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.

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

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

After foxes being hung… foxes stuffed?

After foxes being hung… foxes stuffed?
15.02.2023
Aisne
After foxes being hung… foxes stuffed?
Wildlife

Hunted down for their whole lives, humiliated to death: foxes suffer unbearable harassment which is maintained by the State and hunters leading to the worst indignities. On 8 February, One Voice received a new report of the desecration of a cadaver, stuffed this time, and in full view of everyone in the village of Berlancourt (02).

But what did foxes do to suffer such harassment?

After the bodies hung in Dracy-Saint-Loup and Vallet, on 8 February, we received a witness statement from a shocked walker after having found themselves face to face with a corpse abandoned by the side of a country road in Aisne.

With this fox still being there several weeks later, our witness had a closer look and was able to see that it was in all likelihood… stuffed. What explanation is there for this senseless act if not the pure and simple desire to reign terror in the countryside?

The State and hunters’ responsibility for the increase in these acts is immense: by dint of knowingly maintaining hatred against these animals related to dogs, despite them being intelligent and sociable and essential in maintaining biodiversity, they give free reign to the most despicable acts.

Because for foxes, life now can only be summed up as permanently trying to escape from hunters who are eager to exterminate them. Their obsession for these animals is matched only by the cruelty of the methods used to kill them.

Foxes can, of course, be hunted with guns during the hunting season. Like badgers, they can also be dug out from their burrows: dogs are sent underground and, once the foxes and their young are cornered, hunters dig holes in the ground to drag them out with the help of pincers before killing them, sometimes with a knife, sometimes with a gun, but always laughing at the pain these dying animals suffer.

But the massacring does not end there. Classified as a ‘species likely to cause damage’ in many departments, they can also be trapped with torture instruments that no longer have a place in our countryside (ovitraps, foot snares, or body-grip traps) but which litter the ground of the woodland and have many collateral victims.

And if this is not enough, prefects regularly authorise official hunts during which foxes can be massacred, and also their young. There is truly no limit to the cruelty.

Faced with the increase in these events, we are alerting the Mayor, Prefect, and the French Office of Biodiversity again: in the name of foxes, in the name of the safety of our countryside, we must act to identify the guilty party, punish them, and put an end to these despicable acts! Sign the petition so that foxes can be taken off the list of ‘species likely to cause damage’ (previously ‘pests’).

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

One Voice is taking to the streets to call for a true plan to make hunting safe and for a radical reform

One Voice is taking to the streets to call for a true plan to make hunting safe and for a radical reform
11.02.2023
France
One Voice is taking to the streets to call for a true plan to make hunting safe and for a radical reform
Wildlife

On Saturday 11 February, One Voice activists will be raising public awareness in Compiègne, Nantes, Angers, and Troyes. On Sunday 12 February, the same will be happening in Montpellier, Rouen, and Gap. On the following Saturday, on 18 February, it will happen in Lille, Annecy, Aix-en-Provence, Nice, and Bayonne. In Nice, Olivier Arnaubex, lawyer at Barreau de Nice and singer-songwriter as part of the LFA (Looking For Animals) group, is committed to the animal cause and will share his compositions during our audience participation event. Finally, on Saturday 11 March, the towns of Lyon, Paris, and La Rochelle will finish the series at the end of the hunting season.

Photo of the action led in Compiègne on the morning of Saturday 22 February 2023

Hunting in France: an exception as the worst among its neighbours

Penned hunting, gun or bow hunting, badger or fox digging, trapping, hunting with hounds… in the 21st century, all of these practices still exist! Hunting in France: there are between 6,000 and 8,000 tonnes of lead in the wild, 20 million animals coming from breeding farms to be released and slaughtered, 45 million animals slaughtered each year, and 90 species of animals killed each year! France is, at any rate, the country that hunts the most types of species.

One Voice has opposed it for years and tries to make changes to the mentalities in France by demonstrating the suffering of the animals, the absurdity of the practice, and the collateral damage that hunting brings about.

From a human perspective, the government plan falls short of societal expectations

With their plan to make hunting safer, the government is proposing measures that are far from the expectations of the French population who would like to benefit from the countryside and the great outdoors without risking their lives. One Voice is reporting on the dramatic under-sizing of government propositions in relation to the stakes. It will take a radical reform on hunting, not small measures that are once again insulting to grieving families and to biodiversity which is being wiped out before our eyes.

The lack of political desire to change anything is such a pity. The animal and human deaths accrued still do not hold up against the lobby; we wonder how it still manages to dictate its own laws when it represents such a small minority. Country people as well as city-dwellers are more than fed up!

For wild boars, foxes, badgers, does, roebuck, fallow deer, rabbits, and all birds in our woodlands and countryside, but also for measures worthy of this name for humans, thus guaranteeing the safety of everyone, we will be in 15 French towns during weekends in February and March 2023.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice