News Archive - Page 57 of 146

Kiska, an orca born free and dying without ever having seen the sea again

Kiska, an orca born free and dying without ever having seen the sea again
11.03.2023
Canada
Kiska, an orca born free and dying without ever having seen the sea again
Exploitation for shows

Kiska, said to be ‘the most lonely orca in the world’ died on Thursday 9 March 2023 in the same pool that served as her solitary confinement cell for twelve years. The majestic orca, kept in captivity for forty interminable years, was captured in Icelandic waters. She was very young then.

Finally an end point after 40 years of hell

It was in 1979 that her interminable exploitation began. Kiska was ripped away from her family along with Keiko. They spent a few years in a Marineland pool together before being separated. She saw the five babies that she had carried and brought into the world die in the pools of the dolphinarium…

A tiny pool and solitude to the point of insanity

When we went to see her a year and half ago, she seemed mostly bored to death. Worse, she was doing what the whole world could only interpret as cries for help: thrashing the surface of the water with her tail, giving the impression she was banging on the sides of the glass pool… was this a demonstration of frustration, of pain? Marine biology specialist Ingrid Visser published a damning report.

With each trick she did to kill time, Kiska stumbled against the walls, obviously never being able to swim at full speed or in a straight line, or to dive down deep, so desperately alone. Living with their own kind is essential for orcas. And despite it being a strict legal minimum requirement in Canada for cetaceans being kept in dolphinariums to live with a companion of the same species, they do not care about the law.

Dolphinariums: hell on earth

Despite incessant campaigns by animal activists, in Ontario, or more widely in America and also in Europe, which we are of course part of, neither the old fashioned park nor the authorities ever had the mercy to grant her a semblance of life and freedom. Even in her old age.

There are still 34 belugas and five dolphins in the filthy pools of this dilapidated park. We must find an urgent solution for them.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

The reality for laboratory animals in France: behind a torrent of figures

The reality for laboratory animals in France: behind a torrent of figures
10.03.2023
France
The reality for laboratory animals in France: behind a torrent of figures
Animal testing

Tens of thousands of mice, fish, almost 200 dogs, and more than 130 primates have been subjected to ‘severe’ experiments, and tens of thousands of rabbits have endured procedures noted as ‘moderate’ in France in 2021… this is what we discovered by reading the Ministry of Research’s files. These figures, higher in comparison with the previous year, are available to consult on One Voice’s dedicated site.

General suffering…

The proportion of procedures named as ‘severe’ is particularly high in our country. While it is one in ten in the European Union, it is one in seven in France. We are sometimes told that this is due to France judging the severity of experiments with less rigidity than other countries…

But on what basis is this argument? On nothing. And all European Union member states have the same examples in the Directive appendix on the different levels of severity… Obviously, the truth is hard to take in the ministry corridors.

Genetically modified bloodlines and increased suffering

Between 2015 and 2020, we counted a hundred procedures classified at the highest level of severity for the creation and maintenance of genetically modified animal (GMA) bloodlines.

In 2021, there were more than 15,500 mice who appeared in the statement which is almost the maximum total number for a sole establishment. The explanation? This is a place that provides strains of GMAs to others… let’s admit it. But this does not explain why the number of individuals born with genetic modifications causing them the worst pain has risen so much. On this point, the silence of the Ministry is deafening.

And this increase is not about to stop because for 2022 and 2023 we already know that at least two projects have been approved authorising the use of several thousands, or even tens of thousands of mice in the years to come to create new animal bloodlines who will suffer a true ordeal…

More than 150,000 rabbits

Among all those who have the misfortune of passing between these walls, laboratories still have a more marked ‘taste’ for rabbits. In 2021, there were more than 150,000 of them who had to ensure tests, and almost all of them were killed.

Worse: the procedures causing them so-called ‘moderate’ pain continue to increase. 54,000 of them have been used for the production of blood-based products. And this procedure will not stop since it received authorisation to allow the use of 87,500 individuals in 2022.

19,000 female rabbits have been genetically modified to produce a protein in their milk. These experiments are considered ‘light’ and, again, they have a bright future ahead of them with a project to create new strains having been approved to produce this type of antibody in 2022.

Zebrafish: an exponential number of victims

Although zebrafish are not as numerous as rabbits in French animal testing establishments, their number does not stop growing and they are the subject of more and more ‘moderate’ and ‘severe’ experiments. In 2021, there were 23,000 that endured the first tests for both toxicology and ecotoxicology that were not even compulsory; and 15,000 to have been subjected to the second tests to study ‘animal diseases’.

It is hard to know what all of this is supposed to be for, but what is for certain is that a host of zebrafish suffered from it, with fishes’ ability to feel pain having been debated for a long time…

And then there are dogs and primates

Finally, more than 200 dogs and 130 primates have also been subjected to ‘severe’ experiments. Among them, 40 dogs were used to test the toxicity of human medications, while around fifteen primates were victims of unexpected complications.

These figures may seem anecdotal with regard to the millions of animals experimented on in France each year, but in reality they are very significant when we know that France makes up a part of the countries in Europe who carry out the most tests on dogs and primates.

Once again, it took patience to get the latest detailed figures on animal testing. We will stop at nothing and we will continue to distribute them so that everyone can know what is happening behind the doors of French laboratories. All of the figures from 2015 to 2021 are available on our site dedicated to the analysis of ministerial data.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

More than 1.7 million EU citizens are calling for the end of the fur trade

More than 1.7 million EU citizens are calling for the end of the fur trade
02.03.2023
Europe
More than 1.7 million EU citizens are calling for the end of the fur trade
Fashion

The Fur Free Europe European Citizens’ Initiative has ended earlier than expected after having won the support of more than 1.7 million EU citizens. Now it is time for the European Commission to act and to ban this barbaric practice in the whole of the European Union.

Launched on 18 May 2022 with the aim of obtaining one million signatures in one year, the ECI called on the EU to ban animal fur farms and from putting fur that comes from these farms on the market. It reached its goal in less than ten months with the support of more than 80 European activist associations, including several, like One Voice, who are members of the Fur Free Alliance. Yesterday evening, the ECI was officially closed and the signatures will now be sent for validation in accordance with the process before being presented to the European Commission.

As the French representative for Fur Free Alliance, One Voice believes that the number of signatures collected sends a very clear message on behalf of all EU citizens to the European Commission: breeding animals for fur must stop. This practice is not only cruel, it is also bad for the environment and causes serious problems for public health as proven by the hundreds of COVID-19 epidemics among farmed mink.

To date, political leaders from fourteen member states including Italy, France, Estonia, Latvia, and Austria have banned breeding animals for fur. Opinion surveys continue to show that the population is opposed to it, and a growing number of retailers are committing to no longer using fur, the success of which is shown by the Fur Free Retailer programme.

“I am delighted that the Fur Free Europe ECI has garnered so many signatures and I would like to thank all of those who have worked very hard for such a result to be possible. The message sent to the European Commission could not be clearer: it is time to put an end to this barbaric practice and to proclaim fur as defunct in the whole of the European Union”, stated Joh Vinding, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Fur Free Alliance (FFA).

The Initiative collected one million signatures in seven months, beating all records and making this ECI one of the most successful in history with 1,701,892 final signatures six months after its launch. This record number of signatures is the reason for its anticipated closure and represents a powerful message addressed to the European Commission.

The next phase of the process, which will last three months, is the validation of the signatures by member states. Then, the European Commission must take the ECI into consideration and provide a response within six months.

At the meeting of the European Union Council (Agriculture and Fisheries Council) in June 2021, the Netherlands and Austria filed a briefing note, supported by Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, and Slovakia, requesting that the European Commission forbids breeding animals for fur. The call to ban this practice within the EU for animal welfare, public health, and ethical consideration reasons has been supported by a total of twelve member states during deliberations on the document.

The complex behavioural needs of wild animals like American mink, foxes, and raccoon dogs cannot be satisfied in fur farms.
Animal fur farms also present an unacceptable risk for animal and human health, as proven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of mink farms throughout Europe and North America were affected by coronavirus epidemics, leading to the mass slaughter of animals and new variants of the virus being revealed to have been transmitted from mink to humans. A recent epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) among breeding mink in Spain sparked renewed public health concerns.
Animal fur farms have a major environmental impact given that the treatment and dying of fur requires the use of toxic chemical products. In terms of soil pollution from toxic metals, fur production is classified among the five most polluting industries. The fur industry also constitutes a serious threat for native biodiversity. American mink and raccoon dogs that have escaped from breeding farms have established populations in the wild and are considered as exotic invasive species having significant negative impacts on native European plant life.
More than 1500 retailers, including Gucci, Adidas, H&M, and Zara, are committed to a future without fur and have joined the Fur Free Retailer programme.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

In March, One Voice is rallying for the wolves

In March, One Voice is rallying for the wolves
01.03.2023
France
In March, One Voice is rallying for the wolves
Wildlife

Despite belonging to a protected species, wolves in France experience two hardships: they are victims of poaching as well as suffering from shots to keep farmers calm! One Voice is rallying throughout the month of March to inform the public of these massacres.

174. This is the number of wolves who could be slaughtered this year completely legally. However, there are only 921 of them in France currently. Until the 18th century, there were between 15,000 and 20,000. They were already wiped out once and, in fact, the State is doing everything to get them eradicated once more.

Wolves: unjustly unloved animals

These intelligent animals evolve within a family unit in which the role of each member is determined to support their survival and the upbringing of the wolf cubs.

They play a key role in biodiversity and in particular help with the development of plant life and forests: with the return of wolves, herbivore populations must now move at a higher rate, spending less time eating, leaving time for the plant life to regenerate.

With all due respect to the hunters from the Drôme who ask to kill wild boars, which are too numerous according to them, and at the same time complain about no longer having enough to hunt when the wolves are more efficient than them…

Ineffective shots to protect animals destined for the abattoir

Shooting permits are granted easily by prefects without verifying if the protection measures for herds have been correctly and effectively implemented. Contrary to these killings, One Voice does not understand why this legal minimum has never been respected!

In fact, no study proves that killing wolves will reduce their impact on herds. It is the opposite even! Scientific research led in the state of Michigan published in 2018 concluded that shots on wolves could give rise to a false impression of declining predation. The situation could even get worse with the pack, destabilised by the loss of a member, operating in a disorganised manner.

One Voice taking legal action for the wolves

By definition, the shots must in theory remain exceptional since this is a derogation from the protection of wolves. However, prefectural decrees are copied and pasted, thus the justifications are often vague and stereotypical. On 27 January 2023, 2436 authorisations for slaughter are therefore in force, to kill… 174 wolves.

To put an end to this persecution, One Voice rallies before judges: firstly, for several years in a row at the State Council by requesting the cancellation of ministerial decrees fixing the conditions and the number of wolves that can be slaughtered, then before various administrative tribunals to get the decrees allowing lethal shots cancelled.

Despite our arguments being listened to by the Alpes-Maritimes Administrative Tribunal who cancelled the decree, for now, the others refuse to recognise the urgency in protecting wolves…

On 27 January 2023, two wolves had already been killed (including one being poached) according to official figures. These figures must nevertheless be interpreted with caution. As the chart has not been updated for a month, it is very likely that this sordid toll is higher in reality…

One Voice is rallying for them throughout the entire month of March. Our activists will therefore be in Saint-Maime on 5 March; on Saturday 11 March in Manosque and Nantes; but also in La Rochelle, Lyon, and Paris where they will expand the theme to include hunting; in Besançon, points of contact from the activist branches in Haute-Marne and Savoie/Haute-Savoie are joining up in a collective procession with the Pôle Grands Prédateurs and the Collectif Loup Massif du Jura; on 18 February, this will be happening in Lille, Nice, Troyes, Angers, and the following day in Bordeaux. Finally, our action will end on 25 March with on the ground action in Aix-en-Provence and Langres.

The details to date are below. It is possible that new towns will join the movement, for example Caen and Tours. National action listing all participating local One Voice activist branches. Be sure to check before going to the location as events may be changed up until the last minute.

Department	Town/ date	Online event	Event location	Time
04	Saint-Maime 05/11	https://www.facebook.com/events/193363959966919/	Chemin du Fosson, parc de la Gare	10am – 2pm
05	Manosque 11/03	https://www.facebook.com/events/712633990506417/	42, rue Grande	9am – 1pm
06	Nice 18/03	https://www.facebook.com/events/694235115774386/	Place Masséna	2pm – 4pm
10	Troyes 18/03	https://www.facebook.com/events/112215665049853/	71 Rue Émile Zola	3pm – 5:30pm
13	Aix-en-Provence 25/03	https://www.facebook.com/events/1209820216593851/	Allées de Provence	10:30am – 1pm
17	La Rochelle 11/03 (wolves and hunting)	https://www.facebook.com/events/505658638355742	Place de l’Hôtel de Ville	2pm – 4pm
33	Bordeaux 19/03	https://www.facebook.com/events/697216785468039	Place de la Comédie	2pm – 5pm
44	Nantes 11/03	https://www.facebook.com/events/1268619497111153	Place Royale	3pm – 5pm
49	Angers 18/03	https://www.facebook.com/events/182532021142227	Rue Lenepveu	2pm – 5:30pm
52	Langres 25/03	https://www.facebook.com/events/906999283840624	Address to be confirmed	2pm – 7pm
52	Besançon 11/03 (One Voice branches in Haute-Marne and in Savoie/Haute-Savoie)	https://www.facebook.com/events/3420688851502805/	Joint press release – from the Battant car park to the Doubs Prefecture	14:30pm – 5pm
59	Lille 18/03	https://www.facebook.com/events/758151802564894	Rue des Tanneurs	3pm – 5pm
69	Lyon 11/03 (wolves and hunting)	https://www.facebook.com/events/580911230129398	Place Saint-Jean	1:30pm – 4pm
75	Paris 11/03 (wolves and hunting)	https://www.facebook.com/events/1854218414927666	Place de l’Hôtel de Ville	1pm – 3pm
84	Avignon 25/03	https://www.facebook.com/events/904637383995467	Place du Change	10pm – 12pm

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

The bird poacher has been convicted! One Voice triumphant

The bird poacher has been convicted! One Voice triumphant
28.02.2023
Var
The bird poacher has been convicted! One Voice triumphant
Wildlife

The deliberation of the case of the robin and blackcap poacher was given on the same evening during the hearing at the Toulon Tribunal yesterday, 27 February 2023. The octogenarian has been convicted and hundreds of birds have thus been spared in the process! We are extremely happy with this decision.

The man, accustomed to breaking the law for years and a repeat offender was confronted with his actions during the hearing: photographs of the birds found dead after having been trapped, tricked by the sounds of their fellow birds being played on a tape player, were shown, and they were very telling. The chairperson pointed this out. Inspectors from the French Office of Biodiversity, who had drawn up the offence report and whom the accused had attempted to bribe, were themselves very moved on the stand.

Just one step from poaching to blackmail.

At the hearing, the defendant tried to argue that he had learnt to hunt robins and Eurasian blackcaps with his grandfather (as if this would be more excusable…) and that he could not do without it.

Unashamedly, the accused even gave the court a doctor’s note, which the chairperson read out loud, in which the doctor argued that the old man needed to hunt small birds for both his psychological well-being and his protein intake! And that depriving him of it could lead to great psychological distress or even suicide. The chairperson said that they were outraged by such a note, stressing that the doctor did not need to threaten the court or blackmail them with suicide.

A sentence worthy of the crimes!

He received a good legal sentencing: a six-month suspended prison sentence; a criminal fine of one thousand euros and a contravention fine of five hundred; publication of the ruling at his expense for two months (town hall, newspaper, and website); withdrawal of his hunting licence and a three-year ban on another being issued; a ban on possessing a weapon for three years; and, finally, the confiscation his seals.

Small birds, in France, when they are not victims of famine, disturbed by the lights and sounds of urban spaces, or even taken by glue and other traditional hunting traps, are often poached. We are celebrating this decision, which drives home our commitment against a France that kills birds.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Persecution of captive wild animals sanctioned by the State Council

Persecution of captive wild animals sanctioned by the State Council
22.02.2023
France
Persecution of captive wild animals sanctioned by the State Council
Wildlife

For more than five years, we have been relentlessly fighting before the State Council to obtain the annulment of decrees successively implemented by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition regarding captive wild animals. Last Friday 17 February, we won a new victory with the partial cancellation of a decree that was encouraging trafficking and the elimination of wild animals.

For years, we have stated that the Ministry for the Ecological Transition strives to implement laws that absolutely do not protect wild animals from misfortune and exploitation.

First appeal won five years ago

In 2018, under the cover of wanting to simplify the regulations on captive wild animals, they passed a decree that allowed all kinds of abuse and unnecessary actions, by providing for an easier detention system for wild animals, particularly their young, and without taking into account scientific knowledge relevant to them. Clearly, accompanied by our partners, we fought against it before the State Council and we obtained a partial cancellation of it.

Three years later, the government is doing it again!

Far from following their 2020 decision, the Ministry passed a new decree in March 2021, this time indicating that animals born in breeding farms were not taken into account in the calculation of the numbers given that they were juvenile.

This blatant disregard for laws and legal decisions is particularly shocking. Once again, the law paved the way for keeping and trafficking young wild animals, such as tiger or lion cubs, and pushed breeders to get rid of the young before they reached adulthood. On the strength of these findings, we immediately filed an emergency interim suspension proceeding, alone this time, asking for the partial cancellation of this shameful decree.

After a relentless fight, the State Council cancelled article 3 of the 2021 decree last Friday. Therefore, new wild animal births should be taken into account in the calculation of the numbers which will avoid an increase in trafficking and the elimination of the young. This decision is a true relief and — let’s be optimistic — should put an end to the long years of fighting before the administrative courts.

However, we are winning the battle but not yet the war: a new ministerial decree must be passed in the coming weeks to apply new rules. We will take care of this scrupulously and will never hesitate to take legal action to ensure that animals’ voices are heard and respected!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

The Bargy ibex killed in 2019: the legal system rules in One Voice’s favour at the appeal

The Bargy ibex killed in 2019: the legal system rules in One Voice’s favour at the appeal
22.02.2023
Haute-Savoie
The Bargy ibex killed in 2019: the legal system rules in One Voice’s favour at the appeal
Wildlife

Four years later, the legal system has decided: the ibex slaughtered were done so illegally. And yet the State persists in continuing to kill these animals every year. Our plea filed against the 2022 decree is still ongoing. We will never abandon the Bargy ibex.

It was a positive sign that we received this February for the ibex on the Bargy mountain range (almost four years later)! In recent years in Haute-Savoie, prefectural decrees authorising slaughtering have not stopped coming. Nothing seems to stop the authorities: neither the inefficiency of these shots, nor the fact that these animals are protected by the Bern Convention…

A victory in retrospect that validates our stance and is encouraging for the future

In 2019, the Prefect authorised the capture and ‘euthanasia’ of 50 ibex that tested positive for brucellosis and ordered the indiscriminate slaughter of 20 others, leading to pressure from farmers worried about the supposed risk of contamination of their cows.

Of course, we flew to the aid of these agile animals. After a misunderstanding about our interest to act at the Grenoble Administrative Tribunal which led to our cancellation request for the prefectural decree being rejected without a decision on its merits, the Lyon Administrative Court of Appeals this time proved us right. It thus not only requested the cancellation of the 2019 decree that we were fighting against, but also stated that any slaughter of ibex without prior screening would not be “the most satisfactory solution to reach the objectives that we are pursuing in order to preserve this protected species”.

Decrees to come: vigilance remains prudent

We are celebrating this decision which shows the way towards a more fair treatment of wild animals. So that ibex stop being victims of massacres, we will continue to rally as we have done since 2013.

In May 2022, we succeeded, alongside our partners, specifically in suspending a decree planning to put 170 individuals to death. And this autumn, we stood up against the slaughter of about sixty animals, starting the day after the publication of the decree. Confronted with this attempt to force it through, we were not able to file an emergency interim suspension proceeding in time (the tribunals were closed over the weekend and the decree was published at the end of the day on Friday). The Prefecture, on its side, hastened to repeal its decree before the urgent hearing. The annulment request is ongoing and we are waiting for a date for the hearing.

Together, we will persist in fighting against decrees that attack the Bargy ibex in the hope that justice will return more and more rulings in their favour. And if possible, before the animals in question are killed…

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Nouveau Cirque Triomphe’s sleight of hand tricks partly condemned by the legal system

Nouveau Cirque Triomphe’s sleight of hand tricks partly condemned by the legal system
22.02.2023
France
Nouveau Cirque Triomphe’s sleight of hand tricks partly condemned by the legal system
Exploitation for shows

In these cases with labyrinthine family ramifications, the circus performers have deployed all of their talents as smooth-talkers. And if the scheming of the Gougeons has allowed them to fall back on their feet a hundred times, this time they have – partly – failed to slip through the net of justice, thanks to a One Voice investigation of several years. This investigation led us to all of this family’s circuses all over France, and even to the shop of a taxidermist who imports and exports wild animal products, one of the biggest types of trafficking worldwide.

Photo: Tarzan, Alexandre Blanchon/Tonga Terre d’Accueil

The Bourgoin-Jallieu and Bobigny magistrates’ courts have (finally) processed the files that we submitted in 2021… We are calling for an exemplary sanction for the trafficking led by the Gougeons, particularly at the Nouveau Cirque Triomphe, but also at the Cirque de Paris (where we got Jon, Patty, Marli, Céleste, and Hannah seized from), Cirque Idéal, and Italiano, where the family of circus trainers runs riot.

We have clearly established that the animals were kept illegally by various members of the family. Here, it was Joseph and Stéphane Gougeon, but also Guy Mordon, an uncle, implicated in the case (repeatedly postponed and then dealt with in Bourgoin-Jallieu), in which breeding was happening, and where a lion ended up in a shop selling ‘stuffed’ animals from all over Paris, a very lucrative trade.

Our lawyers collected and displayed our evidence obtained during an investigation that started in 2018 on a platter. However, the legal system decided otherwise. They did not take essential information into account. A missed opportunity.

Tarzan, a lion placed to hide others

Several lions were kept without a certificate of competency and had supposedly been placed in the Mordon Circus which also did not hold any authorisation; the identification of Jon, a skeletal and mutilated lion already saved and placed into a shelter by our team months before, was listed under Tarzan in the Nouveau Cirque Triomphe’s animal logbook… Under pressure from our relentless work, Tarzan was moved to the same place as Jon at Tonga Terre d’Accueil.

From all of this, in its 20 February 2023 decision, the Bourgoin-Jallieu tribunal only retained the fact that Tarzan was kept illegally. Only Stéphane Gougeon was convicted for non-authorised keeping of a non-domestic animal species with a four-month suspended prison sentence and damages to be paid. Nothing was held against Joseph Gougeon. As for Guy Mordon, he was released.

A case within a case: at twenty thousand euros for a lion skin… just a slap on the wrist

Finally, we found the unlicensed taxidermist who was working on behalf of the reseller to whom Joseph Gougeon took a lion carcass in 2019; we led an investigation and filed a complaint. The defendant was heard on Monday 20 February by the legal system. He admitted that he was guilty (a hearing with an appearance on prior admission of guilt). But the Bobigny Tribunal decided to close the file without even hearing our arguments.

We respect these decisions at the same time that we deplore them. A sign of the times: the rule of law, worn down, must make choices that are to the detriment of the voices we speak up for. However, nothing will stop us letting our fellow citizens, whatever their place in society may be, know what these animals in our country endure. We have not finished with our fight to defend them against exploitation, training, and being kept in captivity in circuses.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

We are seeking justice for the robins and Eurasian blackcaps being poached. The hearing is on 27 February in Toulon

We are seeking justice for the robins and Eurasian blackcaps being poached. The hearing is on 27 February in Toulon
21.02.2023
France
We are seeking justice for the robins and Eurasian blackcaps being poached. The hearing is on 27 February in Toulon
Wildlife

A man has been accused of having killed many robins and Eurasian blackcaps from November 2017 to October 2020. Sinister poaching acts of which he is also a repeat offender. One Voice will give the birds who are victims of these acts a voice on 27 February at the Toulon legal tribunal.

In September 2022, One Voice already filed a civil case in the matter of a retired farmer who had killed no fewer than 20 to 25 robins a day over the years and was making a lucrative trade from it. He was convicted.

On 27 February, justice will be sought for the robins and Eurasian blackcaps for whom we will go to the Toulon legal tribunal. The acts that the defendant is accused of are serious. Not only has he killed these poor birds over a very long period, from November 2017 to October 2020, but he has also already been convicted of this morbid activity! Additionally, he is also accused of having used a tape player to trick and attack these birds which is… forbidden.

The possibility that a man who was just convicted has been able to return to commit the same barbaric acts after hardly having left the court is shocking. It is therefore difficult to believe that the authorities have done everything that they can in this case to protect future potential victims. And this is not so surprising when we know the lack of importance that they give to birds.

Only in October 2022, the Ministry of Ecology re-implemented traditional hunting to trap larks, against the most recent decision by the State Council and the Court of Justice of the European Union, and even though birds are among the species most affected by the sixth mass extinction. For these animals, nothing ever seems to be definitively won and each victory is hard won, such as when the State Council finally ruled glue trapping as illegal in 2021. We will stop at nothing against poaching as well!

It is not normal that poachers are able to kill thousands of birds with impunity every year and each of these individuals deserves to live; therefore, One Voice is demanding that real deterrent measures be taken and real sanctions are given in the event of a conviction.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

February 2023: new figures on animal testing. Yet more animals and more suffering

February 2023: new figures on animal testing. Yet more animals and more suffering
15.02.2023
France
February 2023: new figures on animal testing. Yet more animals and more suffering
Animal testing

Each year, the figures on animal testing take time to be made public. On 14 February 2023, the data from 2021 has just been published by the Ministry of Research and will soon be available to consult through interactive graphs on One Voice’s specialist website. It is no big surprise that the number of animals being used is not going down while experiments involve more and more suffering.

Still this year, the statistical survey has arrived more than one year after the end of the year concerned. This kind of delay would be easily excused if it were not so frequent: from the lack of updates from the laboratories’ inspection vade mecum by the Ministry of Agriculture despite our requests and the lack of follow-up for serious and repeated problems, we are entitled to wonder if all of this is taken seriously.

A number of animals that does not get smaller

Since the middle of the 2000s, figures on animal testing were at almost 2 million uses per year*, scandalously high time and time again. After a misleading decline in 2020 due to lockdowns, it went back to the usual number in 2021: 1.9 million over the year.

Research goals have not changed: 90% of them are divided between fundamental or applied research, regulatory toxicity tests and the production of blood, antibodies, and other bodily substances.

Yet more suffering

Worse: animals’ pain does not stop intensifying. Experiments classed as ‘light’ have been reducing since 2015, while ‘moderate’ experiments are more and more abundant**. This is particularly true for rabbits, for which the total number and those suffering are surpassed every year.

And with 14% of experiments stated as ‘severe’, France is still the leader in this domain that involves significant and lasting anxiety and/or pain. This concerns zebrafish in particular, the number of which has multiplied by six since 2015, and of which a quarter of uses in 2021 were procedures of this magnitude.

Cats, dogs, primates still…

As in previous years, more than 1000 uses of cats, 4000 uses of dogs, and more than 3500 of primates were listed in 2021. The only element that gives vague hope: the number of dogs selectively bred as myopathy patients decreased further in 2021 to fifteen individuals.

When it comes to primates, almost all of them are long-tailed macaques, representatives of an endangered species for whom we are also fighting for on an international level. More than 600 are ‘F1’ macaques, which means that their parents had been captured in the wild…

When will we see the 2022 figures?

ALURES [Animal Use Reporting – EU System] revealed that the use of more than 4 million animals was authorised in 2022 in France – more than double compared with previous years! Even if this can likely be explained by the fact that laboratories largely overestimate the number of animals used in their projects to avoid administrative issues, this above all suggests a total lack of any desire to reduce the number of animals used.

Another worrying point: among these authorisations granted in 2022, six animals in ten will have to endure ‘moderate’ experiments and close to two in ten will have to endure ‘severe’ procedures. This amount is still higher than in 2021.

What is a ‘moderate’ experiment? It is, for example, a case of implanting electrodes in macaques’ skulls before making them stay for several hours per day for months in restraint chairs to measure what is happening in their brains. And severe? This can be infecting pigs with viruses that can give them serious pulmonary diseases to produce vaccines with the aim of maintaining farm profitability in the face of swine flu and other ailments that cause economical losses.

We are asking at the minimum for the authorities as an example to comply with the laws in force – particularly for true transparency on what happens in laboratories in our country – and an elaboration of a genuine exit plan for animal testing in France and Europe, alongside genuine funding for the development of non-animal research methods. Respecting the European directive is urgent.

The figures on animal testing in France

*Some animals are counted several times if they are reused in different projects during the same year. But with the general rate of reuse being very low, the number of animals used is not far from the number of uses listed.

**Regulations classify animal suffering in four categories: ‘non-recovery’ (experiments entirely under anaesthetic that end in the animal being put down), ‘mild, ‘moderate’, and ‘severe’. Examples of each category are available on our dedicated website.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice