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Raising awareness of the harmful effects of hunting: One Voice is rallying in ten towns in France on 8 and 9 October

The day after the publication of the decrees on traditional hunting of field larks, that One Voice went up against the State Council for, and the publication of the IPSOS/One Voice survey on the opinions of French people regarding hunting, on the weekend of 8 and 9 October, One Voice is organising national action coordinated by their local branches to raise awareness among the population of the harmful effects of hunting… regarding the animals killed, of course, but also the dogs used as weapons and considered as tools, the risks for humans, and the pollution that this hobby inflicts on natural spaces. One Voice will therefore be in Bordeaux, Gap, La Rochelle, Lille, Montpellier, Nantes, Nice, Paris, Rouen, and Troyes.

One Voice in court for mountain Galliformes!

One Voice in court for mountain Galliformes!

One Voice in court for mountain Galliformes!
30.09.2022
France
One Voice in court for mountain Galliformes!
Wildlife

To please hunters, prefects continue to attack birds. More specifically, two mountain Galliformes: black grouse in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and grey partridges in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The emergency interim hearings are set respectively for Monday 3 October at the Marseille Administrative Tribunal at 2pm, a case in which One Voice is filing a voluntary intervention supporting the Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux [LPO: League for the Protection of Birds] case file on black grouse, and at the Pau Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday 4 October at 2pm, where One Voice will be alone in defending the grey partridges.

Hunters are rubbed up the right way by the prefectures. A habit of State services who have not always understood that society has changed and that the requirement to set an example in terms of respecting nature and biodiversity is essential for the population. Under the pretext that it has always been done this way, it is no longer conceivable or tolerable to publish decrees indulging hunters, and what’s more, by justifying them, under clearly incorrect pretexts.

According to Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice: « Hunters are perpetually trying to push the limits of their deadly hobby. But it is not conceivable to leave the animals, registered on the list of animals to be protected, to be shot at! The reports, which confirm what we have been claiming for decades, are not lacking: animals are disappearing from the planet, which is extremely worrying for all of us. We cannot sit back and let this happen. »

Saving grey partridges in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques is urgent!

The Pyrénées-Atlantiques Prefecture has not spared any effort in pleasing hunters. The order that we are contesting and trying to get urgently suspended currently allows them to slaughter four partridges each in the mountain ranges in the 2022-2023 season. But what the Prefecture omits to mention in its decree is, neither more or less, the number of hunters and the maximum number of slaughtered partridges permitted.

If we therefore take the decree at face value, and despite the species being protected on a European level by the Birds Directive, it would theoretically be possible to eradicate these animals from the department, if there are a ‘sufficient’ amount of hunters! An even bigger scandal when we know that the population of these birds is already in constant decline in the Pyrenees mountains, and classified as ‘near-threatened’. The slightest gunshot on one of these grey partridges is therefore also a fatal shot on the entire species.

To the rescue of black grouse on borrowed time…

As for the black grouse in the Alpes de Haute-Provence, the Prefecture has authorised, despite the species being ‘vulnerable’ in the Rhône-Alpes region and also having been ‘near-threatened’ in France since 2016, the slaughter of forty-two of them! An aberration, when we know that the reasons given for issuing this authorisation is the reproductive success of these birds in the current year. But… is this not the exact opposite of the effect expected from the constant conservation efforts implemented for the species? As in many other case files, we are facing prefectural services who are completely disconnected from the climate emergency and, in this context, also from the protection necessary for wildlife.

Animals are dying from the inactivity and short-term vision of our civil service, being reinforced in its conservative habits by a hunting lobby well-rooted in local networks. To promote animal rights and defend birds and all other animals, One Voice will not move an inch.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Official opening of the Chatipis in Marignane (13) and Valbonne (06)

Official opening of the Chatipis in Marignane (13) and Valbonne (06)

Official opening of the Chatipis in Marignane (13) and Valbonne (06)
30.09.2022
France
Official opening of the Chatipis in Marignane (13) on 2 October and Valbonne (06) on 4 October for stray cats
Domestic animals

One Voice, which has been fighting against stray cats for years, has set up three-way partnerships with municipalities or residential areas and local associations to raise awareness among the population, identify and sterilize homeless cats, and release them with a wooden shelter where they can drink, eat, and rest. This is what happened in Marignane (Bouches-du-Rhône) and Valbonne (Alpes-Maritimes), where the municipalities and local associations, respectively “La Paix entre les bêtes” “ and ”Extrême sauvetage, » signed an agreement with One Voice to take charge of the stray cat problem in both localities.

The Chatipi program helps cats without human families escape misery and, above all, educates people about cats and stray cats.
The Marignane and Valbonne chatipis will be inaugurated on Sunday, October 2, at 5:30 p.m. and Tuesday, October 4, at 5 p.m., respectively.

In Marignane, the inauguration will take place in front of the chatipi on Sunday, October 2 at 5:30 p.m., on Rue Fabre near the green spaces, in the presence of the mayor of the city, Eric le Dissès, as well as Véronique Tardy, 5th deputy mayor in charge of animal welfare and president of the local association “La Paix entre les bêtes” (Peace Among Animals). Finally, Sylviane Réau, One Voice activist and member of the municipal council for animal welfare in the neighboring town of Les Pennes-Mirabeau, will represent the association.

In Valbonne, the inauguration will take place in front of the chatipi on Tuesday, October 4, at 5 p.m., on Rue Émile Pourcel, at the back of the Anciens Combattants parking lot, during the celebration of World Animal Day, in the presence of Mayor Joseph Cesaro and his municipal councilors, as well as the local association “Extrême sauvetage” and its volunteers. Finally, Corinne Bouvot, One Voice’s national field coordinator, will represent the association.

Chatipi, a sustainable solution to the vicious cycle of stray cats

Chatipi is an ethical initiative that aims to create spaces for stray cats in order to rescue them while raising public awareness of their plight and needs. Around twenty projects are already in place and almost as many are currently being developed. Just recently, on September 26, the Chatipi in Laroque-de-Fa opened its doors in the Aude department. The Association Protection Animale Hautes-Corbières (APAHC) and the municipality are the two other stakeholders involved in the project. Several chatipis have been set up near nursing homes, health centers, and other hospitals to bring comfort to residents, as well as near schools, as One Voice’s fundamental goal is to educate people about cats.

All too often, these small felines are mistakenly described as independent animals, when in fact they are very affectionate, loyal, and dependent, which makes them vulnerable if abandoned.

However, abandonment is not the only reason cats end up wandering the streets.

This vicious cycle stems from misconceptions about cats, particularly that they have an intrinsic need to reproduce in order to be happy, which leads their human families to not always have them spayed or neutered. As a result, many cats are born in the wild. These kittens, when they survive, are in any case affected by hunger, cold, and disease. They are neither identified nor spayed or neutered, as their humans are sometimes not even aware that these kittens exist. Under these circumstances, litters simply multiply. Municipalities and communities must manage these individuals facing misery, which also affects biodiversity.

Distribution of tasks and responsibilities in Marignane and Valbonne

One Voice, which invented the Chatipi concept, provides the shelter and generally covers the veterinary and food costs for around fifteen cats at the start of the operation (sterilization, identification, tests) as well as the educational sign. The municipalities are responsible for laying the concrete slab and assembling the chalet. The local association in each town manages the feeding and health monitoring of the cats, as well as the interior layout of the chalets.

In Marignane, the town hall, which has been very committed to animals for several years (the cleaning products used at the town hall are not tested on animals, there are municipal beehives, a guide to animals in the city, campaigns to prevent abandonment are carried out, etc.), took the first step towards One Voice for the installation of the chatipi. The project concerns around thirty cats on the site, all of which have been sterilized and identified.

Similarly, the municipality of Valbonne is also behind the project located in its historic center. In this specific case, One Voice only had to sterilize and identify three cats, as the other twelve had already been done.

The website dedicated to the Chatipi program was launched in early March 2022 and provides a wealth of information about this educational program on cats.

* Edit of October 4, 2022: The date of the Valbonne launch is not October 5 but October 4, 2022, so we have changed the corresponding dates.

Maybe not the ‘Pablo Escobar of Rigaous*’, but this pensioner has killed and sold thousands of robins

Maybe not the ‘Pablo Escobar of Rigaous*’, but this pensioner has killed and sold thousands of robins

Maybe not the ‘Pablo Escobar of Rigaous*’, but this pensioner has killed and sold thousands of robins
27.09.2022
France
Maybe not the ‘Pablo Escobar of Rigaous*’, but this pensioner has killed and sold thousands of robins
Wildlife

On 26 September, the Toulon Legal Tribunal ruled: a poacher receives a heavy sentence after trapping, killing, and selling thousands of robins. One Voice is delighted with this decision that puts an end to years of abuse against a protected species.

« But where were the hunters on Monday, to defend biodiversity, those who have received millions of euros for this task? Clearly, we did not see or hear them. Without the French Biodiversity Agency (OFB) and our associations, the already fragile robins would have continued to perish by being poached or glue trapped. Make no mistake about it, the only people defending biodiversity are us! » Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice

The hearing for us against a retired farmer was held on Tuesday 26 September 2022 for the destruction and sale of robins in Revest-les-Eaux, as well as possession of a weapon without a licence.

One Voice as well as ASPAS, France Nature Environnement PACA, and the LPO all filed civil cases in this bleak case incriminating this man who had regularly engaged in illegal activities capturing and killing robins in a phenomenal quantity.

To perpetrate his crimes, the defendant had several traps, as ‘traditional’ as they are cruel, and for which the use was in fact suspended by the State Council following our appeal in 2021. In this case, they were steel traps that close around the necks of their victims. Once decapitated, he consumed them or froze them to sell on the black market.

According to his own statement, he therefore poached 20 to 25 robins a day; according to an estimation by the French Office for Biodiversity, that is 5000 birds killed each annual season.

On allegations from a witness having bought robins from him for 8 euros a dozen, we discovered that the poacher carried out this abuse for a long time and was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of additional robins.

Faced with such crimes and after a very intense hearing, the prosecutor requested a 5000 euro fine, a ban on keeping a weapon, and that the ruling be published in French hunting magazine, Le Chasseur français.

The magistrates’ court went much further. He sentenced him to a 6 month suspended sentence, a 25,000 euro fine, the confiscation of all of his seals, a ban on keeping a weapon, compensation for all civil parties up to 3,000 euros each in moral damages, as well as the publication of his decision as soon as it is final in Le Chasseur français magazine.

*Rigaous: Provençal name for robins.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice