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At the National Veterinary School of Alfort, animal testing is a laughing matter

At the National Veterinary School of Alfort, animal testing is a laughing matter

At the National Veterinary School of Alfort, animal testing is a laughing matter
12.07.2022
Alfort
At the National Veterinary School of Alfort, animal testing is a laughing matter
Animal testing

To test surgical veterinary techniques, the National Veterinary School of Alfort [l’École nationale vétérinaire d’Alfort (EnvA)] uses ‘experimental’ mares and horses who will never know anything other than animal testing. In a video published in 2021 in an article by EnvA, we hear the staff laughing heartily while one of these horses is in the middle of experimental surgery.

Image: Screenshot of the S1 video from the paper « Balloon catheter occlusion of the maxillary, internal, and external carotid arteries in standing horses »

Following the publication of certain malicious messages on social networks against the veterinary school, the staff, students in fact, asked us to show moderation and to remain intrinsically non-violent, as we always have done. Insults, threats, and injuries never help the animals or the fights that we are leading together. Thanks to you.

The use of animal testing in veterinary research is a complex subject: is it acceptable to use animals to develop medications and surgical procedures for other animals? The question is raised with this study by EnvA, published in February 2021,which tests the feasibility of the occlusion of various arteries in standing horses and mares, with the idea of having a less risky solution to general anaesthesia to treat horses and mares affected by guttural pouch mycosis, a serious illness.

From experimental surgery to the anatomy table

This same question comes up much less when we know that the animals used for the first phase of the study were not presenting with any illness – while the second phase of the study tested the procedure on mares and horses that were unwell, with the agreement of their ‘owners’, with the aim of curing them.

Therefore, it was four ‘experimental’ mares and four ‘experimental’ horses in good health who had not asked for any of this but who had had the misfortune of having been bred for it. For the study that we are talking about, these individuals were subjected to invasive surgical acts on two occasions, in the neck, face, or gum areas.

After being used for these experimental surgeries, all of the animals were killed to be used for use in education of the equine anatomy. Anyone would think that alternative methods for specialised training (such as simulators or augmented reality apps) have still not been successful in becoming established in France.

 

Animal testing is a laughing matter

Evidently, surgical operations do not always go as planned – something which is also true for experimental surgeries. ‘Horse 4’ was thus calmly subjected to the first surgery but showed signs of anxiety and an increase in its respiration during the second surgery, even moving around uncontrollably despite the sedative.

The article provides a video extract of this moment of the surgery. Warning: the footage is difficult to watch. Evidently, it is difficult to watch because it involves surgery. But it is even more difficult to watch when we know that this horse was perfectly well before being made to submit to this intervention and that it was killed a few days later. Above all, the end of the video (after the occlusion of the artery is released and the surgeon has left the camera’s field), where we hear the staff laughing, is utterly obscene.

As if the expressions of anxiety and neurological disorders of this individual could make you laugh. Truly, animal testing feeds a very particular conception of animals.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Pig trifecta: a letter to the Vabres l’Abbaye mayor

Pig trifecta: a letter to the Vabres l’Abbaye mayor

Pig trifecta: a letter to the Vabres l’Abbaye mayor
11.07.2022
Aveyron
Pig trifecta: a letter to the Vabres l’Abbaye mayor
Exploitation for shows

We have received images and videos of the 46th pig trifecta in Vabres l’Abbaye. They show pigs squealing, exposed to crowds and noise, and forced to keep moving as quickly as possible… We have written to the Mayor.

Mr Frédéric Artis
Mayor of Vabres l’Abbaye
Hôtel de Ville
12400 Vabres l’Abbaye

Vannes, 11 July 2021

Dear Mayor,

We have been warned by the organisation about the 46th pig trifecta on 3 July in Vabres l’Abbaye.

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.

The images and videos that we have been given show pigs squealing, exposed to crowds and noise, and forced to keep moving as quickly as possible. The animals are clearly disorientated and absolutely do not understand what awaits them.

Voluntarily submitting animals to such levels of stress for a purely recreational purpose is cruel and unethical. The pigs, who are nevertheless animals with extraordinary cognitive and sentient abilities, are reduced to numbers here.

Such an event has serious repercussions on the public and particularly children. The pigs are considered as objects of entertainment with no consideration for their needs or desires. This performance is regressive in educating future generations to respect their environment and the individuals with whom they share it.

No tradition can justify mistreating animals. This situation certainly tarnishes the image of Vabres l’Abbaye which also has an undeniable cultural significance. The celebration of the village festival must not happen to the detriment of respect for animals.

This is why we are asking you in future to renounce the organisation of pig trifectas in favour of more ethical events.

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

Tens of thousands of mice are still being killed for botox! One Voice is demanding a ban on animal testing

Tens of thousands of mice are still being killed for botox! One Voice is demanding a ban on animal testing

Tens of thousands of mice are still being killed for botox! One Voice is demanding a ban on animal testing
09.07.2022
Union Européenne
Tens of thousands of mice are still being killed for botox! One Voice is demanding a ban on animal testing.
Animal testing

The European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE), of which One Voice is a member, has revealed that hundreds of thousands of mice are killed in botox tests with great cruelty despite the existence of non-animal tests. On 9 July, the ECEAE organised a European Action Day and is demanding the responsible authority, the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and Healthcare (EDQM), to abolish this regulatory testing.

Botulinum toxin (called ‘botox’) is a neurotoxin used for cosmetic purposes such as eliminating facial wrinkles, but also in the field of medical applications. Each batch is tested on mice in a test called ‘LD50’. Different doses of this substance are injected into the abdomens of groups of mice in order to determine from what quantity half of the animals die. The poison paralyses the respiratory muscles and the mice die by suffocation while they are fully conscious. In 2011, the American manufacturer Allergan received approval for their cell-based test. Due to continuing protests from the ECEAE and other animal protection associations, the Merz and Ipsen companies also replaced the majority of their tests on animals, but this fight is not over.

Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice, stated:

«It is unacceptable that animals, sentient beings, are still subjected to an atrocious death for a product largely used for cosmetic purposes despite there being non-animal technologies available.»

Non-technical summaries accessible to the public have shown that botox tests carried out on 22,440 mice have been approved by Germany in 2021. In 2019, 46,800 mice (this figure could be as high as 150,000 in previous years!) were used in botox tests in Germany alone. In 2019 and 2020, projects involving the use of botulinum toxin on rodents and birds were approved in France to study different pathologies in the muscles, or pain, or to model avian botulism. In Europe, Ireland has been the country that practices these tests the most for a long time. The official statistics from 2020 reveal that 100,848 mice were subjected to what they call batch potency tests, very likely for botox. 92,887 mice were killed in this way in 2019, 138,846 in 2018, and 192,015 in 2017. The reduction is therefore visible but, in the eyes of the entirety of the members of our coalition, whatever the number of mice sacrificed is, it is unacceptable.

The European Pharmacopoeia, which regulates batch tests of botox-based products, authorises a certain number of tests on animals but also the famous LD50 test on mice. The ECEAE urgently requests the EDQM regulatory authority to abolish the Pharmacopoeia to put an end to the atrocious suffering that it inflicts on animals.

Each year at the beginning of July, our coalition organises an Action Day against botox tests carried out on animals to mark the first regulatory approval, in 2011, of an ethical cell-based botox test.

The ECEAE also supports the ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics’ European Citizens’ Initiative aiming to progressively eliminate animal testing in its entirety. A million signatures must be collected between now and 31 August so that the European Commission will act. We are counting on you!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Pleas and unpublished images from One Voice on pheasants and partridges being bred for hunting in La Peyratte

Pleas and unpublished images from One Voice on pheasants and partridges being bred for hunting in La Peyratte

Pleas and unpublished images from One Voice on pheasants and partridges being bred for hunting in La Peyratte
06.07.2022
Deux-Sevres
Pleas and unpublished images from One Voice on pheasants and partridges being bred for hunting in La Peyratte
Wildlife

The pheasant and partridge breeding and hunting farm in La Peyratte has requested regularisation on its extension from the Deux-Sèvres Prefecture, which has agreed with them. One Voice has distributed very recent images from the farm and has filed a joint appeal with L214 against this decree on 15 June 2022 at the Poitiers Administrative Tribunal.

Whether it be to protect animals or the environment, there are many reasons to oppose this extension, which will allow the farm to continue to ruin the wetland on which it stands.

Bird droppings fall en masse into the water, thus spreading phosphorus, ammonia, and other various pollutants in a fragile ecosystem. However, any listed establishment such as this one should have had the impact of its expansion on the environment assessed before works. In this case, not content with not having carried out this preliminary study, the farm has not even requested the initial rights to expand and has asked for an even higher authorisation going forward! And this expansion is not insignificant: the capacity is going from 37,000 to 95,200 places.

Breeding birds for the pleasure of shooting them down

Like in many other farms for hunting that we have investigated in the past, the birds are raised in minuscule cages, their beaks are often broken and covered up to avoid injuries during altercations, which are inevitable in such confined spaces, thousands of females are condemned to breed for years and bear the scars, the eggs are retrieved and put into an incubator, then the birds are placed in aviaries where they fling themselves on the nets and cannot learn to fly correctly.

They are subsequently sold to hunting crews and federations who release them to give the impression of the species’ ‘good health’, all while disposing of totally submissive living targets who think that the hunters are approaching them to feed them and are incapable of escaping. Some birds, escaped from cages, incidentally remain in the surrounding area, destined for certain death…

And when they cannot be sold to hunters, as was the case after the lockdowns that led to the cancellation of hunting trips and when avian flu risked farmers losing a lot of money, the authorities authorised additional hunting periods. Simple…

An unpublished investigation to report on the reality experienced by pheasants and partridges in this breeding farm

In 2020, L214 published a study on birds bred for hunting which caused a commotion. In May and June 2022, One Voice’s investigators went back to the site. It was an opportunity to see if things were different now… nothing is, of course. We are all the more aware of the gigantic size of these places seen from above, and the miserable lives of the birds that are shut up in there. And in the cages, there is still overcrowding and chicken wire that injures their legs…

We have therefore decided to unite forces in a joint appeal to attack this decree authorising the expansion of the breeding farm. This was submitted on 15 June 2022 at the Poitiers Administrative Tribunal.

We are more determined than ever to bring an unwavering ethical force down on the industry and the hunting lobby and the farmers who are part of it.

Edit from 7 July 2022:
We had to modify the first version of this article, which erroneously claimed that L214 had taken images in the same breeding farm in 2020. In reality, it was a neighbouring farm; our images are therefore unpublished for this establishment.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

‘Macellum’ farmers’ market: open letter to the town of Metz

‘Macellum’ farmers’ market: open letter to the town of Metz

‘Macellum’ farmers’ market: open letter to the town of Metz
04.07.2022
Metz
‘Macellum’ farmers’ market: open letter to the town of Metz
Domestic animals

Alerted to the holding of a ‘Macellum’ farmers’ market on 25 and 26 June 2022 in the Metz esplanade gardens, we sent this letter to the Mayor of the town, François Grosdidier.

Dear Mayor,

Our Association has been alerted to the holding of a ‘Macellum’ farmers’ market on 25 and 26 June 2022 in the Metz esplanade gardens.

In our capacity as an association whose main purpose is to protect and defend animals and the environment, we are asking with this letter if you would be willing to look into our arguments carefully.

Several domestic animals (rabbits, pigeons, cows, donkeys, hens) have been displayed 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.

Voir cette publication sur Instagram

Une publication partagée par IWWT | Vêtements engagés Vegan (@inwolfwetrust_shop)

 

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 individual cages without a perch or any environmental enrichment.

Furthermore, this display, mainly aimed towards children, is the opposite of educational. 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.

Such a situation certainly tarnishes the image of Metz, which also has an undeniable cultural significance. The celebration of traditions and local products must not happen to the detriment of respect for animals. 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, Mr Mayor.

Muriel Arnal
Founding President of One Voice

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Hundreds of monkeys unloaded from the cargo of an Egyptair plane at JFK Airport

Hundreds of monkeys unloaded from the cargo of an Egyptair plane at JFK Airport

Hundreds of monkeys unloaded from the cargo of an Egyptair plane at JFK Airport
04.07.2022
Egypt
Hundreds of monkeys unloaded from the cargo of an Egyptair plane at JFK Airport
Animal testing

Despite public opposition, Egyptair continues to play a major role in the worldwide trade of non-human primates for research and toxicity testing (poisoning). On 23 June 2022, hundreds of long-tailed macaques were filmed by PETA in the process of being unloaded from an Egyptair cargo plane which had just landed at JFK Airport in the United States. The monkeys, native to Cambodia, had been subjected to a traumatising ordeal lasting up to 30 hours. And that is nothing compared to what awaits them…

Image: monkeys unloaded at JFK Airport, New York, USA – Credit: PETA

Now that Air France has announced their intention to stop transporting non-human primates for research purposes, we have to maintain pressure on Egypt air so that they will do the same. All the more so as we believe that the airline company will only increase their monkey transportations once Air France stops. We know that Egyptair has already transported long-tailed macaques from Vietnam and Mauritius, the two countries from which Air France regularly transports monkeys. Thanks to all those who have contributed to the worldwide campaign that we are leading with Action for Primates and Stop Camarles and have written to Air France. We are now asking you to join us in our appeal to Egyptair so that they will follow Air France’s example and stop their involvement in the trade of non-human primates.

Send an email (even if you already have done so) urging Egyptair to join Air France and the many other airline companies who have refused to be implicated in the worldwide transport of monkeys for animal testing:

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

A deliberation in Marineland’s favour: a representation of the road still to be travelled to defend the orcas at the dolphinarium

A deliberation in Marineland’s favour: a representation of the road still to be travelled to defend the orcas at the dolphinarium

A deliberation in Marineland’s favour: a representation of the road still to be travelled to defend the orcas at the dolphinarium
30.06.2022
Antibes
A deliberation in Marineland’s favour: a representation of the road still to be travelled to defend the orcas at the dolphinarium
Exploitation for shows

We suspect that our request for an independent expert has been refused by the Grasse Administrative Tribunal. However, we are not asking for the impossible, just for the justice system to agree that a study will be carried out that is not done by, or to serve the interests of, those who have exploited Inouk, Moana, and the other orcas and dolphins at the dolphinarium.

Apparently, principles count very little in administrative justice. Above all, it must be shown that the necessary steps have not been taken by the parties concerned. And unfortunately, even if we consider the fact that the case file presented by Marineland at the hearing on 25 May 2022 is clearly biased in favour of the dolphinarium, its mere existence is enough to have convinced the judges that another independent expert is not useful…

The last straw, knowing that we were not asking that they entrust the orcas to us, just that the justice system can objectively recognise the facts regarding the state of the water and the infrastructures (which we contest in view of the images that we have published) and the orcas’ follow-up medical care, which is not done by a veterinarian that has been paid by the dolphinarium…

The reports from Ingrid Visser on Inouk and Moana, are, in this respect, shouting about how urgent it is to get them out of there. We are wondering how the urgent applications judge could decide that the images and reports were not sufficient to establish that an interim period had to be set up between the documents from the dolphinarium and ours.

They preferred to only hear the opinions of a land-based wildlife veterinarian not specialising in orcas and a Marineland employee.

«We are not asking for the impossible but for an independent expert whose specialist would have been appointed by the tribunal and whose work would have been invoiced to One Voice. Therefore, this will not impact either the taxpayer or anyone else, all while being entirely directed by the court. We are studying the possibility of appealing this decision.» Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice

With the law against animal mistreatment, voted in in November 2021, dolphinariums (Planète Sauvage [Wild Planet] and Marineland Antibes) will be able to continue to exploit cetaceans, provided that the experiments are carried out on animals… a gift from parliamentarians to captivity lobbies. Just like Wikie was already subjected to: a researcher ‘taught’ him to repeat English words, giving the illusion of speaking and understanding the language. But orcas already have ultra-developed ways of communicating. It is us who are still incapable of understanding them…

We will stop at nothing, of course, in our fight for the orcas kept at Marineland: Wikie, Moana, Keijo, and Inouk. We are also continuing to lead our sanctuary project with our partner, Whale Sanctuary Project.

We have other ongoing complaints against the park and we are looking into the possibility of appealing this decision due to the fact that the tribunal has ignored orca specialists’ opinions and has only followed up on the opinion of a veterinarian who has no expertise in orcas and does not even work in the region where Marineland is, and a Marineland employee who is not a scientist. Impartiality is rearing its head again.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

One Voice and its partners are getting Air France to stop transporting primates for animal testing!

One Voice and its partners are getting Air France to stop transporting primates for animal testing!

One Voice and its partners are getting Air France to stop transporting primates for animal testing!
30.06.2022
One Voice and its partners are getting Air France to stop transporting primates for animal testing!
Animal testing

It is official: today, Thursday 30 June 2022, Air France has just publicly announced it on Twitter under a post supporting our campaign: “Air France has decided to stop transporting primates”.

Bonjour, en cohérence avec sa stratégie RSE, Air France a décidé d’arrêter le transport de primates. Elle y mettra fin dès l’issue de ses engagements contractuels en cours avec les organismes de recherche.

— Air France Newsroom (@AFnewsroom) June 30, 2022

 

After years of relentless struggles, One Voice have got Air France to stop primate transportation. It is a huge victory that we share with our British partners, Action For Primates, and Spanish one, Stop Camarles, but also with members of the European coalitions that we are part of, the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE) and Cruelty Free Europe, and who, for many among us, have taken on the fight that has stopped the transport of monkeys from and to foreign countries into France.

Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice, stated:

“France is one of the rare countries in Europe which continues to experiment on primates, experiments in which the suffering inflicted on our cousins is generally severe. Since 1996 (One Voice was called Aequalis at the time), we have requested that Air France stops taking part in this torture inflicted on primates. We are extremely happy about this decision, even if it comes late in relation to what is at stake and in relation to other companies.”

Air France was one of the last large national companies to continue taking part in the cruel trade of animals for laboratories, and monkeys in particular, coming mainly from the Republic of Mauritius where they are violently captured in the wild and destined for breeding (at Biosphere Trading for example) and many among them are sent abroad, turning France into a hub for this trade that is certainly legal, but despicable. European parliamentarians have thus themselves also taken part in our fight for the Mauritian macaques destined to die on laboratory benches.

This decision is in part due to collecting a million signatures under the framework of the European Citizens’ Initiative in favour of stopping testing on animals for cosmetics, and a unanimous vote by Members of the European Parliament for a progressive elimination of animal testing in the EU in September 2021, as well as the effective implementation at the end of the year for the ban on using F1 primates (from the first generation born in captivity from parents captured in the wild), and many other national and freight companies having stopped these activities.

We spare a thought for the macaques in Indonesia, Cambodia, and Mauritius, passing through the Silabe
platform (in collaboration with the University of Strasbourg), and for those still being transported by other companies (Wamos Air or EgyptAir, Air Bridge Cargo…), but also via Russia or the United States, against which our work to raise awareness will continue tirelessly.

Of course, we are going to contact Air France as soon as possible in order to learn more on the terms of this cessation, because the publication mentions that it will not be effective immediately but at the end of the contracts in place with research laboratories.

We are counting on you to continue to sign the petition to put a stop to transporting monkeys from Mauritius. And you can always add your voice to the European Citizens’ Initiative SaveCrueltyFreeCosmetics, which, as you may know, does not have a direct link with primates, but also calls for an eventual stop to testing on all animals within the European Union.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

SIVU 47: The pound and the authorities prefer to attack whistle-blowers than to resolve the problems highlighted

SIVU 47: The pound and the authorities prefer to attack whistle-blowers than to resolve the problems highlighted

SIVU 47: The pound and the authorities prefer to attack whistle-blowers than to resolve the problems highlighted
24.06.2022
France
SIVU 47: The pound and the authorities prefer to attack whistle-blowers than to resolve the problems highlighted
Domestic animals

Reading the reactions from the pound and the authorities, we can only be left gobsmacked. Their responsibilities are totally side-lined by their own interests; their motto is to refute problems and to blame those who are absent. All while attacking those who have reported on the serious problems in the way they treat the animals. We cannot allow them to diminish their role in this way.

After the publication of our survey at the Lot-et-Garonne dog pound and our work in Paris with euthanised cats, responses have increased.

Tous ces chats ont été euthanasiés car errants… D’autres solutions existent que les abattages en masse: identifier, stériliser, vacciner. @MFesneau @Agri_Gouv, il faut un plan d’urgence nationale contre l’errance féline! #UrgenceErranceFéline pic.twitter.com/jRK83JOP5C

— One Voice (@onevoiceanimal) June 23, 2022

In the press, those in charge of the pound and the authorities have refuted the problems or tried to hide them with excuses that are not true (the absence of a veterinarian or images that were out of context), including directly on their Facebook page.

New damning descriptions

At the same time, numerous people came forward to let us know or to confirm that the problems date back at least five years. Some of our supporters even telephoned the authorities who responded to them that “the images [could be] misinterpreted”, that there is “a difference between reality and what we see”. The only difference is that our investigators only stayed for a few days… What would it have been like if they had stayed for a month or more?!

Regulations make no distinction between stray cats and others

for them, there is a distinction between wild cats and others. Are we expected to understand that the wild ones can be tormented without being affected? If this is the Prefecture’s discourse, it is a serious problem because cats, free, stray, or at home, are all called ‘domestic’ cats in the eyes of the law and must be protected in the same way.

A ‘healthcare’ organisation which can give animals back to their humans… except…

The elected official in charge of communication for the pound states: “We are retrieving stray animals at the request of the town halls (Editor’s note: members of SIVU), and our primary mission is to identify them and reunite them with their owners. If they are not found once eight days have passed, we vaccinate the animals and offer them to charities to be placed.” Is this really the case for cats? Given the difference in treatment between cats and dogs, we are able to ask ourselves the question, mainly when we hear the words of the staff who, in one clip, doubt the sincerity of a lady who says that she recognises her cat and would like it back. We will never know if it was returned to her…

Upon leaving the pound, cats are condemned to death and risk amputation

Several weeks after our investigation, the cats were given away to a shelter. They were not unwell according to the pound’s claims, but the FIV test for one of them was positive upon arrival. And, as they are all enclosed together and this one likes to mate with all of the others, it is a certain death sentence for any cat sent there and potentially for all those in the shelter. Add to this that one of their paws was in a catastrophic state, to the point that it had to be amputated.

No really… and even if our images are difficult to endure for those who are sensitive, they only reveal a tiny part of the problem. In what ‘context’ can we get away from this mistreatment that justifies it?

Kind staff? Words have meaning!

The person in charge of communication at SIVU 47 defends the staff: “Those who work here are kind” and “I can testify that our technical agents take the animals out, play with them” all while explaining the absence of enrichment and comfort in quarantine by the fact that a pound’s function is solely for healthcare reasons.

That is all you need to know! Either it is a healthcare organisation or the staff play with the animals… knowing that in one week at least, none of the dogs were taken out of their cages to go for a walk and that our cameras recorded almost all of the time what was happening in the cats’ quarantine.

Mistreatment made commonplace

Why push the cat clinging to the fence to clean the floor? How did it get in the way of cleaning the floor? Two violent acts: pushing him when he is already frightened and getting him wet once he is on the ground… and this is not permitted in a ‘healthcare’ organisation. One more instance that confirms to us that the cats are treated as rubbish, as inanimate objects, as unfeeling, as if they can be treated with no respect. When the lifeless body of cat 162 is thrown in a bin bag on the ground to clean the cage and clear up, it is no different.

The problems are in particular attributed to the overall situation of straying in France (by the President of SIVU 47) or off the back of circumstances, as always deemed exceptional when we reveal an investigation. In the present case, their veterinarian is absent. But it would almost be worse, according to those who reported to us, when this director-veterinarian is present!

We are convinced of the importance of this fight for neglected, mistreated, abandoned, poorly treated animals… The information in our possession against this place has been sent to the legal system. But the problem does not end there.

We are still calling for an end to the mass euthanasia of stray cats, as we did in Paris on Thursday 23 June, and to put in place a major national emergency plan against feline straying. Continue to sign our petition to close the pound in its current state (leading to the resignation of the management team and doing the necessary compliance work), and write to the authorities.

In any case, we are of course calling on all of our supporters to show restraint and to remain in absolute non-violence, as we have always done. Insults, threats, and injuries never help the animals or the fights that we are leading together.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Letter from the coalition of environmental, land and human rights civil society organisations in the Virunga landscape

Letter from the coalition of environmental, land and human rights civil society organisations in the Virunga landscape

Letter from the coalition of environmental, land and human rights civil society organisations in the Virunga landscape
20.06.2022
International
Letter from the coalition of environmental, land and human rights civil society organisations in the Virunga landscape
Wildlife

The coalition of environmental, land and human rights civil society organisations of the Virunga Landscape calls on the Presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Rwanda to exercise greater caution in the face of hostilities in the great ape area of the Virunga Landscape.

The coalition of environmental, land and human rights civil society organisations of the Virunga Landscape calls on the Presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Rwanda to exercise greater caution in the face of hostilities in the great ape area of the Virunga Landscape.

Indeed, as you know, in their respective countries, namely the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Rwanda, their two countries share a common and exceptional natural heritage represented by a flagship and endemic species of Great Apes, namely the « Mountain Gorilla« . There is no need to recall that it is a great pride for our two countries at the international level to be the only ones to host this species which attracts tourists from all over the world. Thus, in the recent past, thanks to the combined efforts of our two governments supported by both national and international partners, the Mountain Gorilla population has grown from 70 to at least 700, and even 1000 individuals, which we warmly congratulate.

Their Excellencies the Presidents, Unfortunately, since the last quarter of 2021, we have observed a resumption of hostilities between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, FARDC, and the M23 rebel group in this area, which is the natural habitat of the Mountain Gorilla, with all the related environmental consequences, namely

  • The exposure of gorillas to crossfire and other explosive devices;
  • The psychological trauma of these animals linked to the detonations, especially of heavy weapons;
  • A disorderly migration of these animals fleeing in all directions and exposing them to poaching.

Furthermore, in this period of major pandemics such as COVID19, Ebola fever, monkey pox, etc., the installation of positions and camps of the belligerents in this fragile ecosystem exposes these primates to possible epizootics that could decimate these animals.

This dramatic situation that these animals are currently experiencing concerns our two countries indiscriminately because these animals have no nationality; they are a common heritage that we must absolutely safeguard for the benefit of our two countries.

Therefore, Your Excellencies, Presidents, here are some recommendations we would like to make to you in this regard:

  • Jointly secure this strategic ecological area for this flagship and endemic species, by demilitarising it and leaving its protection to the eco-guards of our two respective countries;
  • Strengthen the joint and permanent monitoring mechanism for this species.

Their Excellencies, this is how our three countries will not only be able to protect this endangered species but also to strengthen their credibility in the nature conservation sector both nationally and internationally.

Our highest consideration.
For the coalition’s focal point
Mr BANTU LUKAMBO

Translated from the French by Joely Justice