Wild boar slaughtered in Cannes: wildlife and animals being managed with revolver shots

Wild boar slaughtered in Cannes: wildlife and animals being managed with revolver shots
15.03.2023
Alpes-Maritimes
Wild boar slaughtered in Cannes: wildlife and animals being managed with revolver shots
Wildlife

On 14 March 2023, a video of a wild boar ‘euthanised’ in the town of Cannes was published on social networks. This wild boar was not euthanised but shot at point-blank range under the astounded gaze of passers-by. Taking refuge on a deserted beach, the frightened animal was not posing any imminent danger.

Wild boars, who almost disappeared in France in the 1960s, have been massively reintroduced, just like thousands of animals bred with the sole aim of serving as cannon fodder for hunters. Nowadays, they are accused of all evil and slaughtered even when alternative solutions exist. This wild boar could have been captured and released in the wild. One Voice stood ready to help the town to implement such an alternative.

This decision is revealing of the incompetence of the methods used by authorities. Rather than leaving ecosystems to self-regulate, killing animals is always favoured. Therefore, even though they are natural predators of wild boar, hundreds of wolves are killed every year in France.

A few days after Jumbo the hippopotamus, a prisoner of the Muller Circus, passed through Cannes, One Voice expected more from the authorities. At a time when numerous countries are developing initiatives to learn how to cohabit with wild animals again, France once again demonstrates its trouble in getting away from a mentality based on the systematic killing of animals.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Gard: a female wolf found strangled to death in a trap

Gard: a female wolf found strangled to death in a trap
14.03.2023
Gard
Gard: a female wolf found strangled to death in a trap
Wildlife

In Barjec in Gard, the body of a female wolf was found at the beginning of March. She had died in the throes of a snare, a barbaric trap that is actually illegal. This sordid event reminds us once again that these traps from ancient times must be banned. One Voice intends to file a complaint for the destruction of a protected species and the violation of regulations relating to the practice of trapping.

Photo : DR

Snares: non-selective traps

Despite snares still being permitted by law, particularly for trapping foxes, they nonetheless remain to be cruel instruments that make the trapped animals suffer terribly.

One of the trappers’ favourite arguments is the so-called selectivity of these traps that are only supposed to capture the species for which they were put there for. But in actual fact, as soon as they are placed in nature, it is impossible to prevent other animals from coming into contact with them. This is how Cooky’s existence ended almost five years ago. We have filed a complaint for him and his family.

Furthermore, even if these traps aim to capture individuals of a targeted species, we must not forget that the ultimate goal that they are aiming towards is the slaughter of these animals considered to be troublesome, or even ‘pests’, by farmers and hunters.

Animals who do not die by being strangled can be left dying for hours in leghold traps, as was the case for Cooper, taken by a device that is actually banned. They can also be prisoners of a metal loop tightening around their leg or stomach, which then acts as a tourniquet that can cut into the flesh. As well as the physical pain, they are plagued by fear and intense stress, and also remain exposed to climatic conditions and attacks by other animals, before finally being killed by the trapper.

As Dr Gilbert Proulx (French-Canadian biologist known internationally for his work on the trapping of mammals and his expertise in wildlife management) recalls in a 2022* study:

«Certain methods of capturing and killing have such extreme effects on animal well-being that, whatever the potential advantages may be, the use of them is never justifiable. The use of snares falls under this category.»

The same suffering for dogs and wolves

Wolves, who in fact belong to a protected species and are already slaughtered with the involvement of the State as well as being poached, must also be wary of traps. However, trapping a protected species is strictly forbidden by law and can even be linked to poaching.

The French Office for Biodiversity has recovered the body of the animal for an autopsy and must confirm whether or not it is a wolf. The photo distributed on 10 March 2023, and the witness statement from a former wolf-hunting officer who had access to it, leave little room for doubt.

But let’s be clear: if the victim of this torture device turned out not to be a wolf but a dog, or any other animal, its agony and suffering would have been the same. One Voice is demanding justice for her too.

Join us in our fight: sign our petition to say no to persecuting wolves. For the animal taken by this trap, One Voice is filing a complaint for the destruction of a protected species as appropriate and the breach of regulations surrounding the practice of trapping at the public prosecutor’s office in Alès.

*Mammal Trapping ̶ Wildlife Management, Animal Welfare & International Standards 121 G. Proulx, editor. Alpha Wildlife Publications, 2022.

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.

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