News Archive - Page 67 of 147

Nouveau Cirque Triomphe: One Voice vs Gougeon and Mordon at the Bourgoin-Jallieu Tribunal on 14 September

Nouveau Cirque Triomphe: One Voice vs Gougeon and Mordon at the Bourgoin-Jallieu Tribunal on 14 September
12.09.2022
Isère
Nouveau Cirque Triomphe: One Voice vs Gougeon and Mordon at the Bourgoin-Jallieu Tribunal on 14 September
Exploitation for shows

On Wednesday 14 September at 9am, the hearing at the Bourgoin-Jallieu Legal Tribunal will take place regarding one of the branches of the case between One Voice and Gougeon. This family of circus performers whose brothers and cousins share the Idéal, Italiano, Nouveau Cirque Triomphe, and Cirque de Paris circuses (where in 2020 we seized the lion who we renamed Jon, and four lionesses, Patty, Marli, Hannah, and Céleste).

Edit from 19 September 2022

The hearing has been postponed to 16 January 2023 at 1:30pm.

In 2022, we filed a complaint against Joseph and Stéphane Gougeon, owners of the Nouveau Cirque Triomphe, and against Guy Mordon. In fact, none of them had licences to open or competency certifications allowing them to exploit lions, which they have not stopped doing for years nevertheless.

Joseph Gougeon did not obtain a renewal of his competency certification, which he lost in 2017 following numerous serious irregularities noted in his circus by the authorities. His son, who he entrusted the animals to, did not have one either. Since, the Nouveau Cirque Triomphe has no right to keep lions or even to open the establishment. They decided to ‘give’ the lions up to Guy Mordon, the uncle of Stéphane Gougeon, who himself is at capacity. But, as we discovered, the lions have never actually set foot in Guy Mordon’s circus (although the babies have been born!). They are therefore to blame for having deceived the authorities about this, and for having opened the establishment without authorisation or any competent person.

Imaginative identifications, births, a missing logbook, swapping animals, selling post mortem to an unapproved taxidermist… Did you say trafficking?

On our side, we know thanks to an enquiry that the trainers from this family do not hesitate in lying to traffic animals, since a lion kept by the Gougeons had the same identification as Jon, the lion seized in June 2020 by the association. They let them seize a lion in a bad state to be able to keep the lion identified in the logbook and since moved him to Tonga just before he was to be seized, as ordered by the justice system. He is called Tarzan.

We also know that Joseph Gougeon gave a lion’s remains to a taxidermist, who turned out not to be approved. Our investigation revealed that this taxidermist sold the skins for around 15 to 20 thousand euros each, and that he worked with other circuses. He even confessed to our investigators that it was possible to get a lion put down to order, under dubious pretexts.

Over the years, the Gougeons have not cared about checks, visits, or inspections by the authorities: changing the place, lying… while they should not have been keeping any lions!

During one of the checks for Jon and the lionesses, the issue of the logbook of identifications and health monitoring was posed. The Gougeons then alleged that the book had been forgotten or lost during a trip to their mother’s house…

In 2018, we were already trying to seize the lions and lionesses from the cirque Italiano, big cats kept by other members of this family.

We are waiting for an exemplary punishment and for the animals to be secured

Lies, proof of trafficking… from the birth of the animals to their lives filled with exploitation, enclosed in a lorry-cage, repeatedly moved from one establishment to another, non-existent or very weak traceability, and their skins sold by a reseller with debatable professionalism, the punishment must be exemplary.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Official opening of the Chatipi for stray cats at the La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital

Official opening of the Chatipi for stray cats at the La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital
10.09.2022
Paris
Official opening of the Chatipi for stray cats at the La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital
Domestic animals

One Voice, who has fought against feline straying for years, is implementing three-way partnerships with town councils or drop-in centres and local associations to microchip and neuter homeless cats and release them, while providing them with a wooden chalet for them to rehydrate themselves, eat, and take comfort. This is therefore what is happening at the La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, where the local association, Nine Lives, and the Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (APHP: the University Hospital Trust in Paris) have signed a convention with One Voice for them to take charge of the problem of stray cats in the Parisian hospital. The Chatipi programme allows cats without a human family to stop suffering from deprivation and teaches about cats as well as about feline straying. The official opening of the Chatipi will take place in La Pitié-Salpêtrière on Saturday 14 September at 6pm.

The inauguration will take place in front of the chatipi on Wednesday, September 14 at 6 p.m. at the hospital’s dental emergency room (behind the stomatology modules), in the presence of Christine Welty, Director General of the APHP, and Stella Grosjean, Co-President of the Nine Lives Association. Finally, Mathilde Perrot, head of One Voice’s chatipi program, 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 distress and needs. Around twenty are currently being developed. Several chatipis have been set up near nursing homes, health centers, and other hospitals to also bring comfort to residents, and near schools because 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 when abandoned.

However, stray cats are not solely the result of abandonment. This vicious cycle stems from misconceptions about cats, particularly the belief 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. However, under these circumstances, litters only multiply. Municipalities and communities must manage these individuals facing misery, which also affects biodiversity.

Division of tasks and responsibilities at La Pitié-Salpêtrière

One Voice, which invented the Chatipi concept, provides the shelter and 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 APHP built the concrete slab and assembled the chalet provided by One Voice, which was then fitted out by Nine Lives. The local association will manage the trapping of cats for sterilization and their daily health monitoring.

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

When France Culture distributes propaganda on animal testing

When France Culture distributes propaganda on animal testing
09.09.2022
France
When France Culture distributes propaganda on animal testing
Animal testing

France Inter did it last winter; France Culture is following in their footsteps: for a programme on animal testing on Wednesday 7 September, ‘La Science – CQFD’ [a French podcast on science] welcomed two people in support of continuing animal testing, without inviting anyone to oppose them. We have written to France Culture to request a right of reply.

Photo: Macaques saved from a laboratory by One Voice in 1996

You might have hoped that the media in this area would contact One Voice or other specialist associations in order to allow a debate to be held properly. The live presence of an opposing party knowing the subject sufficiently had the advantage of discouraging lies and misleading messages.

An appalling programme

Unfortunately, not content with its success last winter on France Inter, Radio France recreated the experience a few days later on France Culture. The ‘La Science – CQFD’ programme welcomed Ivan Balansard (Gircor President) and Francelyne Marano (former Francopa President and distinguished scholar).

And there is plenty to fuel our disappointment: the episode does not mention either the problems relating to the current function of ethical committees, or the illegal laboratory practices approved in recent years by the Ministry of Research, or even the recent classification of crab-eating macaques (the primates most used by French laboratories) on the list of species threatened with extinction.

Instead, we hear things that are supposed to be reassuring such as a statement that cats and dogs are used mostly for veterinary research (as if that justifies the treatment in store for them) or that the regulations and checks are very rigorous (forgetting to mention that sanctions are almost non-existent).

Do public officials have the right to lie on air?

And, more bothersome, the lies. Francelyne Marano presents staff training as very comprehensive, even though the lack of training is the most frequent non-conformity noted during inspections (for 50% of laboratories among the 450 inspection reports seen by One Voice).

Ivan Balansard maintains that the inspections are almost never announced even though the surprise inspection rate has never passed 30% in France, far behind other countries in the European Union, according to the latest report from the European Commission.

Both are public agents, however. So you would think that them lying on air of a national public media would not be allowed.

We are requesting a real debate be held

In view of this information, we have written a letter to France Culture, to ask for a new episode to be prepared on animal testing which will include specialists opposing these practices – a group which we belong to.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

An injured wild boar, knocked down and then finished off with a dagger: open letter to the Bar-sur-Loup Mayor

An injured wild boar, knocked down and then finished off with a dagger: open letter to the Bar-sur-Loup Mayor
07.09.2022
Bar-sur-Loup
An injured wild boar, knocked down and then finished off with a dagger: open letter to the Bar-sur-Loup Mayor
Wildlife

After a collision with a motorcyclist who left it disorientated, a wild boar was shot down then finished off with a dagger by authorities. An execution that is not only unnecessary, but which also led to lengthy agony for the animal. We are writing to the Bar-sur-Loup Mayor.

Mr François Wyszkowski
Bar-sur-Loup Mayor
Place de la tour
06620 Le Bar-sur-Loup

Vannes, 7 September 2022

Dear Mayor,

Our association has been alerted as to the disgraceful treatment that was given to a wild boar injured on a public road last week in Bar-sur-Loup.

In the middle of the night, on the Gourdon road, a motorcyclist hit a wild boar. Fortunately, the motorcyclist was not injured. The wild boar, clearly in shock, was still conscious and could have walked away unscathed.

However, the police made a call to a wildlife control officer who shot point-blank at the wild boar without killing it outright. He therefore was in agony for several minutes before finally being finished off with a dagger and left for dead on the side of the road.

It is unacceptable that this animal was shot when it clearly was not fatally injured by the collision. In this case, the human intervention responsible for his slow agony will have caused more suffering than the shock caused by the accident.

No legal regulation can justify the cruelty with which this wild boar was treated. This systematic answer to a lethal solution testifies to the lack of value given to the life of a sentient individual and of a broken relationship with wildlife.

Wild boars are indigenous animals, their presence is therefore absolutely necessary and legitimate. Difficulties linked to cohabitation between wild animals and human activities could be resolved in an ethical manner and with respect for biodiversity.

We thank you for your attention to this letter and ask that you accept our highest consideration, Mr Mayor.

Muriel Arnal
Founding President of One Voice

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Petting zoo at the European Fair in Strasbourg: open letter to Jeanne Barseghian

Petting zoo at the European Fair in Strasbourg: open letter to Jeanne Barseghian
06.09.2022
Strasbourg
Petting zoo at the European Fair in Strasbourg: open letter to Jeanne Barseghian
Other campaign or multi-campaigns of One Voice

Open letter to Ms Jeanne Barseghian, Mayoress of Strasbourg, concerning the animals displayed at the petting farm at the European Fair in Strasbourg.

Ms Jeanne Barseghian
Mayoress of Strasbourg
1 parc de l’Étoile
67076 Strasbourg

Vannes, 6 September 2022

Dear Mayoress,

Our association has been alerted to the implementation of a petting zoo displaying several domestic animals as part of the European Fair in Strasbourg from 2 to 11 September 2022.

In our capacity as an association with the main purpose to protect and defend animals and the environment, we are concerned by the treatment in store for them.

In fact, the images that we have been sent show several animals (rabbits, horses, sheep, chickens) exhibited to visitors in enclosures or cages. This set-up poses a problem not only concerning the welfare of the animals but also regarding the message that it conveys.

This environment is totally unsuitable for the animals’ welfare. Displayed to be seen and touched by everyone, the animals have no way of escaping from the noise and bustle. Moreover, the animals kept in cages, such as rabbits, can be constantly bothered by visitors. The hens are kept in a cramped cage without a perch or any environmental enrichment.

Furthermore, this ‘educational petting zoo’, aimed mainly at children, totally misses the point. What example does this give to young generations? The animals are considered as simple objects that we can touch and bother without worrying about their wishes and needs. This reification of animals conflicts, on numerous aspects, with the education of future generations to be more respectful of their environment and the individuals with which they share it.

This situation tarnishes the image of your local council, despite being committed to animals in other ways. If it is essential to introduce animals to young generations, this must be carried out in an ethical manner by respecting their needs and their individuality. For all of these reasons, we are asking you to renounce the exhibition of animals in such conditions in future by making more educational displays a priority.

We thank you for your attention to this letter and ask that you accept our highest consideration, Mayoress.

Muriel Arnal
Founding President of One Voice

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

The animal testing industry makes propaganda

The animal testing industry makes propaganda
05.09.2022
France
The animal testing industry makes propaganda
Animal testing

We often have a habit of representing people who practice animal testing as monsters void of empathy. However, the situation is more complex: lobbyists and the industry seem to manipulate public opinion just as well as those who practice animal testing.

Wednesday 15 June in Marseille. In the halls at the international FELASA 2022 congress there is the same happy look as any other conference, the same cheery networking fed by petits fours and pleasantries. The speeches are generally well done, to the point that you would almost agree with the comments on the importance of animal welfare and the rhetorical fallacies repeated excessively.

But if we read between the lines, that which is implicit and remains unsaid is blindingly obvious: we are talking about exploitation, about discrimination so anchored in society that it is no longer even considered an injustice. All year long, these people keep animals captive and make them suffer in various ways.

Propaganda even in magazines

Among the material suppliers and financers present at the congress, we find Ellegaard in particular, a producer of Göttingen minipigs. These minipigs are used to a great extent in various research domains. On the Ellegaard website, you can see a chain of images of cheerful piglets: playing with a ball, being stroked by a laboratory technician and so on. Never a dead pig, never one drop of blood, never the slightest sign of suffering.

Even in their professional journal and in their pamphlets, the rural images follow one after the other and are much the same, except when it talks about experimentation itself. To illustrate a model of heart failure, we must make do with a diagram taken from a scientific article. The worst images that we could find were, in number 60 of the business’ magazine, a tiny image of a blood test and a sutured foot.

Sterilised footage

The pamphlet from the company BASi is of the same ilk: on one side, animals with fuzzy edges cut on a computer and superimposed on a white background; on the other, as a demonstration of the use of sale cages, a figurine of a pig. The photographs were not even available on the manufacturer website.

And there is still the same problem among other manufacturers, who prefer to show inhalation towers and other restraint devices without animals, and to offer drawings or diagrams to illustrate these procedures.

Regarding Fine Science Tools (whose acronym FST is also the acronym for forced swim test), we only see surgical instruments in their catalogue and on their stand. We may be told that these instruments are the same as those used in human surgery – but we allow ourselves to doubt this when it comes to the “decapitation scissors”.

Nauseating indecency

Further, the business representatives smile and joyfully allow us to take a photo of the cuddly toy rats that are particularly cute. Their skulls are kitted out with various instruments and they seem to be there to draw attention to the stand.

And the publicity goes even further in indecency. Tecniplast sings praises for its cages with a photograph that is reminiscent of the famous Creation of Adam painting, showing God and man’s fingers touching. Except it is the gloved finger of someone who practices animal testing and a rat’s paw, pressing against the plastic box in which it is going to spend its life. This rat has certainly been killed by now.

Buttering them up

And it is not over. Because in addition to masking the reality of the experiments and make believing in a special and positive relationship between animals and people who participate in their exploitation, the industry does not forget to present it all as humanitarian work.

In the Afstal journal, Marshall (who we know in France for its dog breeding for laboratories) depicts a small girl embracing her grandmother. The message written is aimed at those who practice animal testing: “Thank you, your work with the ferrets creates cures and saves lives”. Evidently, they are not talking about the ferrets’ lives.

These are not monsters – but their actions are monstrous

With all of this propaganda surrounding us, we can understand that researchers and laboratory technicians think that their work is commendable. To tell the truth, even without this propaganda, we know that the prospect of helping to advance science helps people to put their empathy towards animals to one side.

So there is no need to talk about the violent people and sociopaths (who exist in the animal testing environment as they do elsewhere): force of habit and lack of empathy can prevent almost anyone from seeing the horror of their own actions.

Also, when a document entitled a caring career manages to pass off the image of a person cleaning a plastic box full of mice amongst around ten other identical boxes on a shelf as benevolent, it has to be said that the fight is far from over.

This article is the third in a series which will present different aspects of the FELASA 2022 congress:

Transparency and communication strategies in animal testing
Language elements and rhetorical fallacies in animal testing
The animal testing industry makes propaganda
The ethical short-sightedness of animal testing
Will there soon be more primates in laboratories?

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

One Voice is campaigning for laboratory dogs in around fifteen towns in France!

One Voice is campaigning for laboratory dogs in around fifteen towns in France!
01.09.2022
France
One Voice is campaigning for laboratory dogs in around fifteen towns in France!
Animal testing

One Voice is organising coordinated national action in around fifteen towns in France against the breeding of dogs destined for laboratories in Mézilles in Yonne and Gannat in Allier.Like every year in the first weekend of September, a rally will therefore happen in front of the Auxerre Prefecture; and in Gannat, the first anniversary of the ‘#FreeTheMBRBeaglesFrance’ will be celebrated in front of the breeding farm from this weekend.For other towns: Dignes, Nice, Troyes, Aix en Provence, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Blois, Nantes, Metz, Strasbourg, Lyon, and Lille, the address, date, and time of our audience participation events are outlined at the end of the report.

At the Breeding Centre for Biological Matter (CEDS: Centre d’Élevage du Domaine des Souches) in Mézilles near Auxerre and in the Gannat breeding farm, many male and female beagles and golden retrievers suffer in their pens but this is nothing compared with what awaits. These dogs are destined for laboratory scalpels.

In 2017 in Gannat in Allier, the American giant Marshall BioResources (MBR) recommenced beagle breeding, before buying back the biggest dog breeding farm for laboratories in France, the one in Mézilles in Yonne, in 2021.

A purchase justified by the Vice President for Europe at MBR:

“One beagle in ten used in Europe [in laboratories] is imported from the United States[…] The majority of these beagles are Marshall beagles. Nowadays, the logistics are becoming a major problem since, under the pressure from activists, the possibilities of importation are becoming more and more tricky. More and more costly.”

Our proceedings have avoided these breeding farms getting any bigger, and thus avoided this fate for thousands of individuals. Our investigation footage means that year after year the public can see how many dogs suffer in these breeding farms. Our actions have meant that the horror of transporting dogs for laboratories can be highlighted.

Our country is one of the ones that tests the most on dogs in Europe. The figures are increasing.

The collection of signatures on the SaveCrueltyFreeCosmetics ECI has just come to an end; we have succeeded in getting 1,413,383 European citizens involved for a Europe without animal testing! This is a massive initial victory, but the fight is not over. We still need the public to rally at key moments following events on a European level.

France must resolutely look to the future and call for an end to this suffering.

National action listing all participating local One Voice activist branches.

Consult the event before going there.
They are updated live and can be changed up until the last minute.

Department	Town	Online event	Precise Location	Time
03	Gannat – 02 & 03/09	https://www.facebook.com/events/786203849234085	15 Av. des portes Occitanes	From 02 Sept. 3pm to 03 Sept., 6pm
04	Dignes – 04/09	https://www.facebook.com/events/1586861908395824/	Plan d’Eau in Dignes les bains	11am to 1:30pm
06	Nice – 10 /09	https://www.facebook.com/events/1954225988120340	Place Massena	12:15pm to 1:15pm
10	Troyes – 03/09	https://www.facebook.comevents/409220567978979	71 Rue Émile Zola	3:30pm to 6pm
13	Aix en Provence – 04/09	https://www.facebook.com/events/1060952324793429	Allées de Provence	11am to 12:30pm
17	La Rochelle – 03/09	https://www.facebook.com/events/750811346190084	Cours des Dames	2:30pm to 5pm
33	Bordeaux – 04/09	https://www.facebook.com/events/1721999478134043	Mirroir d’eau	2pm to 4pm
34	Montpellier – 03/09	https://www.facebook.com/events/370232428608142	Place de la Comédie	10:30am to 12pm
41	Blois – 04/09	https://www.facebook.com/events/414434970560539	Les 3 Clés	3pm to 4:30pm
44	Nantes – 10/09	https://www.facebook.com/events/763399314774934	Town Centre	11am to 12:30pm
57	Metz – 03/09	https://www.facebook.com/events/1111640606143032	64 Rue Serpenoise	2:30pm to 4pm
67	Strasbourg – 11/09	https://www.facebook.com/events/5290623120975066/	Rue du Corbeau	2:15pm to 4pm
69	Lyon – 24/09	https://www.facebook.com/events/1772838746381806	Place St Jean	3:00pm to 5:00pm
59	Lille – 10/09	https://www.facebook.com/events/1234890957244923/	Place Richebé	4pm to 6pm
89	Auxerre – 03/09	https://www.facebook.com/events/1357352751435732	Rue du Temple	11am to 1pm

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

At this very moment, an airline company based in Malta is sending monkeys to American laboratories!

At this very moment, an airline company based in Malta is sending monkeys to American laboratories!
01.09.2022
International At this very moment, an airline company based in Malta is sending monkeys to American laboratories!
Animal testing

Our partner Action for Primates has been informed that a plane belonging to Maleth-Aero — an airline company based in Malta — has just left Cambodia with 360 long-tailed macaques on board and is heading towards Houston in Texas, destined for laboratories. We think that this airline company, whose parent company is AELF FlightService, has recently stepped in to take over the trade given up by others like Egyptair. We, Action for Primates, One Voice, PETA US, and Stop Camarles, are determined to track and campaign against all airline companies who continue to take part in this cruel and inhumane trade.

During the last week, the same plane carried out another flight from Cambodia and one from Vietnam to the Dulles International Airport in the United States. We suspect that on these two occasions, the airline company transported monkeys for the research industry in order to be subjected in particular to toxicity testing (poisoning). After a stopover in Tbilisi in Georgia, the monkeys were made to take a journey totalling more than 21 hours including several hours on the ground. We have contacted American authorities to take part in our investigations when it comes to the welfare of the monkeys on board these flights.

Numerous airline companies, recently including Egyptair, Air France, and Kenya Airways, have put a stop to their involvement in this brutal worldwide trade. Subjecting sensitive and intelligent animals to the stress of being transported over long distances through numerous climates and time zones in order to send them to laboratories is inhumane.

Long-tailed macaques (native to Cambodia) have recently been classified as being an endangered species. They have therefore been put on the IUCN Red List. What is it that threatens them on an international level? The global research industry, the demand for which comes particularly from the United States, Japan, China, and the EU…

Send an email to Maleth-Aero urging the airline company to stop transporting monkeys for research purposes and for toxicity testing: charter@maleth-aero.com and admin@maleth-aero.com

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

And 9! The Administrative Tribunal rules in favour of One Voice once more for the bears in the Pyrenees

And 9! The Administrative Tribunal rules in favour of One Voice once more for the bears in the Pyrenees
31.08.2022
Pyrénées
And 9! The Administrative Tribunal rules in favour of One Voice once more for the bears in the Pyrenees
Wildlife

Following what we consider to be a miscarriage of justice – the Ariège Prefecture has retracted two decrees contrary to the legal ruling from the Toulouse Administrative Tribunal which suspended the scaring of brown bears in the Pyrenees – yesterday, the day after their publication, we urgently filed an interim suspension to stop new applications for scaring. The Tribunal ruled in favour of the bears and therefore in favour of One Voice once again. True humiliation for the Prefecture.

Photo: Collectif Hope

We are asking for peace for the bears, those who are born on French soil and those placed there by force in a hostile environment, after having been uprooted from their families and their country. On one of the mountain pastures, the suspension will prevent the surge of violence that the farmers intend for the bears: flash-balls, sting-ball grenades… On another, they could have had a blast last night, the Prefecture having done everything possible to reduce the time between publication and the application of these laws. All to try to appease discontented farmers…

At the hearing, the services of the Prefecture had made the trip, not understanding how we can object to the fact that animals who are already having trouble surviving without this (and protected by numerous laws!) are thus pushed out of their territory and with so much violence. The Court therefore justified its decision in the following terms:

«Even though it remains subject to debate, the risk that the implementation of these measures will have the effect of pushing bears away from these mountain pastures, which is a component of their natural habitat, and therefore of evicting them from part of their natural range, is not invalid. In the same way, the science alludes to a non-negligible risk that the animal might be subject to auditory injuries, risk of separation from cubs during the flight of the females following, and abortion for pregnant females from the effects of double detonation shots.»

It is difficult to be crystal clear on the risks entailed for bears subjected to ‘scaring shots’. What is more is that this method has not been proven to be effective in protecting herds. Herds made up of animals — should we remind you again? — who are destined for the abattoir and whose losses are compensated.

It is a legally substantiated decision that reminds the Prefecture of the authority of a legal decision that they cannot get around at will. In the absence of new elements, the Court’s annoyance regarding the Ariège Prefecture is particularly noticeable.

«By issuing their new decree of 29 August 2022 and justifying it as they did, without resolving the serious doubt that had justified the decision to suspend their previous decree of 24 June 2022, the Ariège Prefect seems to have directly misled the authority that was linked to the judge’s ruling on the emergency interim proceedings at the Toulouse Administrative Tribunal on 22 August 2022[…] Consequently, the argument alleging that these two decrees from the Ariège Prefect violate the rulings by the judge on 3 August 2022 and 22 August 2022 is capable of creating, at this stage of the investigation, serious doubt regarding the legality of these decrees.»

Considering that the Prefecture therefore still did not justify that the conditions were met for breaching the protection of bears, the Tribunal has urgently suspended these new decrees.

We are ready to attack once more if by chance the Prefecture publishes other similar decrees concerning the five mountain pastures remaining.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Pyrenean bears: with no access to justice, One Voice is demanding that the Prefect steps down!

Pyrenean bears: with no access to justice, One Voice is demanding that the Prefect steps down!
30.08.2022
Pyrenean bears: with no access to justice, One Voice is demanding that the Prefect steps down!
Wildlife

Since this morning, One Voice has attacked two Ariège prefectural decrees issued yesterday, Monday 29 August 2022, which once again authorise the scaring of bears in the Pyrenees. The mere existence of these decrees is a slap in the face of the justice system, which has just urgently suspended the seven preceding decrees following our action. The hearing will take place tomorrow at 10:30am at the Toulouse Administrative Tribunal. In the face of this denial of justice, One Voice is demanding that the Prefect steps down.

Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice, stated:

«Flash-balls, sting-ball grenades: this evening at 8pm violence will be unleashed and will descend on bears. We are appalled but will not stop helping against farmers who only consider nature for their own immediate benefits. It is vital to fight this senseless prostration of the Prefecture and the State before destructive and short-termist lobbies. Even more so at a time where biodiversity, our shared heritage, is going up in smoke at an alarming rate.»

Favouring private interests rather than animals and nature, a sad habit…

How can we be surprised by the Prefect’s attitude when, hardly a year ago, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition did the same in favour of traditional bird hunting, another subject already relevant to animals and lobbies?

As always, the data (unsubstantiated and unreliable, as pointed out by the Tribunal) is provided exclusively by those opposing wild animals: farmers. What do they know about bears?

The Ariège Prefect must step down

It is usual for governments to favour farmers/hunters/trappers to the detriment of animals and nature. We see it every day. But repeatedly denying justice, in a State ruled by law, is absolutely unacceptable.

We are of course attacking the decrees issued (for Ustou and Arreau). And facing denial of legal authority by this representative of the State, we are demanding that the Prefect steps down.

Sting-ball grenades and flash-balls on protected animals…

Simple and intensified scaring is expected from today at 8pm. What is ‘scaring’? It is mainly about flash-balls and sting-ball grenades! All of this accurately prevents female bears from getting to full term in their pregnancies, whether it be due to stress or a lack of strength; these animals must gain a large amount of fat before their hibernation period, during which the babies are born. And we remind you that with less than one hundred individuals, the population is far from viable!

A lobby ready for anything

Bears feed mainly on vegetation. But their mere presence is a source of many irrational fears stirred up by those who want to exploit nature until the end. Even this week, several ewes from a large flock died by jumping into a void in the middle of the night. Farmers have ‘blamed bears’ with no proof, in the absence of any trace of preying. A rumour fed by those who it benefits. Compensation is not paid if it is discovered that the damage is due to stray dogs in the mountains.

Live in peace!

One Voice has never been in favour of the introduction of bears in the Pyrenees, where they arrive into a hostile environment. But now that they are there, we refuse to allow them to be hunted down! They deserve to live in peace and not to be subjected to a surge of violence. And with them, entire spaces of nature will be able to prosper. We, humans, must learn to coexist with animals and nature, as long as there are still some left.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice