News Archive - Page 6 of 140

Inauguration of a Chatipi in Drancy on 5 July: an ethical project for stray cats and for raising public awareness

Inauguration of a Chatipi in Drancy on 5 July: an ethical project for stray cats and for raising public awareness
25.06.2025
Drancy
Inauguration of a Chatipi in Drancy on 5 July: an ethical project for stray cats and for raising public awareness
Domestic animals

On Saturday 5 July 2025 at 11am at 5, Villa de l’Avant-Garde, the town of Drancy will inaugurate its very first Chatipi. This project will provide support for the feline population, offer shelter to stray cats and raise awareness among residents about their situation which is often overlooked. The inauguration of the shelter, located on municipal land, will take place in the presence of Ms Aude Lagarde, Mayor of Drancy, Ms Marie-José Pinto-Vaz, President of the association Les Animaux Errants de l’Économie, and Ms Mathilde Perrot, representative of One Voice.

A local emergency

Despite the actions taken by the town of Drancy and local associations, the municipality is facing an ever-growing population of stray cats due to excessive abandonment and the failure of owners to neuter their animals. Too often mistakenly perceived as self-sufficient, cats without families are in fact confronted with disease, cold, hunger and sometimes even human malice.

At the initiative of the town and in partnership with One Voice, this Chatipi will not only provide shelter for homeless cats which will be sterilised and tagged, but will also inform citizens about the importance of this operation and the need to respect these living beings.

Located in a residential neighbourhood, this initiative has been very well received by local residents, proving that awareness-raising and mediation can change attitudes.

Division of tasks

One Voice, the creator of the project, has financed the hut, the cat flaps and the educational panels, the veterinary costs for fifteen cats (sterilisation, tagging and tests for feline diseases), as well as thirty kilos of dry food for the launch of the initiative.

The association Les Animaux Errants de l’Économie will cover the long-term costs of food, feeding and veterinary care for the residents of the Chatipi. It will organise the trapping and health monitoring of the cats, and the fitting-out and cleaning of the hut. The most sociable cats will be put up for adoption.

The municipality of Drancy has kindly provided a plot of land belonging to it. The town’s technical services have been in charge of creating the concrete slab supporting the hut, assembling it and installing the panels and cat flaps. The town will also be managing the maintenance of all this equipment over time.

A multifaceted national programme

Across France, more than sixty Chatipis have already been created, including in nursing homes, schools and hospitals, to provide comfort or serve as educational aids. This initiative, which combines animal protection and civic education, is now recognised for its tangible impact in the field.

📍Practical information

Address: 5, Villa de l’Avant-Garde, 93700 Drancy

Date: Saturday 5 July 2025

Time: 11am

The inauguration will be followed by a reception organised by the town council.

Animal experimentation: what our report on laboratory inspections reveals

Animal experimentation: what our report on laboratory inspections reveals
25.06.2025
France
Animal experimentation: what our report on laboratory inspections reveals
Animal testing

One Voice has obtained and carefully analyzed no fewer than 567 inspection reports drawn up between 2013 and 2023 in 67 French departments where animals are experimented on. Massive irregularities, projects implemented before even receiving the necessary authorizations, sanctions not applied… These documents reveal the reality of animal experimentation: in addition to suffering under the scalpels, the animals used are not even adequately protected by the rare safeguards provided by regulations. We are calling for firmer checks on laboratories and greater transparency, as obtaining these documents has been a struggle in its own right*.

In France, laboratories must undergo mandatory prefectoral inspections every three years on average, and even every year for those using primates, dogs or cats. This should enable the identification of any breaches of the regulations governing these practices, and force the offending establishments to rectify them… in theory. The reality is quite different.

Endless irregularities

To gain access to these 567 inspection reports, we had to fight, claiming through the courts what the authorities should have provided on simple request. Faced with the conclusions of these visits, often scheduled in advance, it is easy to understand why the animal experimentation lobby defends its opacity tooth and nail, and rubs its hands at court rulings limiting this transparency.

Quarantine periods not respected when animals arrive in laboratories, cages too small, stress not taken into account… What happens to victims in these establishments, even before they undergo the slightest experiment, clearly deviates from current “welfare” standards. Is this really that surprising? When we know that the staff who work there don’t even meet the meagre obligation of instruction to which they are bound? With years of missed training and out-of-date skills tracking charts, it’s hardly surprising that the suffering of individuals destined for tiled lab benches is also taken lightly…

Find out more about the report Find out more about the report Find out more about the report Find out more about the report Find out more about the report Find out more about the report Find out more about the report Find out more about the report Find out more about the report Find out more about the report

Without sanctions, nothing changes for animals

What happens when such violations are detected? The vast majority of the time, absolutely nothing. Animals coming from unapproved farms, without the slightest derogation? No problem. In several cases of non-compliance of this kind, we have not found the slightest trace of a conviction. Some laboratories lock up more than five mice in a plastic box the size of half an A4 sheet? No matter! They won’t be punished for it, just like the Institut Pasteur.

So the illegalities continue… as we denounced, for example, in the case of the monkeys exploited at SILABE. When the certification of the Strasbourg primatology center was cancelled, the unspeakable conditions in which they were held were ignored… It was the procedural error that tipped the scale…

France must finally catch up

With far fewer inspections than other European Union countries, and unannounced visits revealing more violations than planned visits, France confirms its position as one of Europe’s bad pupils. When you consider that many projects are implemented before being validated by the Ministry, and without even having received the opinion of an ethics committee – an entity largely lacking in impartiality and independence – you can only measure the aberration! This cruel farce, for which animals are paying the price, must stop.

We demand:

The introduction of two controls per year, with a minimum of 50% unannounced inspections, and real sanctions.
That the French inspection system be monitored by the European Commission.
A ban on the “euthanasia” of animals by any method other than overdosing with anaesthetic, except in exceptional cases justified on veterinary grounds and strictly in the interest of the animal concerned, with a detailed report.
Prohibition of killing for practical reasons without any experimental interest, except in the case of medical euthanasia, whether the animals are used or born and kept without having been experimented on.
Inspection reports to be made available on request, as already provided for by law.

Sign and share our petitions for animals that are victims of animal experimentation!

* We would like to extend our warmest thanks to Nicolas Marty, our former colleague (from 2022 to 2024), who made available to One Voice numerous documents obtained after procedures he had initiated prior to his employment. He has since founded the Animal Experimentation Observatory.

One Voice, with AVES and other partners, attack the umpteenth ministerial anti-wolf decree

One Voice, with AVES and other partners, attack the umpteenth ministerial anti-wolf decree
25.06.2025
France
One Voice, with AVES and other partners, attack the umpteenth ministerial anti-wolf decree
Wildlife

Yet another ministerial decree published on June 21, making it easier to kill wolves… The French Ministries of Ecological Transition and Agriculture continue to claim that no protection measures are feasible for certain herds, while publishing a list of so-called “measures”… which are precisely that. This crude manipulation calls for a firm response. One Voice, together with AVES and other partners, are once again taking legal action to overturn this unjustifiable text.

Shameless ministerial duplicity

In February, a first decree modified the legal framework surrounding the shooting of wolves, introducing the fiction of the “non-protectability” of cows and horses. This concept, undefined at the time, has now been “clarified” in a decree published six months later. The result: these famous “vulnerability reduction measures” are protection devices, already admitted for sheep and goat farms, for example.

In other words, the ministries have deliberately twisted reality in order to get their project through. The deception is obvious, the intention crystal-clear: to disguise a culling scheme under the guise of “management”.

We denounced this diversionary tactic during the public consultation. We are now fighting it in court, as we did with the previous text. The government cannot continue to manipulate texts with impunity, to better delegitimize any attempt at coexistence between humans and wild animals.

Why not go all the way and finance these new measures, recognizing them as real protection? Because it’s much easier to feed the hatred that breeders have for wolves than to find real solutions for coexistence. Do we need to repeat once again that lethal shooting is not effective? The National Assembly’s report on pastoralism, published last April, demonstrates as much, in line with our own study on the same subject.

A circumvention strategy to better slaughter

Let’s make no mistake: this is not about improving herd protection. These measures will be neither officially recognized nor financed. They serve only one purpose: to provide administrative justification for shooting. Farmers, left to their own devices, will find no concrete help. On the other hand, they will be granted the right to kill.

Since the Council of the European Union approved the downlisting of wolves, the most brutal rhetoric has been unleashed. Some MPs, galvanized by this setback, no longer even try to hide their desire for extermination. Deputy Pierre Cordier put it bluntly in the Assembly: “Fences are useless; we have to shoot!” Not a single voice was raised to contradict this chilling statement.

Towards systematic elimination

These are not mere aberrations: this is a deliberate policy of elimination. The prefect in charge of the national wolf action plan expressed surprise at the “unprecedented number” of wolves killed. Not because she was alarmed, but because she feared that the annual quota would be reached too soon. Her main concern was how much room for manoeuvre there was left to continue bowing to the injunctions of the agro-pastoral lobbies.

We resist

In the face of this methodical offensive against a species native of our part of the world, we will not bend. We call on all those who reject this logic of extermination to mobilize. On July 2, especially for Camille, Milo and Mina, we’ll be in Mâcon and Tulle respectively, where we’ll be speaking out loud and clear for the wolves. If you can’t join us, please sign and share our petition. Together, let’s stop this policy of annihilation.

Stop the pig trifecta at Vabres-l’Abbaye: animal distress is not entertainment

Stop the pig trifecta at Vabres-l’Abbaye: animal distress is not entertainment
24.06.2025
Aveyron
Stop the pig trifecta at Vabres-l’Abbaye: animal distress is not entertainment
Exploitation for shows

Every summer in Vabres-l’Abbaye (Aveyron), young pigs are chased, lifted and manhandled for the amusement of the public in an aberrant “race” known as the “pig trifecta”. This practice, which has been going on for over forty years, is attracting increasing criticism. In 2022, One Voice had already sounded the alarm with an open letter to the local authorities. The festival, which takes place over four days from July 4 – and offers a variety of convivial activities, including pétanque competitions, refreshment stands, catering, concerts, face painting and inflatable games – can do without this disgraceful race. It’s time to put an end to it. It’s possible to have fun without terrorizing animals.

Forced to run and jump over obstacles, pursued by humans who frighten them by clapping their hands and pushing them over metal kegs or haysacks, frightened piglets, pushed to the limit, are treated as objects of entertainment, their cries and distress ignored in the name of an outdated and cruel “activity”.

Animal suffering denied in the name of entertainment

This practice, even if it may seem harmless at first glance, is in fact a form of animal abuse. It inflicts intense stress and unnecessary torment on these sentient beings, who deserve respect and protection, not to be used as toys to entertain the crowd. It teaches our children that it’s okay to laugh at the suffering of others. Tradition can never justify this kind of degrading treatment.

It’s time to break the silence surrounding this outrageous “game”. More and more voices are denouncing this brutality and calling for an immediate end to this cruel trifecta. What happens to these little pigs after the race? Are they crammed into a truck bound for the slaughterhouse? Are they sent back to an intensive breeding farm to be fattened first?

For a festival that respects and promotes values

The village of Vabres-l’Abbaye, with its rich cultural heritage that should be highlighted, must put behind them this disgraceful practice that tarnishes its image. We call on the festival committee, local councillors and the general public to put an end to this suffering and adopt respectful alternatives, festive activities without violence or animal exploitation.

We must pass on to future generations the values of empathy, respect and compassion. Cruelty has no place in our traditions, festivals or society. The pig trifecta must end, and it’s only together that we can achieve this, in the same way that our collective mobilization has made it possible to put an end to the “goose neck” game in Lesmont in 2025 and Saint-Bonnet-près-Riom in 2024.

Feral goats: the courts rule, the prefects persevere

Feral goats: the courts rule, the prefects persevere
24.06.2025
Savoie Feral goats: the courts rule, the prefects persevere
Domestic animals

A few goats escape their owner’s supervision and wander off into the hills? For the prefects, the solution is obvious: have them shot immediately by sworn hunters. Of course, the owners, who have been identified, are not being held accountable. In the region of Haute-Savoie, we obtained an emergency suspension of the order by the Court. Now, in Savoie, together with our partner AJAS we are challenging a new hunting order and asking the Prefect to withdraw his order immediately.

Is the slaughter of stray goats the new regional sport?

There is an explanation for this wave of violence: these few individuals are said to pose a “serious and immediate” danger to humans due to potential attacks or road accidents… And this despite the fact that, according to the prefecture itself, they live far away from everything, in areas that are difficult to access. As for the protection of ibex, it should be noted that the prefecture of Haute-Savoie is already having them culled every year to reassure the producers of Reblochon and other cheeses…

In short, once again, the authorities are succumbing to the hunters’ logic: one problem, one solution: kill the animals. How can we believe that in 2025 it would be absolutely impossible to capture them? The reality is clear: for the authorities, their lives are not worth the trouble of looking for alternatives even though they do exist. So, once again, they are choosing the easy option.

Behind the brutality of the State lies the indifference of the owners

In Savoie, as in the neighbouring region, the owners have been clearly identified. But they do not want to act. Rather than forcing them to do so, the prefects automatically turn to the officially appointed huntmasters whose job is to kill animals that, in many cases, pose no problem.

It is high time to put an end to these orders for the slaughter of domestic animals whose only crime is to be alive. Together with AJAS, we are challenging the order of the Prefect of Haute-Savoie before the Administrative Court in Grenoble.

Here is what you can ask the Prefect of Savoie by sending her a letter:

“Madam Prefect,

The slaughter of goats that have escaped from their owners is not the solution.

These animals do not pose any serious or imminent risk to public safety.

On 5 June 2025, the Administrative Court in Grenoble suspended a similar order issued by the Prefect of Haute-Savoie. The judge of summary proceedings recognised that no public interest prevented the suspension of the order which was clearly illegal.

Finally, it is obvious that there are alternatives to slaughter, notably capture. It is unacceptable that the owners of the goats, who are known, should escape their responsibility simply because they do not wish to intervene. It is time to abandon the reflex of killing animals at the slightest problem!

I hereby request that you, Madam Prefect, kindly withdraw your order.

Yours sincerely,”

Address: Préfecture de la Savoie, Château de ducs de Savoie Accueil général, Pl. Caffe, 73000 Chambéry

Saône-et-Loire: a new wolf, but the same old hatred

Saône-et-Loire: a new wolf, but the same old hatred
19.06.2025
Saône-et-Loire
Saône-et-Loire: a new wolf, but the same old hatred
Wildlife

Since 2019, wolves have been making timid attempts to return to the Saône-et-Loire region. Each time, the same story repeats itself: the animal settles in, triggers the fury of the agricultural lobbies, and is then shot. In 2020, 2021, 2023… all were killed. While we should be investing massively in means of protection, on May 15, the prefect decided to reduce the protection measures that farmers in six villages are required to implement in order to obtain public subsidies. Because cohabitation between humans and wildlife is the only viable option, we are challenging this decree before the Dijon administrative court.

Photo : OFB-SD71

Camille, the latest wolf to have settled in Morey, targeted

In December 2023, in the Saône-et-Loire region, a wolf was shot in the thigh. After surviving for months in excruciating pain, he was found dead in February 2025, in suspicious conditions that prompted us to lodge a complaint. We had offered to transfer him to a sanctuary in Italy. We were met with silence from the authorities.

A few weeks ago, a new individual, Camille, was spotted in Morey, in the same town as his injured predecessor. Images captured by a camera trap were authenticated by the prefecture on May 12. This simple observation was enough to rekindle tensions. In an open letter, the FDSEA and Jeunes Agriculteurs 71 immediately called for the wolf to be purely and solely eliminated.

The prefect gives in to the lobbies’ pressure

For the representatives of intensive agriculture, Camille’s slaughter was not enough. They have only one objective: to eradicate wolves at any cost. They’re not interested in protection measures, and they strongly influenced the prefect with a simple message: fewer protection measures, more money for farmers. In short, they want to have their cake and eat it too.

Welcomed on site on May 13 with sheep carcasses in protest, the prefect gave in two days later. From now on, in the six villages concerned, in order to be subsidized, farmers will no longer have to implement two protection measures (“circle one”), but only one (“circle two”).

Faced with this renunciation, we have made a request with the Dijon administrative court to have the prefectoral decree annulled. Killing Camille won’t solve anything. Rather than give in to retrograde lobbies, it’s high time to invest massively in protection measures, which are the only way to ensure harmonious cohabitation between wolves and humans.

Join us in front of the Mâcon prefecture on July 2 at 10am, for Camille. Sign so that wolves can finally live in peace.

Illegal sale of a lion to a taxidermist: the Gougeon family reoffends

Illegal sale of a lion to a taxidermist: the Gougeon family reoffends
19.06.2025
France
Illegal sale of a lion to a taxidermist: the Gougeon family reoffends
Exploitation for shows

In the spring of 2025, we received documents indicating that a trainer well known to our association had sold a lion to a foreign taxidermist, who in turn sold the stuffed animal to a Parisian company. The only snag in this system, which still allows animals to be “stuffed” on top of their lives of misery, is that the circus had no right to own the animal, and even less to sell him to enrich itself at his expense. Faced with this shameful and illegal transaction, we filed a complaint with the Paris public prosecutor’s office.

Wild felines treated as objects even after their death

Teddy Gougeon must really enjoy appearing before the court… In 2024, we already had him convicted for his illegal exploitation of non-domestic animals, for which he had no certificate of competence, and for mistreatment by a professional. The verdict: a six-month suspended prison sentence and a 5-year ban on keeping wild animals for William Zavatta Circus’ trainer.

We now know that the circus trainer didn’t stop there, as he sold to a taxidermist the remains of a lion he had no right to own or sell to anyone. How was this lion killed before being put in a tanning bath, like Dorian before him? Did he even have a name? After a lifetime of exploitation, his tormentors did not hesitate to benefit from him one last time, engaging in a totally prohibited form of trafficking. They have even managed to obtain a permit to export the body to Indonesia from the Direction régionale et interdépartementale de l’environnement, de l’aménagement et des transports (DRIEAT Île-de-France) in December 2024. Everything seems to be going swimmingly for the animals’ enemies…

Towards a botched law… and unbridled traffic?

This isn’t the first time we’ve denounced these actions. In 2021, we had already uncovered the maneuvers of a trainer from the same family, Joseph Gougeon, who had used the services of an unlicensed taxidermist, whom we had investigated. A juicy trade that can bring in over 10,000 euros for each individual whose skin is greedily plucked… and which has enough to entice circus performers. Now that the ban on wild animals in traveling circuses is about to come into force, and the French Ministry of Ecological Transition has definitively given up on funding sanctuary places, what are they going to do with the animals they can no longer whip under their big tops? True to form, it’s a safe bet that they’ll choose the most profitable option, to the detriment of the animals and in defiance of the law… Will the State also wash its hands of the matter, if wildlife trafficking shoots up as a result of its incompetence? We won’t allow it!

On behalf of the lion killed and sold for shipment abroad, we have filed a complaint against Teddy Gougeon and the taxidermy company involved, and are calling for an investigation. Add your voice to ours by signing our petition: Say no to animals in circuses!

Horse left for dead tied to a tractor: One Voice lodges a request to denounce the impunity

Horse left for dead tied to a tractor: One Voice lodges a request to denounce the impunity
13.06.2025
Loire-Atlantique Horse left for dead tied to a tractor: One Voice lodges a request to denounce the impunity
Domestic animals

In April, in the village of Guenrouët, in the Loire-Atlantique region, a man tied a horse to the fork of a tractor, without water or food. He left him there until the poor animal, already extremely thin, died of thirst and exhaustion. Meanwhile, this owner of an illegal landfill continues to pollute the environment. One Voice is lodging a request and demanding that justice be finally served to put an end to the impunity of those who think that animals and nature belong to them.

For the horse, mistreatment and an unspeakable act of cruelty

In April 2025, we were alerted by distraught witnesses: a horse, seen a few days earlier tied to a tractor in a field, was found collapsed, dead from thirst and exhaustion. Unable to move, without food or water, he had died in agony, ignored by all. His skeletal body revealed long-term suffering inflicted deliberately.

This was not a case of negligence but of deliberate cruelty. A slow, wilful act of torture reminiscent of the tragic fate of Happy or Casimir and Gazelle. This was not the first time the perpetrator had committed such an act. Well-known to the police and local residents for similar acts, he nevertheless continues to cause harm. How could this have been allowed to happen?

We demand swift prosecution and an exemplary sentence

As if that were not enough, he also owns an illegal landfill where waste is piling up, polluting the soil and water. Despite previous convictions, nothing has changed. This is a tragic example of the authorities’ inability to enforce the rules when it comes to protecting nature. It is now time to take the necessary measures.

We are lodging a request with the public prosecutor in Saint-Nazaire. For the horse that was abandoned and left for dead, the man faces a fine of €60,000 and five years’ imprisonment. We demand swift prosecution and an exemplary punishment to put an end to the impunity. In the meantime, sign our petition to give horses the status of pets!

The return of the Gartner family’s elephants to Valence d’Agen? We say no, for them

The return of the Gartner family’s elephants to Valence d’Agen? We say no, for them
12.06.2025
Valence d’Agen, Tarn-et-Garonne
The return of the Gartner family’s elephants to Valence d’Agen? We say no, for them
Exploitation for shows

At a time when France has committed to banning wild animals from traveling circuses by 2028, we are dismayed to learn that a show featuring elephants is scheduled to take place in Valence d’Agen from November 29 to December 14, 2025 at Cirque en 2 Rives. Three elderly elephants, their dignity mocked, will be exhibited by the infamous Gartner family. Together, let’s demand the cancellation of their coming to France.

Belinda, Pira and Thai. Three elephants, each around sixty years old, whom we know well. Three lives marked by captivity, coercion and the mechanical repetition of gestures learned in fear. These animals, endowed with exceptional intelligence, are doomed to get back on the road, locked in trucks, moved from town to town in the name of an outdated entertainment -an entertainment built on their suffering.

Our country has committed to banning these shows. The vast majority of the public rejects and shuns them. And yet, in Valence d’Agen, in 2025, a step back in time is coming, orchestrated by trainers known for their brutality.

This show, if it takes place, will be an insult to collective intelligence, to ethics and to the animals themselves.

We will not allow these elephants to grow old on asphalt and under a big top.

A long history of mistreatment

The Gartner family, who perform all over Europe, are not newcomers. Already convicted of animal abuse abroad in the early 2000s, several elephants have already been seized from them, including in France. At the end of 2005, when four of them were to be rescued in Germany following the conviction of their trainer for mistreatment, they “disappeared”. A few days later, One Voice found them, before they were moved again. In early 2006, we managed to rescue Vicky. She had been hidden and abandoned in a closed trailer, without care, chained 24 hours a day, alone, in a critical state of health. Her trunk had been paralyzed by pike blows.

In the 1980s and 1990s, humans were twice killed by Gartner elephants. These tragedies reveal the extreme psychological and physical suffering of these animals, to the point of rupture. And the calamitous management of these trainers.

In 2018, Diana, Vicky’s former companion, died in tragic circumstances. A road accident that should have been avoided, since elephants are not supposed to be in trucks! Do we have to wait for another tragedy before reacting?

2028, an empty promise

Since 2021, the French government has been promising a ban on wild animals in traveling circuses by 2028. In reality, this is nothing of the sort: the government is encouraging trainers to settle down and keep their animals, and is even promising them thousands of euros in order for them to do so!

From now on, it’s the hypocrites’ ball! Is this what we want for the future? Circuses that bring in animals from abroad as they please and send them back once the tour is over? That’s an empty law, easily circumvented, that lets animals suffer in silence…

We must act now!

We call on everyone to mobilize to prevent this disgraceful spectacle from taking place.

Write to your elected representatives: Write today to the Tarn-et-Garonne prefecture and the Valence d’Agen town hall to demand the cancellation of this event (model letters are available by clicking on the links).
Contact the prefect on social networks:
- On X (formerly Twitter): @Prefet_82 In support of One Voice’s action, I ask you to cancel the visit to Valence d’Agen of the Gartner trainers and the three elephants they are holding. Animals are not objects of entertainment. #CirquesSansAnimaux
- On Instagram: @prefet82 Animals are not objects of entertainment! The law will soon ban their presence in circuses, it’s not to bring them in from abroad! With @onevoiceanimal I call for the cancellation of the visit of the Gartner trainers and their three elephants in Valence d’Agen #CirquesSansAnimaux
Sign our petition

Today, Samba, for whom we have been fighting since 2002, is the last elephant held by a circus in France. We will do everything we can to ensure that she spends her retirement in a sanctuary where there is a place for her, and to prevent trainers from importing others from abroad, as if they were merchandise.

Elephants, and animals in general, have no place in circuses. Not in 2025, not in 2028, not ever. Their suffering is not a spectacle.

Lien vers la publication annonçant la venue des éléphantes

Animal experimentation: France buys, locks up and tortures primates -and intends to continue

Animal experimentation: France buys, locks up and tortures primates -and intends to continue
12.06.2025
France
Animal experimentation: France buys, locks up and tortures primates -and intends to continue
Animal testing

In 2025, while public opinion overwhelmingly rejects primate testing (Ipsos/One Voice poll, April 2023), France persists.

Tripling of breeding capacity at Rousset, macaque imports at Silabe, extension of the mouse lemurs breeding farm at Brunoy: behind the hushed words of researchers, the lives of hundreds of individuals are being shattered.

No respite. No alternatives seriously considered. Just a well-oiled machine, turning living beings into laboratory raw material. This policy is a disgrace. One Voice continues to request administrative documents to shed light on what is happening far from the public eye.

Let’s be clear: in France, the future of primate experimentation is being planned, financed and built in the same way as an industry. Nothing is changing. Worse: everything is accelerating.

At a time when millions of citizens are calling for an end to these cruel practices and the real, tangible arrival of animal-free methods, the State is allowing and even encouraging the opposite to happen.

Meanwhile, animals continue to be born to suffer and die on lab benches.

Rousset: triple the confinement, triple the horror

In the Bouches-du-Rhône region, a discreet site in Rousset plans to increase the number of macaques from 600 to 1,740. The aim is to “feed” the needs of French and European laboratories.

These monkeys are not there by chance: they are programmed to serve. From birth, their lives are mapped out: cages, stress, isolation, then syringes, scalpels, invasive tests. They will never see the forest. They will never know freedom. They will be used to exhaustion, then euthanized. A lucrative business, subsidized by the taxpayer.

Is this France’s scientific ambition? To triple suffering?

Silabe: ordered, delivered, broken

At Silabe, near Strasbourg, despite our revelations, despite the withdrawal of approval for opacity, the infernal machine continues.

A new invitation to tender has been published to import macaques from Mauritius.

Behind the postcards of paradisiacal landscapes, our on-site investigations revealed the scandalous capture and breeding conditions of these individuals. Torn away from their world, from their own, they spend hours locked in crates, tossed about, stressed, the weakest dying before they arrive. Once in France, the survivors become objects of experimentation.

It’s as easy as ordering pens. A budget line, an order form.

Their intelligence, their sensitivity? Denied by the logic of the protocols.

Brunoy: behind the bars of excellence, maximum suffering for mouse lemurs

In Brunoy, in the Essonne region, the National Museum of Natural History is home to the world’s largest breeding facility for mouse lemurs, with 470 mouse-sized primates.

Behind this institution’s image of respectability lies a harsh reality: captivity, isolation, repeated use for experimental purposes.

It’s said to be a “science campus”. It is praised for its “French excellence”. According to the town’s mayor, “the extraordinary work carried out on lemurs deserves to be developed and studied further on our territory”.

Our investigations reveal negligence, grey areas and silences. Once again, our cousins are paying the price. In silence.

Politics and science without conscience

What the State and laboratories are building today is not cutting-edge research: it’s a production line of suffering.

France remains Europe’s biggest user of primates, and clearly has no intention of changing course. Substitute methods? Barely mentioned. Financing ideas? Swept under the carpet. The European directive calling for a reduction? Ignored.

We say it loud and clear: animals are not laboratory material. We remain mobilized and continue to request further documentation on these projects. If, like eight out of ten French people, you are against the breeding of primates in France (Ipsos/One Voice poll), sign and share our petition!