Archives: News

Official opening of the Chatipi for stray cats in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, 14 June 2022 at 4pm

One Voice, who has fought against feline straying for years, is implementing three-way partnerships with towns or drop-in centres and local associations to microchip and neuter homeless cats and release them, while finding them a wooden chalet for them to rehydrate themselves, eat, and take comfort. The Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse commune in the Aude department contacted the One Voice Association to take charge of the issue of stray cats in the town. Amicale Féline de Lagrasse [the Lagrasse Feline Association], an animal protection association, is also participating in the project. The Chatipi programme therefore means that cats without a human family no longer suffer from deprivation. The official opening of the Chatipi will take place in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse on 14 June 2022 at 4pm.

Electric shocks and forced swimming in France in 2022

Electric shocks and forced swimming in France in 2022

Electric shocks and forced swimming in France in 2022
13.06.2022
Electric shocks and forced swimming in France in 2022
Animal testing

If you think forced swimming tests and electric shocks live in the past, you are going to need to reassess your position: despite the controversy of the subject, the Ministry of Research has just approved a project that is going to electrocute 600 rats repeatedly and force them to swim with no way out to study the way in which chronic stress can lead to depression. How can these practices be accepted in France in 2022?

You have probably already heard about ‘forced swimming’ tests, which involve putting a rodent in a container of water to observe how long they will struggle for and try to get out. The test generally lasts six minutes, an eternity during which the rodent cannot know if they are going to survive or end up drowning. First, they struggle, before abandoning the idea of getting out, then limiting themselves only to movements that are necessary to keep their head above the water.

During this time, they are filmed. Nowadays, the footage will be analysed by specialised software, developed by Bioseb in Vitrolles or Viewpoint in Lyon for example, to automatically decipher the behaviours observed, that are used to assess the ‘depression’ or the distress of these animals, most often to predict the effectiveness of antidepressant medications.

A new project approved in France

Thanks to the European Commission, France has finally published recent abstracts of projects involving the use of animals since 2022. I am sure you have understood: a project recently approved by the Ministry of Research is going to use the forced swimming test to study ‘the development of depressive symptoms brought on by chronic stress’.

In short, this is to say that 600 rats, after they have had cannulas implanted in their brains, will be subjected for two days straight to a fifty-minute session of ‘inescapable and unpredictable’ electric shocks.

Then the research team will assess their depressive behaviour and the effect of a molecule of interest with behavioural tests, including a fifteen-minute forced swimming test.

Help us to put a stop to these tests

It is unacceptable that these tests carry on nowadays. Rats are intelligent, playful animals and are sensitive to the needs of their companions. Sentient animals, in short. Nothing justifies using them for our own interests.

Over the next few weeks, we will tell you more about forced swimming, its practice in France, the international campaigns against its use, and the alternatives worth considering to help people suffering with depression.

Join us in asking the Ministry of Research to forbid these tests.

on cruelty

Copy this posts on Twitter: Stop electric shocks and forced swimming for animals! Public authorities should not authorise such cruel experiments! @sup_recherche https://one-voice.fr/en/news/electric-shocks-and-forced-swimming-in-france-in-2022/ #StopNageForcée #StopForcedSwimming #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal #ExpérimentationAnimale

Copy this posts on Twitter: .@sup_recherche, France must commit, like laboratories abroad, to put an end to cruel forced swimming tests on mice and rats!
https://one-voice.fr/en/news/electric-shocks-and-forced-swimming-in-france-in-2022/ #StopNageForcée #StopForcedSwimming #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal #ExpérimentationAnimale

on alternatives

Copy this posts on Twitter: Making rats depressed with electric shocks will not give more effective treatments! #EndAnimalTesting, @sup_recherche !
https://one-voice.fr/en/news/electric-shocks-and-forced-swimming-in-france-in-2022/ #StopNageForcée #StopForcedSwimming #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal #ExpérimentationAnimale

Copy this posts on Twitter: Instead of torturing rats to produce yet more medications, train psychologists and psychiatrists with 21st century tools! @sup_recherche https://one-voice.fr/en/news/electric-shocks-and-forced-swimming-in-france-in-2022/ #StopNageForcée #StopForcedSwimming #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal #ExpérimentationAnimale

Copy this posts on Twitter: Stop electric shocks and forced swimming! More funding for in vitro methods! @sup_recherche
https://one-voice.fr/en/news/electric-shocks-and-forced-swimming-in-france-in-2022/ #StopNageForcée #EndAnimalTesting @onevoiceanimal #ExpérimentationAnimale #StopForcedSwimming

/ ? Electric shocks and learned helplessness — Inflicting electric shocks with no way out on animals is a common method in research on depression. ‘Learned helplessness’ was conceptualised by Martin Seligman and James Bruce Overmier in 1967 after they subjected dogs to inescapable electric shocks, observing afterwards that the dogs did not even make an effort to avoid new electric shocks in a situation where it was possible for them to do so. Their experiment was reproduced many times afterwards, using different animals, leading to numerous interpretations, and has been the basis of a model of depression that is well-used today on rodents. Electric shocks used to provoke learned helplessness are also part of the examples of ‘strict’ procedures provided under French regulation.

© Rose M. Spielman, PhD – Psychology: OpenStax, p. 519, Fig 14.22 / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness#/media/File:Shuttle_Box_Dog_Orange.png / CC BY 4.0

This article is the first in a series of five on forced swimming:

  1. Electric shocks and forced swimming in France in 2022
  2. Forced swimming: the images
  3. Forced swimming: the companies that advance and the industry that resists
  4. Forced swimming: other approaches are possible
  5. Forced swimming: a long-term battle (to come)

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Céleste, Hannah, Marli, and Patty transferred to Tuscany: a fantastic adventure

Céleste, Hannah, Marli, and Patty transferred to Tuscany: a fantastic adventure

Céleste, Hannah, Marli, and Patty transferred to Tuscany: a fantastic adventure
30.05.2022
Céleste, Hannah, Marli, and Patty transferred to Tuscany: a fantastic adventure
Circuses

They made it! The transfer to Italy of four lions saved from the Cirque de Paris has happened. After months of preparation, this long journey represents the last step on the road to happiness for Céleste, Hannah, Marli, and Patty. They are now coming out into a vast haven of greenery in Tuscany, far from the Gougeon family. Help us to take care of them with our ‘ sponsorship ’ involvement (*), and thanks to those of you who have already supported them!

Good news! On 11 May, Céleste, Hannah, Marli, and Patty arrived safe and sound in sunny Italy. Since we saved them from a circus in July 2020, the four lionesses have gone back to being strong and confident at the Tonga Terre d’Accueil sanctuary. The recent death of Jon had however affected them all profoundly. Nonetheless, with time, they had been able to mourn. Finally, after a year and a half of care and recovery, they were unrecognisable. Ready for the great journey to the Tuscan sanctuary of Animanatura that we have been preparing for for months. But what an expedition… twenty-four hours of travel awaited them!

An epic departure

On 10 May at seven o’clock in the morning, alongside the Tonga team, we were on the lookout to get the lionesses into the lorry, with all of the necessary precautions. Not having any idea what was awaiting them, they were not at all cooperative. The only solution to lead them up to the vehicle and lift them on board was to anaesthetise them. When opening the door of the enclosure, Hannah was the most awake. It was she who was shot first. Ten minutes later, she sank into unconsciousness and let herself be handled like a big, limp cat. With Céleste, it was a whole different ballgame. She paced, resisting the anaesthetic for several minutes… During this time, Marli found a way to remove the syringe by keeping it in her mouth, while Patty, despite being more docile, also tried to fight against the effects of the drug… Fortunately, at eleven minutes past eight, the four friends were finally snoring together. Once they had been put into their respective transport carriers, they woke up one by one and at quarter to nine, the convoy set off.

On the road to the unknown!

Thrown on the road to Tuscany, the majority of them were grumbling and only had one wish: to get the blood flowing in their legs! Alas, they had to be patient, and for a long time… Only the placid Patty seemed to accept the situation without batting an eyelid. Where were they going? None of the lionesses knew. One certainty: despite the frequent stops by the driver to give them a drink and make their journey the least difficult possible, the travellers did not like the adventure at all…

Paradise in the end

But arriving at the destination was an extraordinary relief. When the doors of the lorry were opened, everyone was struck with astonishment and marvel. An enchanting landscape unfolded as far as the eye could see with its green, woody hills. The wilderness welcomed those who had never come across it before… Amazed, they took their first steps, each in their own way, in this new environment: Céleste and Hannah burst out of the vehicle; Marli and Patty stepped forward warily and bewildered. For an hour, there was no question of exploring the immense 400 square metre enclosure that we reserved for them. Discovering the pre-enclosure, intended for them to make their first paw prints, and settling into their spacious stalls was already more than enough. After such a journey and so many emotions, they especially needed to recover and to be left in peace. Soon, they will be rolling in the lush grass, hiding behind foliage, scratching their claws on the tree trunks… And the best chapter of their lives will begin. Finally.

Sponsor a lioness

Translated from the French by Joely Justice