News Archive - Page 50 of 155

Let’s rally for the wolves: we are participating in great numbers in the ministry’s public consultations!

Let’s rally for the wolves: we are participating in great numbers in the ministry’s public consultations!
23.11.2023
France
Let’s rally for the wolves: we are participating in great numbers in the ministry’s public consultations!
Wildlife

While the current National Action Plan (NAP) for wolves and farming activities will come to end on 31 December, a new plan and draft decree aiming to strengthen the (already formidable) use of lethal shots is currently subject to public consultation. Currently, the aim is to ensure the effective protection of a species but here, contrary to appearances, it is quite the opposite that is being sought. Given the media coverage of the agricultural lobby and the outing of many politicians who show little concern for animals’ fate, we are not expecting much, but still… Help us to advance the fight by responding to these consultations before 7 December 2023.

Wolves are collateral victims of intensive farming practices. Demonised, they are killed in their masses under the pretext of legal shots in the name of protecting herds of animals destined for the abattoir. Unfortunately, wolves are little-known animals who wrongly suffer from a bad reputation. They are, however, sensitive and intelligent, and their ways of life are ultimately similar to our own: they are made up of real families, where each of them has a well-defined function in the wolf cubs’ upbringing. As for their role for such a fragile biodiversity, this no longer needs to be demonstrated! This does not prevent the government from taking ever more unfavourable measures against them, due to the power of the hunting lobbies and industrial agriculture.

Openly anti-wolf projects

The contents of the first consultation surpassed our worst predictions… The plan was void of any substance to the benefit of the sacrosanct interests of farmers. In fact, the document displays unfailing support for existing farming practices without ever questioning their negative consequences. The biggest losers here are clearly the wolves. Their protection is no longer at the heart of the project, in fact quite the opposite: they are appointed as targets to be slaughtered.

The second consultation relates to a draft decree whose purpose is nothing more or less than to reinforce the use of lethal shots. On the program: an increase in the number of shooters, a generalisation of the possibility of using thermal cameras to better target wolves, an end of the obligation to shine a light on them before shooting, the end of the suspension of shooting authorisations when an individual is killed… In short, the draft decree amounts to confirming the possibility of massacring representatives of a protected species.

Unbearable and senseless persecution

The two projects submitted to the consultation have received unfavourable opinions from the CNPN [Conseil national de la protection de la nature – French National Council for the Conservation of Nature]. Despite all of this, the government, committed to defending the worst agricultural interests, remains deaf to warnings from scientists and nature protection associations who recommend not killing wolves.

No matter how unbalanced the game is and how difficult victories are to come by, we will continue to fight for wolves. For more information on who they are and their situation, we invite you to consult our report. We need your support in this fight. This is why we are offering you, below, a ‘toolbox’ that will allow you to participate in the consultation up until 7 December 2023 and therefore to defend wolves.

TO SAY NO TO THE NAP PROJECT, CLICK HERE :

Protecting wolves is not addressed in the project:

No protection aims for wolves appears in the project even though the species is classified as ‘vulnerable’ in France.
Nothing is planned to guarantee that the wolf population will do well in the future.
The NAP project even goes so far as to recognise the need to increase the use of lethal shots. It is hard to imagine anything less protective than this.
As noted by the CNPN, continuing shots, including during the reproduction period, is contrary to the very essence of the status of a protected species.

The NAP project favours farming to the detriment of wolves:

It reverses the logic of the NAP, supposed to be protective, and echoes the anti-wolf discontent of the farmers it defends.
It maintains the unjustified principle of non-protectability of cow herds: a farmer can let his cow herd wander without any supervision or protection, then come and demand authorisation to kill wolves.

The NAP project does not insist enough on the protection of herds with non-lethal methods:

No assessment/feedback on herd protection measures has been established.
The NAP does not bother to strengthen checking measures on the implementation of herd protection measures.

The NAP project disregards the positive impacts of wolves within the ecosystem and does not even address them:

Wolves, however, continue to maintain a balance in natural environments by limiting the development of deer and wild boar populations.
Wolves assist biodiversity.

TO SAY NO TO THE DRAFT DECREE, CLICK HERE :

The draft decree reinforces the use of lethal shots to the detriment of alternative solutions:

The draft decree includes a series of measures intended to ensure that shots kill even more effectively.
This project indirectly paves the way for an unacceptable increase in the upper limits for killing wolves, a protected species.
The draft decree contravenes the logic of “protected species” exemptions which must normally remain exceptional and a last resort.

The draft decree keeps ‘test shots’:

‘Test shots’ – which are similar to real wolf hunts – are part of the project. The government does not even intend to take even a small step in favour of wolves by ending this possibility.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Hunting birds by crushing them under a stone: is it the end for stone traps?

Hunting birds by crushing them under a stone: is it the end for stone traps?
22.11.2023
France
Hunting birds by crushing them under a stone: is it the end for stone traps?
Wildlife

If there is one thing that characterises hunters, it is their ability to come up with yet more cruel ways of killing animals. Under the cover of ‘tradition’, they use techniques each more violent than the next that cause intense suffering for field larks, thrushes, lapwings, and all other bird species used as targets here. Our fight against these practices from a bygone era is moving forward: on 23 November 2023 at 9:30am, the State Council will decide on our request to definitely annul the use of s tone traps in Aveyron and Lozère.

After glue, cages, nets, and decoys, the moment of truth has come for stone traps

For thrushes in Lozère and Aveyron, stone traps are synonymous with suffering and death. They are small bird traps that spring into action when the bird touches the bait: a stone then falls on it, giving it no chance. When the bird is not killed instantly, it suffers fractures which will condemn it and stop it from flying away. The trapper can then come and get it to finish it off, most often by hand.

Since 2018, we have been leading a relentless fight against all of these types of hunting. While stone traps in Ardennes and glue in the south-west have definitively been banned by the State Council and the decrees authorising cages and nets have been urgently suspended, judges have not yet ruled on stone traps. Beyond their barbaric character, this practice is clearly illegal, as we have been saying for years.

To what point will the government support traditional hunting against birds?

So why continue to persist in authorising these sadistic tools that concern only a handful of people but cause so much suffering to birds? Defending traditions is easy to blame! In reality, it is nothing more or less than satisfying the demands of a lobby. And it is an understatement to say that the current government is giving crazy amounts of energy to protecting this minority who take pleasure in killing.

Under the cover of ‘scientific experimentation’, they also recently allowed the capture of several thousand birds with nets, cages, and stone traps, which is in fact frowned upon by the State Council! Our pleas allowed the suspension of three of the five decrees and it is a safe bet that the government will try its luck again next year in the event that the decrees authorising cages and nets are not definitively cancelled by the State Council by then.

But if the legal system sticks to its consistent position, we are hopeful that stone traps, like trapping and glue hunting, will soon be nothing more than a distant memory for animals. And if,like 70% of French people, you believe that hunting is a cruel practice, sign our petition for a radical reform of it!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Persecution of animals’ bodies: but how far will they go?

Persecution of animals’ bodies: but how far will they go?
21.11.2023
France
Persecution of animals’ bodies: but how far will they go?
Wildlife

The body of a wild boar dragged by a car for several metres. Strapped to a wheelchair in full view of the camera. All to the soundtrack of a happy song and the sarcastic comments of a young man who clearly finds all of this very funny. In France, all animals bear the brunt of the violence that humans are capable of. If they are wild, they are the most exposed and can be the target, completely illegally, of the worst atrocities. And even when they are dead, they continue to be victims of the most crass inhumanity by some people who will do anything just for a few ‘likes’.

Humiliating sentient beings even in death to amuse an audience

On 20 November, we received a new report. On his Instagram account, a photographer had published several videos of him and a friend entertaining themselves with a dead wild boar. The boar was attached to a car with a rope before being dragged along the tarmac. The passenger of the car filmed the body and was amused by the situation: “we’ve got a problem here, there’s a wild boar behind us”. The animal was then attached to a wheelchair and wheeled around to bursts of laughter. Between those who find decapitating geese and rabbits to be a rite of passage and others who entertain themselves with a dead animal, what has this society come to?

For many months, we have been alerting the public to these repeated outrages. From the head of a wild boar abandoned on a public bench to the remains of foxes hung at village entrances, it is hard to see where these people who think nature is a playground and those who live here with these objects at their disposal will stop. Being able to kill them limitlessly is not enough for them, they must also torture their remains!

The law allows the worst atrocities against wild animals. Let’s change that!

Let’s not forget that, in France, the law does not ban acts of cruelty against wild animals. They can be hunted, killed, and even tortured with no consequences. How can anyone understand this difference in treatment? Like dogs, wild boars are capable of great affection. Like dogs, they feel pain. So why treat them differently?

The explanation is clear: to preserve hunting. All of the attempts to protect wild individuals are met head-on by the hunters’ lobby. And while our politicians deliberate, it is always the same ones that pay the highest price: badgers and foxes who are going to be massacred even in their burrows, including the young, birds who are killed with bare hands within the context of traditional hunting, which the government is looking to reauthorise…

Although our many fights have been fruitful and have allowed us to save yet more lives, from mountain Galliformes to badgers, it is essential that we continue to give wild animals a voice. While waiting for them to be protected, you can sign our petition for a radical reform of hunting!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Horseshoe crabs tested on for their blood: yes, alternatives exist

Horseshoe crabs tested on for their blood: yes, alternatives exist
21.11.2023
France
Horseshoe crabs tested on for their blood: yes, alternatives exist
Animal testing

In a video published by online media company Brut on Wednesday 15 November, an underwater photographer explains regretfully that the blood of horseshoe crabs is necessary for the production of all vaccines. An incorrect statement that we are going back on.

In the video, we hear the interviewee state that, today, “we cannot go without horseshoe crabs” to make vaccines, and even that there is “no alternative” and that “this is why half a million horseshoe crabs are captured and fished each year”.

These lies, broadcast to thousands of people, obviously made us hopping mad given that methods without these animals have existed for around fifteen years.

Monocyte activation tests*, which assess the pyrogenicity** of substances directly on human blood components, have been approved since 2006 and were included in the European Pharmacopoeia in 2009. And that is not all: since 2020, it has also been possible to use a synthesis reaction to guarantee the safety of the products being tested for future patients.

These recognised methods do not, however, force laboratories to stop using horseshoe crabs who are arthropods living on the seabed that are endangered now due to overfishing and the loss of their habitat. According to the report, horseshoe crabs – from whom 30% of their blood was taken – are released into the wild and marked so that they are not used for a second ‘sample’. Despite these minimal provisions, with this blood loss, half of them die as a result of this barbaric protocol.

Worse, despite the existence of methods that do not involve animal suffering, researchers sometimes persist in living in the past. We saw this in rabbits: the monocyte activation tests that could also replace the pyrogen tests carried out on them did not prevent France from testing on more and more individuals for these experiments between 2015 and 2019 and from killing them.

Faced with researchers’ relentlessness and generalised resistance on this subject, it is necessary for laboratories to use alternative methods to animal experimentation when they exist, for any information produced to highlight alternative methods, and for public authorities to fund research into them where they do not exist!

*Monocyte Activation Tests (MAT) measure the release of cytokines (molecules that participate in the activation of an immune response) with monocytes (cells present in the blood) while human blood is exposed to a trial substance.

**that which induces fever

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Arche de Noël: a factory-breeding farm camouflaged by deceptively being called a ‘rescue centre’

Arche de Noël: a factory-breeding farm camouflaged by deceptively being called a ‘rescue centre’
18.11.2023
Hérault
Arche de Noël: a factory-breeding farm camouflaged by deceptively being called a ‘rescue centre’
Domestic animals

From October 2022 to February 2023, One Voice investigated at Arche de Noël in Béziers. There we discovered absolute horrors. This place is a ‘rescue centre’, created in 1982 by Noël Azzopardi. Although a rescue centre normally has the aim of welcoming animals coming from pounds or abandoned by their human owners so that they can find them a new family, this one has a completely different mission: mass breeding in order to sell them on at high prices, supposedly to keep the establishment going. We have filed a complaint and are asking that these animals be rescued. For this, we need your help.

Overpopulated animals who are enclosed and very rarely or never go out, who flounder in the mud all day long, appalling hygiene, but above all, living beings exploited for mass reproduction: this is the fate reserved for those unfortunate to find themselves here.

Breeding activity practised illegally and knowingly

Azzopardi is perfectly aware that he does not have breeder status given that he explained it himself: “I am not a registered breeder. I would have to pay licensing fees, taxes, and so on”. The breeding activity is hidden for the sole purpose of not having to declare income to administrative services.

The volunteers are also aware, and one of them easily recognises that the dogs are kept in poor conditions: “I know it’s to meet the needs of the rescue, but for me these are not good conditions for breeding dogs.” She even adds that in reality, the majority of those put up for adoption are not there due to being abandoned, but because of the intense reproduction of female dogs kept on site.

The female dogs are smacked, the “champions” are “wanked”

As well as being exploited, the dogs are kept in a dirty environment. The Belgian shepherds in particular are constantly splashing around in the muddy kennels. Their only way of getting dry: a broken kennel and a pathetic basket.

The females – if they have the chance to get dry – are shut up all day long in cramped cages in the dark. The newborn puppies, particularly susceptible to illnesses, are handled with no precautions and exposed to cigarette smoke. One poor female dog, who was benefiting from her daily six minutes of being let out, curious, had the misfortune to approach the puppies. The immediate reaction: a smack, rewarded with a “Clear off!”.

To continue this misery, the boss has no shame in explaining that he “wanks” his dogs to be able to perform artificial inseminations himself, because “this idiot doesn’t know how to fuck“. Time is money, so we are not going to wait for dogs to reproduce naturally! And there is no limit to this cynicism: we also learnt that all of the breeding dogs are named “Champion”, “this way, we don’t get it wrong”.

One Voice is filing a complaint against the owner in order to put an end to these animals’ ordeals.

To find out more about Arche de Noël

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Arche de Noël: Aria killed because the boss didn’t want to help her

Arche de Noël: Aria killed because the boss didn’t want to help her
18.11.2023
Hérault
Arche de Noël: Aria killed because the boss didn’t want to help her
Domestic animals

During our investigation between October 2022 and February 2023, amongst the many dogs being kept at Arche de Noël, our investigators were struck by Aria. This female American Staffordshire Terrier was not getting along with the other dogs. However, she was enclosed with them, putting all of them in danger. Refusing to contact a behaviourist or trainer – he could not spend money on helping an animal! – the boss finally got rid of her. We have filed a complaint so that the animals can be rescued and this organisation will be closed definitively.

Our investigators met Aria as soon as they arrived at Arche de Noël at the end of October 2022. At the moment that they got them out of the kennel to take them for a walk – the only moment of freedom that some of the animals here experience, less than ten minutes per day, when they are lucky enough to be chosen – they immediately showed their hand. “She is stupid around other dogs”.

Shut up as they are all the time with no enrichment or toys, no affection, piled up on top of each other, is it surprising that the dogs end up developing behavioural issues? This ‘rescue centre’ is usually limited to 49 adult dogs, yet we counted up to 78 of them!

Dangerous overpopulation for the animals

Everyone knew that Aria did not get along with the other dogs and yet nothing was implemented to help her. They continued to enclose her with the others, and she continued to fight. As if this situation was not dramatic enough, she was also a victim of violence from the boss. When she was finally isolated from her companions, in reality she was shut up in a storage kennel, among crates and all kinds of other objects.

On several occasions and without those responsible reacting to the seriousness of the situation, Aria attacked other dogs and she was placed in solitary confinement as a punishment – even though this is what she needed for her well-being, and what was necessary to ensure the safety of the other dogs.

Slaughtered because no one wanted to help her

Then one morning, when arriving at the site, Aria was unaccounted for. She was no longer in her kennel. We learnt that she has been ‘euthanised’ out of pure convenience, after having been beaten and isolated for weeks. A behaviourist or trainer had never been contacted to come and help her and alleviate her unease. For the manager, she was nothing but a financial money pit, a dog you could not do anything for. What good would it do to spend money on helping her? Aria did not present a danger to humans and even sought out their affection. Her only ‘wrongdoing’: being apprehensive of her canine companions. But how can she be blamed for having expressed her distress in the only way that she had been taught to – violence?

In a situation of generalised abuse, where dogs are exploited for breeding and birds are enclosed for the personal pleasure of the boss in catastrophic health conditions, there is no time to lose or money to be wasted for those who need help.

One Voice is filing a complaint against the owner in order to put an end to these animals’ ordeals. Sign our petition to ask for the closure of this breeding farm.

To find out more about Arche de Noël

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Arche de Noël: a museum of horrors for ‘exotic’ birds

Arche de Noël: a museum of horrors for ‘exotic’ birds
18.11.2023
Hérault
Arche de Noël: a museum of horrors for ‘exotic’ birds
Domestic animals

Within Arche de Noël, as well as the dogs, a few reptiles and many birds are kept in deplorable conditions. These animals, who are in fact a wild species, are unfortunately sold to those who are often incapable of attending to their most basic needs. We have filed a complaint against this organisation, but we need your help.

According to the manager himself, Arche de Noël keeps more than one hundred birds. For an organisation functioning solely with volunteers, who are untrained and do not hold qualifications, it is impossible to correctly care for all of these residents. If the dogs are mistreated and exploited for breeding, the birds and reptiles do not get left out.

Exotic birds kept in abominable conditions

During the investigation carried out between October 2022 and February 2023, we were able to observe a horrifying number of birds – more than 60! – piled up in minuscule cages, who in the wild would travel several kilometres per day. They hop around on the miserable and only perch in their cage and grip desperately to the bars, but they are not able to spread their wings or fly.

Although some of them are ‘lucky’ enough to be sheltered from the bad weather inside the house, the majority of them are outside, exhibited by the side of the swimming pool. The daily routine is simple: they are fed a handful of grain and that is the only interaction with the outside world that these birds have any right to. A hand that enters the cage and then closes it again, before replacing the plastic cover that serves as a windbreak over the mesh, even depriving them of simply being able to see the outside world. They are condemned to perpetually stare at the bars of their cage. As we were able to see with each visit, the cages are never cleaned and are full of droppings.

These animals are not offered up for adoption by this so-called association. They only serve to boost the dishonest boss’ personal collection and he makes no secret of selling them on without following legislation.

Trafficking parrots, budgies, zebra finches, boa constrictors…

Azzopardi’s birds are not here as a result of being abandoned but from exchanges with his friends. He even admits to selling them completely illegally without even flinching! When asked how he does it, he responds bluntly: “Well, off the books! You have to do it off the books”.

In his dining room, a boa constrictor is kept in a vivarium that is hardly any bigger than she is… a female that he wants to get rid of but he cannot since he knows that she is unofficial: “The shit thing is that I don’t have the papers”.

After a life of imprisonment, when death comes to finally free these prisoners who are guilty of nothing, they are disgracefully stored in a freezer containing food, in violation of the most basic hygiene rules… Unsurprising when we know that deaths due to disease are the norm in this organisation, that dogs are kept in surplus to breed with the sole aim of making a profit, and that there are so many rats that the manager traps them to torture them.

Following our investigation, we have obviously filed a complaint against the owner to put an end to these animals’ ordeals.

To find out more about Arche de Noël

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Arche de Noël: an adoption process that is unbelievable… and totally illegal

Arche de Noël: an adoption process that is unbelievable… and totally illegal
18.11.2023
Hérault
Arche de Noël: an adoption process that is unbelievable… and totally illegal
Domestic animals

During our infiltration of Arche de Noël between October 2022 and February 2023, we were able to observe that the manager did not hesitate in committing multiple offences to fuel his puppy farming business. We have filed a complaint and are asking for this breeding farm to be closed and the animals rescued. For this, we also need your help.

Illegal and barbaric use of veterinary medicine

To indulge buyers, the boss doesn’t hesitate in resorting to barbaric mutilations: docking puppies’ tails. Despite being legal, this practice is highly criticised and particularly well regulated: it absolutely must be carried out by a veterinarian. However, he told us without batting an eyelid that he does it himself, at the request of potential buyers. When we learnt of the deplorable hygiene conditions that the animals at the Arche were living in, there was good reason for us to be quaking in our boots… Incidentally, the manager is angry because potential clients were eventually retracting after he had carried out the procedure.

Shocking (and illegal) commercial practices!

Always pleasing buyers – Azzopardi is a ‘good’ trader! – he also doesn’t hesitate in selling the young animals before the legal age of 2 months. At the start of 2023, he explained to a client: “Normally, they have to be two months old, here they are six weeks“, therefore fully aware of the facts. However, he proposed that they come back to get the puppy the next week, without waiting for the minimum age required by law.

Sale prices that have nothing to do with non-profit rates

And not to mention the prices, comparable to those of purely commercial breeding farms: “Oh no no no, 500, 600 euros for all of the dogs that I breed, and the chihuahuas are 1000 euros.” For a so-called non-profit association, this is far from the usual fees, which are generally between the 200 and 300 euro mark, and realistically correspond to the cost of the veterinary care involved for microchipping and vaccinating the animal.

A post-investigation visit that confirmed our beliefs

After our infiltration investigation ended, we went back there again in May 2023 with a very specific goal: to document the adoption of a puppy in order to reveal new offences and to get them out of that hell. Barely a few minutes after we arrived, we had confirmation of what we already knew: the boss made reference to the puppies that were born at his place, once again showing that he did in fact resort to breeding animals, and that this organisation is not the rescue centre it pretends to be.

Puppies sold without ever having seen a veterinarian

It was only once we were sorting out the last administrative details and proceeding with payment that we learnt that the puppy had never seen a veterinarian. The small female was not microchipped or vaccinated. The manager then gave us a ‘vaccination voucher’, explaining to us that we would have to go back to his veterinarian who would carry out the basic care. This is therefore the only document that links us to the Arche. We were not given any sale or adoption contract to attest to where this puppy came from. If there are any problems (being sold a sick animal, for example), it is impossible to go back against the breeder.

In a few minutes, we therefore came across at least four legislation breaches:

handing over an un-microchipped puppy;
the lack of a sale certification;
the lack of the necessary veterinarian certificate before handing over;
the lack of a signed commitment and knowledge certificate.

In less than fifteen minutes, several infractions later, and with 200 euros more cash in the manger’s pocket – the card machine wasn’t working that day! – for a puppy that is not compliant with regulations and has not received any care, we therefore left with our little one in our arms, relieved to have got her out of there but with a heavy heart thinking about all the others that were still there.

We have filed a complaint for all of the law violations revealed during our investigation: the undeclared breeding, dirty conditions, trafficking of exotic animals, acts of cruelty towards rats and dogs, misleading commercial practices, and many more besides.

To find out more about Arche de Noël

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Arche de Noël: children subjected to the spectacle of animal abuse

Arche de Noël: children subjected to the spectacle of animal abuse
18.11.2023
Arche de Noël: children subjected to the spectacle of animal abuse
Domestic animals

As well as pet animals, Arche de Noël also abuses rats who are disliked but just as sensitive. Considered by the bosses to be ‘pests’, these little rodents are victims of unspeakably cruel abuse and, to make matters worse, children are exposed to it and are themselves pushed into being perpetrators. We have filed a complaint and are asking that these animals be rescued. For this, we need your help.

Our investigation, led from October 2022 to February 2023 at Arche de Noël, revealed that the rats were everywhere: in the false ceiling of the miserable nursery, digging underground tunnels underneath the outside kennels, walking around the edge of the swimming pool and even close to the enclosures. They are victims of terrible abuse, just like the dogs who are abused, beaten, and enclosed all the time to be used for breeding.

Death by drowning

Cage-traps are placed around the entire property. They are then immersed like that into the swimming pool, with the rats trapped inside, after several days of agony prey to hunger and thirst, and are drowned without a second thought.

Killing dogs by making them eat poisoned rats

For the rodents that are too suspicious to go into the traps, poison is scattered around the farm. One day in November, in front of a kennel, a rat was found immobile and lethargic. One of the volunteers stated that “he has been poisoned and is not well” and offered to finish him off with a shovel before changing her mind, feeling that she could not kill an animal (at least in front of a witness). She then set out to find someone to kill it for her, without success. Then she tried to encourage Ola, a Belgian Shepherd, to devour the rodent. In context, an abominable death and an astounding idea when we know that the rat has certainly ingested poison and that the dog will inevitably be poisoned in turn. Several months later, we learnt that unfortunately this is what ended up happening to Ola. One more death in this breeding farm of horrors.

Encouraging children to throw stones at rats

Seconds afterwards, a child of about 7 or 8 years old appeared who eventually grabbed a stone and threw it at the lifeless animal, under the amused gaze of the adults around him. The little boy stayed there for a while, impassive, staring at this little animal convulsing, before turning around, smiling, and shouting: “I got it!”. This is the sordid atmosphere that prevails over Arche de Noël, for a little boy to commit an act of such cruelty of his own accord and be so proud of it… Children are not violent towards animals by nature but can become so by reproducing behaviours that they have witnessed. At this age, their psyche is in full development. Being exposed to such an atmosphere seriously calls into question their learning of good and bad and the development of their capacity for empathy. Many studies have shown that there is a link between violence inflicted on animals and violence inflicted on humans.

Rats are intelligent, social animals, themselves gifted with sensitivity in the same way as a dog or rabbit. To get rid of them, they are tortured when the only solution to resolve this ‘problem’ would be to implement basic hygiene measures and stick to them.

One Voice is filing a complaint against the owner in order to put an end to these animals’ ordeals.

Sign our petition to ask for the closure of this breeding farm.

To find out more about Arche de Noël

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Arche de Noël: puppies sacrificed so as to not spend money

Arche de Noël: puppies sacrificed so as to not spend money
18.11.2023
Hérault
Arche de Noël: puppies sacrificed so as to not spend money
Domestic animals

During our infiltration investigation at Arche de Noël from October 2022 to February 2023, we discovered that an epidemic of parvovirus had struck over several months within the organisation and had already killed several puppies. Worse still, instead of closing the establishment temporarily to eradicate the disease, adoptions continued and some dogs even died at their adopters’ homes. Our complaint to get this breeding farm closed obviously deals with this unexpected angle. We need your help to evacuate the animals.

Undeclared breeding, illegal commercial practices, and also appalling health conditions: nothing frightens the boss of this factory.

A deadly and extremely contagious canine disease

Parvovirus is a serious viral illness that affects dogs, leading to vomiting and bloody diarrhoea. As this disease is extremely contagious, animals must be isolated, their spaces must be meticulously disinfected, and strict quarantine measures must be put in place. However, the recurrent presence of rats within the organisation clearly shows its unsanitary environmental state.

Death confirmed within and outside the breeding farm

Since our first visit in October 2022, we learnt that an epidemic of parvovirus had broken out and had already killed 6 Australian shepherd puppies. The presence of the disease was again confirmed to us a few days later, in November, by another volunteer. However, within this fake rescue centre, our investigation revealed that no hygiene measures had been implemented. Unsurprising when we know that some of the care, such as removing stitches, is practised directly on site by the person in charge, with no regard for the most basic standards: disinfecting wounds with sterile material, done by a veterinarian.

At the beginning of January 2023, we were able to speak with a couple of adopters. What an (awful) surprise to learn that they were coming to get a little dog, after the one they had from here just two months before died at their home from parvovirus scarcely forty-eight hours after getting it. As a good trader, Azzopardi therefore obviously offered for them to come and get another puppy to replace the first one.

At the start of February 2023, a sibling placed with a foster family had to be euthanised because it was dying from parvovirus. The irony? According to the boss, the aim of placing it outside of the breeding farm was to protect the puppies from the epidemic. Which means that it was already carrying it when they left the premises and that the disease broke at the family’s home, who had to have it euthanised to put an end to its ordeal. Instead of then closing the establishment to proceed with disinfection and putting an end to this epizootic disease once and for all, the person in charge preferred to spread the animals out away from his premises, posing a serious health risk to the community!

Not wishing to spend money on living beings he considers as goods, he chooses to let them suffer for days until they die, rather than taking them to a veterinarian to provide them with care or to cut their suffering short.

One Voice has filed a complaint against the owner in order to put an end to this massacre.

To find out more about Arche de Noël

Translated from the French by Joely Justice