even in the days of industrial hunting on wooden vessels, while much bigger whales had a reputation for smashing or damaging ships, such incidents were relatively rare. Science still cannot explain why Iberian orcas act this way, even though, as we noted earlier, such behaviour is most likely linked to playing and socialisation rather than aggression. It is unfounded and potentially dangerous for these animals to claim that it is about vengeance for past wrongs or to spin another melodramatic story.

While we are at sea, we are in the realm of marine life. We do not have the right to punish wildlife for being wild. We must keep cool while animals present previously unseen behaviours, and we must redouble our efforts to adapt our own actions and behaviours in their presence. The survival of species with whom we share this planet depends on it.

Signatories:

Dr Naomi A. Rose, Scientific Director, Institute of Marine Mammal Biology and Animal Welfare, United States

Dr Robin W. Baird, Director of the Hawaii programme, Cascadia Research Collective, United States

Dr Giovanni Bearzi, President, Dolphin Biology and Conservation, Italy

Dr Maddalena Bearzi, President, United States Marine Conservation Society, United States

Dr Jaime Bolaños, Executive Director, Caribbean-Wide Orca Project (CWOP), Sea Vida Coordinator (Venezuela), Venezuela

Dr Inês Carvalho, Population and Conservation Genetics Group, Instituto Gulbenkian Ciência, Portugal

Dr Mel Cosentino, Marine Mammal Researcher, Aarhus University, Denmark

Dr Volker Deecke, Wildlife Conservation Professor, University of Cumbria, United Kingdom

Dr Rocío Espada-Ruiz, University of Seville, Ecolocaliza, GTOA (Grupo de Trabajo Orca Atlántica/Atlantic Orca Working Group), Spain

Dr Ruth Esteban, Madère Whale Museum GTOA, Portugal

Dr Andrew Foote, PhD Researcher, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, University of Oslo, Norway

Dr Tilen Genov, Morigenos – Slovenian Marine Mammal Society, IUCN Group of Cetacean Specialists, Slovenia

Dr Deborah Giles, Science and Research Director of Wild Orca, United States

Dr Christophe Guinet, Research Director, CNRS, Chizé Biological Research Centre, France

Dr Erich Hoyt, Research Fellow, Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) and IUCN SSC/WCPA Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force co-chair, United Kingdom

Dr Eve Jourdain, Thesis Director and Research Fellow, Norwegian Orca Survey, Norway

Dr Alfredo López Fernández, University of Aveiro, CESAM CEMMA, GTOA, Portugal

Dr Eduardo Morteo Ortiz, Thesis Director, Marine Mammal Laboratory at the University of Veracruzana (LabMMar-IIB-ICIMAP-UV), Mexico

Dr Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, Honorary Chairman, Tethys Research Institute, Italy

Dr Laetitia Nunny, Scientific Consultant, MSc OceanCare, Spain

Dr Liliana Olaya-Ponzone, University of Seville GTOA, Spain

Dr Christian D. Ortega Ortiz, PhD Professor, University of Colima, Mexico

Dr E. C. M. Parsons, Teaching Fellow, Centre for Conservation and Ecology, University of Exeter, United Kingdom

Dr Héctor Pérez Puig, MSc, Marine Mammal Programme Coordinator, Centro de Estudios Culturales y Ecológicos Prescott, A.C. Mexico, Mexico

Dr Randall Reeves, PhD Chair, IUCN-SSC Cetacean Specialist Group, Canada

Dr Filipa Samarra, Research Specialist, University of Iceland, Iceland

Dr Marina Séqueira, Institute for the Conservation of Wildlife and Forests GTOA, Portugal

Dr Tiu Similä, Chief Scientist, Whale2Sea, Norway

Dr Mark Peter Simmonds, OceanCare, Director of Science, United Kingdom

Dr Courtney E. Smith, Affiliated Faculty, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, United States

Dr Paul Tixier, Researcher, Marine mammal ecology and their interactions with human activity, National Institute for Sustainable Development, IRD MARBEC, France

Dr Jared Towers, Executive Director, Bay Cetology, Canada

Dr Lindy Weilgart, OceanCare Adjunct Senior Ocean Noise Expert and Policy Consultant, Biology Department, Dalhousie University, Canada

Dr Hal Whitehead, PhD Professor, Dalhousie University, Canada

Dr Alex Zerbini, Scientific Director, Cooperative Institute for Climate Ecosystem and Ocean Studies, University of Washington, United States

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Animal testing: twenty rulings asking for transparency

Animal testing: twenty rulings asking for transparency
25.08.2023
France
Animal testing: twenty rulings asking for transparency
Animal testing

Case files come one after the other and are similar: since last summer, thirteen new tribunals have told prefectures in twenty departments to provide their inspection reports for animal testing laboratories. This is in addition to around thirty rulings already obtained since Autumn 2021.

These new rulings concern the Charente-Maritime, Landes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Seine-Saint-Denis, Dordogne, Gironde, Yvelines, Essonne, Côte-d’Or, Guyane, Mayenne, Maine-et-Loire, Loire Atlantique, Vendée, Corrèze, Indre, Calvados, Haute-Garonne, Haute-Vienne, and Drôme Prefectures. The laboratories are in particular those at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment [INRAE], several University Institutes of Technology [IUT] and Universities, Sanofi, and also the French Office for Biodiversity, Dordogne Breeders’ Association, Dijon Agro Institute, French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, and the Equitechnic company among others.

We find it difficult to understand how prefectures and their veterinary services (DDPP) still refuse to provide animal testing laboratory inspection reports after all of the rulings that oblige them to do so.

Transparency scares administrations

Prefectures’ justifications are always the same: (unfounded) fears for safety, criticism from animal associations, or the unbelievable idea that if the public have access to laboratory inspection reports, this would undermine investigations into violations and the enforcement of the law.

But tribunals are rarely fooled: while some rulings have authorised prefectures to hide very specific information, almost all of them only authorise names of laboratory staff and veterinary inspectors being redacted.

Such reluctance from the administration would be almost laughable if it were not so dramatic, when we know that sanctions are excessively rare and insignificant.

Transparency is substantive work

Not that these are the first lies issued by the administration to cover up their lack of transparency… It is therefore our responsibility to continue monitoring and carrying out substantive work, in order to gather information helping to report on the limits of the regulations and their application.

These documents allow us to finally note situations of animal mistreatment – always serious, sometimes illegal -in order to report on them and to attack those responsible through the justice system or to act against the inaction of the administration when this is possible.

Thus, even when the administration does not learn any lessons, each new ruling in favour of transparency is a victory.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Not Japan, nor Dubai, nor another park, but a sanctuary for the orcas and dolphins at Marineland Antibes!

Not Japan, nor Dubai, nor another park, but a sanctuary for the orcas and dolphins at Marineland Antibes!
24.08.2023
Alpes-Maritimes
Not Japan, nor Dubai, nor another park, but a sanctuary for the orcas and dolphins at Marineland Antibes!
Exploitation for shows

One Voice is getting the latest push ready to save the four orcas born and kept at Marineland Antibes as well as the dolphins who also go round and round in the worn and empty pools there. The finishing line, like a mirage, comes in waves — it seems close and then seems to elude us: we are doing everything we can for her to be put into a marine sanctuary and not into a dolphinarium on the other side of the world.

Risking everything for Inouk, Moana, Wikie, and Keijo

There is no longer a minute to lose. And yes, at no time have we skimped on the means used; more than ever we are increasing them tenfold. Following consistent information on the next departure of orcas and dolphins from the marine park from the Côte d’Azur to somewhere even worse than what they have already experienced, we are writing to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, the Alpes-Maritime Prefecture, Marineland, and its owner, Parques Reunidos.

We are therefore committing in concrete terms to a dialogue with authorities and the park owners, at the same time as a power struggle, because it is not yet too late for the cetaceans being kept captive at Parques Reunidos in France.

A duty to set an example for animals and future generations

The orcas kept at Marineland are young; there is still time to repair all the harm done to them by the captivity industry in particular, which was fuelled, and continues to be, like a voracious monster that is never satisfied in seas across the world, or by humanity in general.

We must raise our expectations when it comes to ourselves and our peers. Let’s try to learn from our mistakes and do all we can to rectify them, instead of adding yet more to the long list of deaths of these individuals exploited since their birth and for decades.

A tightly woven network of specialised partners surrounding ‘French’ orcas

Our friends and cetacean experts throughout the world are committing to lending us a hand now. They are ready, when the moment comes, to prepare them to be welcomed into marine sanctuaries under construction.

Thus, everyone takes on their part of the work alongside animal defenders. Including among those converted away from the captivity world. And incidentally the ‘keepers’, who are as close as possible to the animals every day, will be those who we will need not only to surround them during a transfer to a marine sanctuary, but also in their daily life, later.

Let’s ensure that the only family of captive orcas living together are not separated and sent to Japan. Let’s ensure that the dolphins are not sent to Dubai, which our sources have agreed is their destination: here they would be victims of endless exploitation. Both will be, even more than in France, in contact with clients, and thus exposed to disease and stress in even smaller pools, with no protective legislation.

After twenty years of fierce fighting against the captivity industry, it is essential for us that the last four orcas born and trained in the chlorinated waters of France can finally enjoy a dignified life and have some respite, which they have never experienced to this day. Our team of lawyers, comprised of Caroline Lanty, Coline Robert, and Andréa Rigal-Casta, is by our side to finish this fight. As long it is possible to take action, we will do so.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Feline straying: one year later than the set deadline and still no government report in sight

Feline straying: one year later than the set deadline and still no government report in sight
23.08.2023
France
Feline straying: one year later than the set deadline and still no government report in sight
Domestic animals

The passing of the 30 November 2021 law aiming to fight against animal mistreatment has allowed a few rare steps forward when it comes to animal welfare. They are, however, largely insufficient, and those on feline straying are completely ignored. More than a year and a half after these new standards coming into force, nothing has been done about it.

This law effectively plans for neutering campaigns led on an experimental basis by the State in cooperation with mayors and presidents of volunteer local authorities.

To launch this process, a key element must be submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture: a report setting up a quantified diagnostic on the issue of stray cats in France, evaluating the cost of capturing, neutering, and formulating operational recommendations to respond to this issue, all while presenting the arrangements for financing the system by local authorities and the State.

This document must be put forward no later than six months after the enactment, which means that 1 June 2022 is the latest deadline.

August 2023, still no report…

In summer 2022, the government explained that they had already faced difficulties and did not know when the said report would finally be published.

In December of the same year, the MPs in charge of deciding on how this legislation is applied were concerned about the lack of publication, criticising “the inaction of communities and a lack of drive on the State’s part” on the situation of feline straying, all while recalling that “there is an obligation to neuter stray cats in the initial bill and that this had been taken out at the Senate under pressure from local representatives.”

In February 2023, we wrote to the Ministry of Agriculture to ask them for information, question them on a delivery date for the report, remind them of their obligations, but also to send them our research on the subject. A letter that has still not been answered.

And so, we are at the end of the summer and the case still has not progressed.

While waiting, cats continue to suffer

There is nothing very unusual about the government’s inaction on subjects regarding animals and the environment. But here, stray cats continue to reproduce, fight against cold, heat, hunger, bad weather, and human malice. Thousands of kittens born outside continue to die every year from disease or being run over by cars. Those who survive give birth to other individuals, themselves destined for a tragic fate, and so on…

When it comes to mayors, many of them refuse to take responsibility by carrying out neutering campaigns, and can find nothing better to do than ban feeding cats or destroy their shelters. We receive dozens of witness statements along these lines every week. The associations, who are weighed down by requests for support and continue to struggle, are on their side: those defending animals do the best they can to feed, treat, and even neuter stray cats at their own expense, despite inflation making their work more and more difficult.

The only solution to put an end to this misery can be found in obligatory neutering, as is the case in Spain or in Belgium, where this provision even made it possible to reduce the number of euthanisias.

Help us to move forward with this fight: share our report with your local council and sign our petition demanding an urgent national plan to put an end to feline straying and the suffering that it causes.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice