News Archive - Page 47 of 148

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

Orcas at Marineland: One Voice has succeeded in having an independent expert assessment arranged!

Orcas at Marineland: One Voice has succeeded in having an independent expert assessment arranged!
21.09.2023
Alpes-Maritimes
Orcas at Marineland: One Voice has succeeded in having an independent expert assessment arranged!
Exploitation for shows

We could say that this is a victory for justice. This morning, One Voice has succeeded with what they have been asking the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal for: for an independent expert assessment of the state of Inouk and Moana the orcas, and of the infrastructures at the Marineland park in Antibes where they are kept along with Wikie and Keijo. A decision that we hope will allow clarity to be given on their state of health and to contribute to allowing them a life far away from shows and concrete pools.

To support our case on appeal, we have provided the courts with expert reports from Drs Ingrid Visser, Naomi Rose, and David Perpiñan, which highlight the detrimental state of health of the two oldest males in the group, accompanied by videos of the orcas and pools taken from above and by the poolside showing the potential underlying and, in the eyes of the association, outrageous problems. Inouk’s tooth pulp is damaged due to her biting at the concrete pool. According to scientists, the pain is constant.

In the first instance, the case file presented by One Voice was rejected. With these new elements, the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal has granted our request for an independent expert assessment to be carried out. A balanced and sensible decision that we approve of.

What future?

For us, it is now a matter of seeing what can possibly be done in terms of alternatives so that the four French orcas are not sent to a Japanese dolphinarium (or any other place where they would still be exploited). A never-ending journey for the animals that have never left the water in these pools in Antibes, with their suffering also having been linked to the effects of gravity on their organs. The fact that they would be separated is also detrimental to their balance given that these four orcas form a real family, the only one in captivity that we know of. Yet, in the wild, orcas spend their whole lives with their families. A few days ago, One Voice also published a report on Wikie, the female and matriarch of the group, whose health also concerns us. We have written to the Japanese authorities about her.

For years, we have also been working on supporting and implementing alternative solutions to those set out by Parques Reunidos (owner of Marineland Antibes) with all of our partners on a European and global level. The solution of a sanctuary would require Marineland to accept our helping hand and work with us on mutual understanding for the future of these orcas. Until now, the park has refused to speak or respond to anyone from One Voice.

The ‘animal protection’ law of 2021 plans for orcas to be sent to a marine sanctuary, with our structure being under construction. However, the Ministry of Ecology seems to be doing everything they can to get rid of the animals before making clear decrees. In the orcas’ case, as for circus elephants, this law is worse than a status quo.

Our determination to find a better life for Inouk, Moana, Wikie, and Keijo is unfailing. Sign our petition!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Foxes, rooks, crows: endless persecution in Nièvre and Jura

Foxes, rooks, crows: endless persecution in Nièvre and Jura
21.09.2023
France
Foxes, rooks, crows: endless persecution in Nièvre and Jura
Wildlife

In Nièvre and Jura, the Prefects are targeting foxes, rooks, and black crows, which are already classified as ‘likely to cause damage’. These animals can be killed wherever and whenever! As if this is not enough, the Prefects in these two departments have implemented administrative hunts to massacre more and more. Faced with this incomprehensible stubbornness, we are defending these unloved animals tooth and nail in court. We are now awaiting the hearing dates of the Dijon Administrative Tribunal and the Nancy Administrative Appeals Court.

The news is very gloomy for ‘species likely to cause damage’. The release of the ministerial decree of 3 August 2023 approved an extension of the right to unlimited killing of foxes, weasels, martens, stone martens, Eurasian jays, Eurasian magpies, common starlings, black crows, and rooks. We have attacked this shameful list while hoping that the State Council will rule in favour of these animals that are still wrongly considered by some as ‘pests’. And, as the persecution against these unloved animals has no limit, Prefects do not hesitate to go further by ordering administrative hunts, which authorise the killing of these animals all year round, wherever and whenever! Examples of this are in Nièvre and Jura.

In Nièvre, killing foxes… to maintain a monopoly on the massacre of farmed pheasants and partridges!

In this department, foxes are used as targets by the Prefect. In the summer of 2022, he passed several decrees authorising administrative hunts in 22 towns for a duration of two months, including the use of night shooting. A true nightmare for these animals who are already hunted with guns and dug out of their burrows as part of the sadistic practice that is underground hunting with hounds.

The reason for these killings? To ensure that the foxes do not touch the pheasants and partridges released by hunters who aim to kill them later! Hunters want to eliminate all competition, and especially that of other animals… And it doesn’t matter that foxes are crop aids and also help to limit the spread of Lyme disease, and that they are fully capable of regulating their own population by themselves. Yet more proof of the total absurdity of these methods that only aim to protect the interests of an all too powerful lobby.

In Jura, the Tribunal proved us right, but the Prefect persists and has appealed!

In Jura, on 23 June, the Tribunal cancelled a decision authorising a large-scale administrative hunt on black crows and rooks. Hardly any consolation for the hundreds of birds killed completely illegally. But the administration resolutely does not want them to have any respite. For a few days, we have known that the Prefect has decided to contest this decision.

This stubbornness has one objective: to allow decrees to be passed authorising animals to be hunted without even having to organise a public consultation! In short, organising methodical killing without anyone being able to voice their opposition. The Prefect can count on us to defend them all with all we have in front of the administrative court of appeal.

At this stage, it is no longer even about the hunts, but quite simply about the persecution of these species that are accused of all evils. We will not let ourselves be deterred by the Prefectures’ and hunters’ untruthful arguments, who still believe that yet more of these animals should be killed.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Animals’ heads torn off: One Voice reveals its investigation footage on the goose neck game

Animals’ heads torn off: One Voice reveals its investigation footage on the goose neck game
19.09.2023
Puy-de-Dôme
Animals’ heads torn off: One Voice reveals its investigation footage on the goose neck game
Exploitation for shows

On 17 September 2023, we went to investigate at the goose neck festival organised in Saint-Bonnet-près-Riom, in Puy-de-Dôme. To mark their passage into adulthood, ten young men tore the head off twenty geese, chickens, and rabbits that were killed for the occasion to cheers from the public. We are asking for a ban throughout France on this barbaric practice.

Young people all smiles, laughter, music… you could almost believe this was a good-natured party. Until we notice the rope stretched horizontally where twenty animals have been hung from. Geese, chickens, and rabbits whose lifeless bodies hang in the air were killed especially to be subjected to the most degrading treatment and to entertain the inhabitants of Saint-Bonnet-près-Riom. So how were they killed? Like in the Basque country: “either we drown them or we open their mouths and stick a knife in them”.

An extremely violent event

The ‘fête’ begins when a couple of these young men who have turned 18 that year pass under the rope, sitting in pairs on the back of a horse. With their arms raised, they hit the goose which hangs above them. The most violent blows send the animal’s head into the air before it falls, dangling limply at the end of its white neck. As if this French piñata were not sinister enough, the women make a second pass under the rope, alone, to kiss the bird, sometimes pulling on its neck so hard that it seems close to dislocating. At the height of the action: the men then tear off the heads of the geese, rabbits, and chickens with their bare hands before brandishing them while singing joyfully to the crowd. What better way is there to enter adulthood and ensure a promising future than these abject acts and the accompanying degrading spectacle? Of course, these beings are lifeless, but they are still animals.

A ‘tradition’ that creates victims each year

This is not the first time that we have condemned this barbaric ‘tradition’ which is still very much alive in certain French villages. We did so in August 2022, when a goose was mutilated in Beaux, then in August 2023 in Arfeuilles, where the decapitation was carried out using a sabre… The organizers defend themselves by boasting that they are not cutting off the heads of living animals. But they don’t seem to mind having them killed beforehand to allow their corpses to be torn apart. Here we are dealing with a practice dating from the Middle Ages that trivialises animal abuse and establishes it as a real rite of passage to adulthood. This initiation should be done without incitement to cruelty. Does our society really need this? The festival committee, organiser of the event, does not even take responsibility: the program for the day does not even say who they are.

To ask for a ban on the goose neck ‘game’ throughout France for all of the geese, chickens, rabbits, and ducks killed and decapitated every year, and for the protection of our youth who represent and constitute the future of our society, sign our petition.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

The worrying state of health of orcas Wikie and Keijo at Marineland Antibes

The worrying state of health of orcas Wikie and Keijo at Marineland Antibes
18.09.2023
Alpes-Maritimes
The worrying state of health of orcas Wikie and Keijo at Marineland Antibes
Exploitation for shows

Sub-dermal lesions, teeth worn right down, stereotypical behaviours… On 17 June 2023, marine biologist Ingrid Visser observed Wikie and Keijo in the pools at Marineland Antibes, revealing the very visible manifestations of their pitiful state of health. Her findings push us more than ever to request that these last four “French” orcas are placed in a sanctuary.

Photo: Wikie, Marineland, Antibes, June 2023. Orca Research Trust

In twenty-two years of existing, Wikie has lever left the Marineland establishment. She saw her young parents die, her adoptive mother, Freya, then her half-brother Valentin, with the shows in which she is forced to participate leaving her without the slightest bit of respite. Today, she has to share her shows with her brother Inouk and his sons Moana and Keijo. All of this to have the right to a few handfuls of dead fish.

In the chlorinated water prisons where they were born, it is impossible for them to swim without restraint, dive down deep, or feed freely. Stress and boredom condemn them to doing the same actions obsessively, leading them to the brink of madness. Who would dare to claim that Wikie and Keijo, born from incest between his mother and his uncle, are in good health, when we have seen them repeating the same circular swim endlessly or putting their heads out of the water with their mouth open and constantly rolling their tongue as only a nursing baby would do in the wild?

Their bodies worn away by captivity

Through stereotypical behaviours, the orcas end up being injured right down into their flesh. Specialists had already sounded the alarm in previous reports, notably for Moana, who Dr. Gallego had gone so far as to ask for urgent veterinary intervention for. This was in 2021. Since, nothing has been done to relieve the family from the suffering of captivity. Worse, while Ingrid Visser has just documented Wikie and Keijo’s subdermal lesions similar to Moana’s and concerning dental erosion, the four orcas risk being sent to Japan, where their exploitation will continue until they die from it. We will never abandon them to such a fate.

We are open to discussion with the Marineland and Parques Reunidos management, to whom we have written to see what it is possible to do as an alternative solution to what they seem to be preparing on their side, as well as to the Ministry of the Ecological Transition. We also invite the keepers to give us news about the orcas and dolphins because, if they go to a sanctuary, they will be the first concerned to help the animals that they look after.

So that they can retire and heal from their wounds, we ask that Wikie, Keijo, Moana, and Inouk are prepared to go to one of the marine sanctuaries being built, where they can finally be happy. Join us by signing our petition!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Wikie, female orca

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The legal system is trampled all over in the Pyrénées-Orientales: we are counterattacking for the partridges!

The legal system is trampled all over in the Pyrénées-Orientales: we are counterattacking for the partridges!
14.09.2023
Pyrénées-Orientales
The legal system is trampled all over in the Pyrénées-Orientales: we are counterattacking for the partridges!
Wildlife

A few days ago, the Montpellier Administrative Tribunal proved us right and suspended the hunting of grey mountain partridges in the Pyrénées-Orientales before the season even started. As we feared, the Prefect is standing up to the legal system and has just urgently passed a new decree, authorising the killing of nearly 500 birds. We are attacking this decision with an emergency interim proceeding. The hearing will take place on 26 September at 2:30pm at the Montpellier Administrative Tribunal.

Photo: faaf – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

When the Pyrénées-Orientales Prefect wipes his feet with grey mountain partridges…

Although we have obtained a ban on hunting before the season opens on 17 September, the Prefect has passed a new decree on 8 September 2023 (p.52) authorising the massacre of almost 500 birds. This time he has set a limit at department level and in different areas of the land. This hardly matters given the danger these birds face. Yet more proof that hunters have no respect for animals: they want to kill, even if they put their own population’s lives in danger.

It is a repeated full-frontal attack against animals and biodiversity carried out by hunters and the Pyrénées-Orientales Prefecture. Like all mountain Galliformes, grey partridges are classified as being ‘near threatened’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). To put it clearly, this species is likely to disappear in the wild within a few years. The cause, obviously, is climate change, but also hunting, which decimates hundreds of individuals each year.

… and the law!

We are once again stunned by this decision by the State, which continues to allow hunters to satisfy their morbid passion, but which is also ready to trample on a court decision, as it did already for badger digging or even still for traditional hunting.

All too often, the viewpoint of public interest defended by prefects is limited to satisfying the demands of hunters, disregarding animals, and the warning cries of the associations that defend them. Today, it is the grey mountain partridges who are paying with their lives. France kills its birds who are among the biggest victims of the sixth mass extinction at play.

For these emblematic beings from the summits of the Pyrenees, we are attacking this decree with an emergency interim proceeding.

And we invite you now to question the Pyrénées-Orientales Prefect on social media (@Prefet66) and by email (ddtm@pyrenees-orientales.gouv.fr):

Dear Prefect, reverse your decision and repeal the second scandalous decree allowing partridge hunting, that was in fact suspended after a first emergency interim proceeding by @OneVoiceAnimal! https://one-voice.fr/news/la-justice-pietinee-dans-les-pyrenees-orientales-nous-contre-attaquons-pour-les-perdrix/

Translated from the French by Joely Justice