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Animal experiments: the figures of shame

Animal experiments: the figures of shame

Animal experiments: the figures of shame
30.07.2021
Animal experiments: the figures of shame
Animal testing

The European Union has just published the latest statistics relating to animal experiments undertaken in 2018. The unconvincing report of almost 400 pages boasts about accountability and announces a fall in the number of animals being killed. In reality: nothing has changed. The animals continue to suffer terribly during these cruel and more often than not replaceable experiments.

Photo : Peta

In the introduction, the EU publishes its vague desires for accountability – accountability requested by law and by the citizens – and announces the difference between the number of animals used in laboratories and that used for genetically modified lines.

The latter is more than 1.5 million. 16% of those suffer with illnesses from birth, appear weaker and are more exposed to stress and pain. Ethical progress is measured from the outset…

Experiments which continue despite the law

The EU announced that 8,921,758 animals were used for the first time in 2018 (to which it is necessary to add those already in the laboratories which are reused): a figure which has fallen below 9 million individuals for the first time. But the statistics previously given did not take Norway into account. With this country, 10,572,305 animals have in fact been used (still for the first time) in 2018 in European laboratories. We had reported almost identical statistics last year. It is clear to see: nothing has changed. Experiments carried out on animals, both cruel and archaic, remain commonplace, despite the European directive which provides for alternative and replacement methods to be implemented, with a commitment to the total replacement of animals in tests.

More dogs and primates

As we know, primates are protected species. However, they are being used more and more in European laboratories (+4% in 2018). Dogs are also more likely to be exposed to experimental torture: the sad statistics indicate an increase of 29%. Amongst the species most imported into the European Union from non-EU countries, there were also cats (38%) as well as dogs (46%). We do not stop raising the alarm on this despicable trafficking and the conditions in which the dogs are raised.

1.9 million animals used in France

In this sombre list, France occupies a prominent position. Our country is the third highest user of dogs in Europe: 4,219 dogs were used in our labs in 2018 (+3% compared to 2017) and the highest user of primates (3,510). France also occupies third place on the European podium when it comes to the number of animals used, standing at 1.9 million. We could continue to reel off the France’s sad records on the subject of animal experiments. Suffice to say that our country is one of the six EU countries which still uses the ascites method on mice to produce monoclonal antibodies, despite the availability of non-animal methods of production.

Animals remain cannon fodder in our country, as they do in Europe.

Translated from the French by Sophie Martin

One Voice against bullfighting: coordinated action in thirteen regions!

One Voice against bullfighting: coordinated action in thirteen regions!

One Voice against bullfighting: coordinated action in thirteen regions!
07.07.2021
One Voice against bullfighting: coordinated action in thirteen regions!
Corrida

For the past twenty-five years, One Voice has been campaigning against bullfighting in France, firstly to prevent the bulls from suffering and dying, and secondly to ban access to bullrings and the participation of children in this torture. To this end, a day of coordinated actions in thirteen regions will take place on July 10. The animal rights organization is calling for a nationwide ban on bullfighting.

Bullfighting is considered a traditional spectacle where violence is trivialized. These torture sessions stimulate the aficionados in the audience, among whose ranks are even children, brought by their parents to witness these bloody scenes. These “shows” should constitute acts of cruelty and serious animal abuse, and therefore be punishable under the penal code. However, they benefit from an exemption in the regions where they take place, as they are, according to French law, part of a “continuous and uninterrupted” local tradition.

Whether on foot, on horseback or Portuguese-style, bullfights always torture and kill bulls in public or behind the scenes. There are several types: bécéradas with 2-year-old calves, novilladas with 3-year-old calves, and corridas with 4-year-old bulls. These are all very young individuals who are sacrificed in public. When we investigated bullfighting schools for children in 2012 and 2019, we saw adults forcing frightened children to take part in the unspeakable, and very young bulls put to death by teenagers.

What’s normal about killing an animal or watching them being killed? Bullfighting clearly contributes to the trivialization of violence. Far from being sport or art, these practices are abominable, and we demand that they be banned throughout France, without exception, rather than subsidized by town halls in search of local entertainment.

Events:

Please check the dates, times and venues on the day on the corresponding Facebook event, which will be updated, as sometimes prefectures change them at the last minute.

Region Town  Facebook Link Place Time
05 Embrun Event link Lieu-dit « Plan d’Eau » Sunday 11/07
2:30 to 5pm
06 Nice Event link La Coulée verte, Le Paillon 4:30 to 6pm
08 Charleville-Mézières Event link Rue Pierre Bérégovoy 2:30 to 4pm
13 Aix-en-Provence Event link Allées Provençales 11am to 12:30pm
14 Pont d’Ouilly Event link Devant L’Épicerie Du Coing 2:30 to 5pm
17 La Rochelle Event link Place de la Caille 2:30 to 4pm
33 Bordeaux Event link Quai de la Garonne Sunday 11/07
12pm to 5pm
34 Montpellier Event link Place de la Comédie 2:30 to 4pm
57 Metz Event link 12 Rue du Petit Paris 3 to 4:30pm
59 Lille Event link Grand’Place 2:30 to 4pm
67 Strasbourg Event link Rue des Grandes Arcades 2:30 to 4pm
69 Lyon Event link Place Saint-Jean 3 to 5pm
75 Paris Event link Place Edmond Michelet 2:30 to 4pm

Hunting with glue: the State Council has ruled, victory for birds

Hunting with glue: the State Council has ruled, victory for birds

Hunting with glue: the State Council has ruled, victory for birds
28.06.2021
Chasse à la glu: le Conseil d’État a tranché, victoire pour les oiseaux
Hunting

On May 28, 2021, the State Council examined the merits of the petition filed by One Voice and others against the 2018 and 2019 decrees authorizing glue-trap hunting. A positive decision had been handed down by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), so there was cause for optimism.

The decision of France’s highest public jurisdiction has just arrived: the State Council rules that glue-trap hunting is illegal.

In addition, the five decrees of September 24, 2018 by the Minister of State, Ecological and Solidarity Transition, relating to the use of birdlime for the capture of thrushes and blackbirds meant to be used as decoys, respectively, in the regions of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhône, Vaucluse and Var, for the 2018-2019 campaign, have been annulled.

What a great victory for birds, who will no longer be caught in glue in France! For four years now, One Voice has also been fighting before the State Council against all the other forms of traditional hunting. For these little birds, we’ll go all the way. Muriel Arnal President and Founder of One Voice

Below is the press release issued by the State Council

The State Council rules that glue-trap hunting is illegal

The State Council has ruled that glue-trap hunting cannot be authorized as it stands, after animal protection associations called for it to be banned and hunting federations called for it to be maintained. After referring the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union, the State Council has annulled the French regulation authorizing the glue-trap hunting of thrushes and blackbirds, on the grounds that it is contrary to European law. In fact, it has not been demonstrated that the other birds accidentally caught using this method are caught in small numbers and without serious consequences. Furthermore, the fact that this is a “traditional” hunting method is not sufficient to justify a derogation.

A “traditional” hunting technique in five regions of south-eastern France (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhône, Vaucluse and Var), hunting with glue or birdlime involves coating sticks (“gluaux”) with glue in order to capture live birds of certain species who land on them, for use as decoys. Other birds caught using this technique must be released.

The European Birds Directive of November 30, 20091 prohibits the use of mass or non-selective capture methods, and lists glue-trap hunting as one of the prohibited practices. The directive does, however, provide for a derogation to be granted, “if there is no other satisfactory solution”, to capture certain birds in small quantities, “under strictly controlled conditions and on a selective basis”.

After asking the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to clarify its interpretation of these provisions of the Birds Directive, the State Council took the Court’s response into account and today annulled the ministerial decrees setting the maximum number of thrush and blackbird catches by glue-trap hunting in France. The three rulings were issued in response to appeals from the association One Voice and the French League for the Protection of Birds, which had called for the technique to be banned, and from the National Hunting Federation (FNC), which had called for it to be maintained.

The State Council noted that neither the government nor the hunters’ federation had provided sufficient evidence to assert that glue-trap hunting only led to the capture of small numbers of birds belonging to species other than those sought. Nor can it be claimed that accidentally captured birds would only suffer negligible damage once released and cleaned, particularly to their plumage.

Furthermore, it points out that while traditional hunting methods may be authorized under the Birds Directive, the sole aim of preserving these traditions is not sufficient to justify a derogation from the prohibitions of principle laid down in the Directive. Finally, it notes that it has not been demonstrated that there is no other satisfactory solution to the practice of glue-trap hunting.

Timeline

  • September 2018 and September 2019: The Government authorizes by decree the glue-trap hunting of thrushes and blackbirds in five regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur for the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 hunting seasons.
  • November 2019: Referred to by the association One Voice and the French League for the Protection of Birds, the State Council asks the CJEU to clarify the interpretation of the Birds Directive (see decision).
  • August 2020: Pending a response from the CJEU, the Government refuses to authorize glue-trap hunting for the 2020-2021 campaign.
  • September 2020: The National Hunting Federation refers to the State Council to order the Government to reauthorize glue hunting.
  • March 17, 2021: The CJEU responds to the State Council (see decision).
  • June 28, 2021: The State Council annuls the orders setting the number of birds that may be captured in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, and validates the Minister’s refusal to authorize such captures in 2020.

1Directive 2009/147/EC of November 30, 2009 on the conservation of wild birds

Read the press release

Download decisions n°443849, 434365 and 425519