News Archive - Page 70 of 140

Femke, the authorities are still tackling her autopsy report…

Femke, the authorities are still tackling her autopsy report…
07.02.2022
Femke, the authorities are still tackling her autopsy report…
Exploitation for shows

After one year, we still have not received Femke’s autopsy report. After a letter to the Prefecture and an open letter to Parc Astérix, a request to the Committee for Access to Administrative Documents, who authorised us to obtain this document, and a reply from the park, we once again turn to the Oise Prefecture…According to the park, the Departmental Directorate for Protecting Populations (DDPP: the Prefecture’s veterinary services) have supervised all of the dolphinarium’s projects and the autopsy report is at their sole disposition. We request that the death of Femke is fully investigated and for this the Prefecture must be transparent. What are they waiting for?

Mrs Corinne Orzechowski
Oise Prefect
2, Avenue de l’Europe
BP 70634
60 006 Beauvais Cedex

Vannes, 4 February 2022

Dear Madam Prefect,

A year has passed since the dolphin named Femke, kept by Parc Astérix, was euthanised. To understand the circumstances surrounding her death, we requested in February 2021 that you let us have her full autopsy report. Faced with your silence and with the favourable recommendation of the Committee for Access to Administrative Documents, we have made a request to the courts for disclosure of these documents.

As part of this procedure, your services have indicated to us that they do not have this information.

We therefore withdrew our plea given that the law does not actually provide an explicit obligation for the owner to send this report to the Prefecture.

However, keen to understand the reasons for this action and to respond to queries from our members, we addressed the Director of Parc Astérix in an open letter. She responded to us on 20 January 2022, saying that Femke’s autopsy report was available at the Oise DDPP.

As you know, bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) belong to a protected species on a national and community level, and are part of our wildlife heritage.

Due to their unique nature in terms of sensitivity, intelligence, and culture, cetaceans are also at the heart of recurring scientific debates on their skills and their status as non-human persons. Femke’s living conditions and her fate therefore transcend the question of ownership.

This is the reason why the data concerning the circumstances of her death must be known by the general public and is in their general interest.

This is why we are asking you once more to show transparency on this issue by sending us a copy of the autopsy report, which only you can be the recipient of.

We thank you for your attention to this letter and ask that you accept the expression of our highest consideration.

Muriel Arnal
Founding President of One Voice

Femke’s autopsy report: response from Parc Astérix

Télécharger

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Justice comes to the rescue of the Muller Circus against Jumbo and us

Justice comes to the rescue of the Muller Circus against Jumbo and us
03.02.2022
Justice comes to the rescue of the Muller Circus against Jumbo and us
Circuses

The decision that came from the Lyon Administrative Appeals Court on 3 February 2022 is surreal. They believe that the Muller Circus was in the right when we requested a repeal of the first decision and they ordered One Voice to pay the 2000 euros requested by the circus, even though the latter had deliberately intervened in the procedure and despite the fact that the Ministry of the Ecological Transition did not make any requests and did not even produce a statement of case. We are lodging an appeal.

The Court reiterated the regulations and the situation, namely that the Mullers have been in possession of an opening permit allowing them to show Jumbo since 24 October 2005 and that this permit could not be taken off them unless they no longer fulfilled the conditions that made it possible to obtain it. Up to that point, nothing unusual.

But then the Court again decided to base its decision on the unexpected visit carried out by the DDPP (Departmental Directorate for Protecting Populations) in Var on 27 June 2017 where they considered whether the conditions conform to the regulations in place. This is why we consider this to be a problem:

A very specific interpretation of the ‘circus’ order

«The report does not mention either the temperature in the facilities and the outdoor pool, or the dimensions of the paddock, and the entries in the report show that, contrary to what the association indicates, the inspector was aware of the statute of limitations specifically provided for the hippopotamuses by Annexe I of the order of 18 March 2011. In these conditions, it appears from the documents in the file that on the date on which the Prefect refused to repeal the opening permit, the Muller Circus was no longer following the reception conditions for hippopotamuses listed in Appendix I. The same applies to the safety regulations which were verified as having been followed by the inspector. »

This is what the Court has shown with its decision and this is where it becomes incomprehensible.

A quick reminder that Annexe I of the ‘circus’ order necessitates in particular that:

The indoor facilities must allow for a space of at least 30 square metres per animal (minimum 3 metre height). And that if this is not possible, that additional facilities in the transport vehicle must be agreed.
The temperatures in the indoor facilities must be at least 16°c with permanent access to a place that is at least 25°c.
There is permanent access to a pool that is at least 30m2 x 1.5m in height with a minimum temperature of 22°c.

The statute of limitations is completely unbalanced by ‘good’ excuses not to apply it

What are we reading now in the report cited by the Court? That the outdoor pool was not set up on the day of the inspection. The inspectors mentioned an ‘expanded pool’, then a dismantled pool, with the operator having to leave the site. Only one indoor pool was installed in a transport lorry and it was 1.7m deep with a surface area of 18m2… The features of the outdoor paddock are only briefly detailed.

Thus, this inspection is good testament to the non-conformities to the statute of limitations of the order, both in terms of the lack of permanent access to a 22°c pool measuring 30m2 and the dimensions of the indoor facilities. Moreover, this report is incomplete: where is the summary of the temperatures, given that considering their values influences Jumbo’s presence in the establishment?

And so an incomplete inspection report by the DDPP, accompanied only by statements from the owner, is sufficient in the eyes of the Court to prove that these operations are up to standard?!

But what purpose does the statute of limitations serve if the inspectors are not required to tick all of the boxes and at the same time ensure that the requirements are respected?

We did say a statute of limitations, not suggestions… and would it therefore be up to the associations to provide proof based on empty reports? Knowing that the reports that they produce are sys-te-ma-ti-cal-ly dismissed for alleged bias or disloyalty…

The opposing views of the DDPP and the OFB

And who is to say in this specific case, when the 2018 and 2019 reports from the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB: Office français de la biodiversité) contradict the 2018 and 2019 reports by the DDPP..? We therefore have two official regulatory bodies who at the same time have opposing opinions!

Evidence in the form of images brushed aside by the Court

Similarly, the Court refuses to consider that the information provided by One Voice was sufficient to prove that Jumbo did not participate in the show in 2017. According to the Court, it is sufficient to state that the circus was the subject of multiple inspections in 2011, 2015, and 2016, and that the Mullers had declared in 2016 that Jumbo the hippopotamus participated.

Who will be responsible for the protection of the animals if not the Prefect?

Finally, the Court denies the Prefect administrative policing powers to withdraw the animals based on the regulations relating to animal protection. According to them, when an animal is mistreated, they cannot remove it without following the successive formal notice procedures outlined in the Environmental Code, except for when the animal is in a state of psychological misery… We are hoping for clarification on this crucial issue; because if the Prefect is not competent and the courts close the complaints, absolutely no one is responsible for the protection of the animals!

The circus’ voluntary action that replaces the competent Ministry

The cherry on the cake is that the Court, despite the Ministry not having produced a statement of case, has welcomed the voluntary action of the owners who state that they are supporting the Ministry’s non-existent statement of case, and worse, has granted their request for legal fees to the tune of 2000 euros!

One Voice is lodging an appeal!

Since then, the association has submitted a new request to the Prefect and then to the administrative court, in view of the criminal convictions, to request the withdrawal of the opening permits and proficiency certifications of these incompetent owners. The appeal will be decided based on two factors: the legal fees and the sensitive issue of the possibility of taking the animals out of a place which mistreats them, in accordance with administrative policy. We will never give up on Jumbo.

Continue to sign and share the petition for Jumbo

I am signing for Jumbo

Our articles on the fight for Jumbo

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

The last years of Jon the lion, discovering a taste for a life out of the circus

The last years of Jon the lion, discovering a taste for a life out of the circus
01.02.2022
The last years of Jon the lion, discovering a taste for a life out of the circus
Exploitation for shows

Everything happened really quickly. We heard some tragic news on the evening of Monday 31 January. Jon died at the Tonga Terre d’Accueil refuge on Saturday 29 January 2022, almost two years after we had saved him and removed him from Cirque de Paris trainer Steve Gougeon’s lorry. Far away from being whipped, far from life on the road, and under our protection, this lion with a ruined mane, who was skin and bone, de-clawed and had canine teeth that were ground down, had regained his strength. We were waiting for the green light of justice to take him to a sanctuary in Italy.

On Wednesday 26 January 2022, Jon started refusing to eat… the autopsy revealed that he had serious intestinal problems, but at that time it was impossible to know this. He died in barely three days, without letting the severity of his condition show, surrounded by love, far from the circus lorry where he had been deprived of food to the point he was only a shadow of himself.

A golden early retirement

He would have spent almost two years away from his torturers, in the presence of Patty, Marli, Céleste, and Hannah, to make the most of the joy of the grass under his de-clawed paws, of the games given to them, and above all, of the protection from exploitation. Without our intervention after months of enquiries and of following the circus, he would have been dead in the cage-lorry.

Since arriving, he had surprised and reassured us all with his incredible weight gain, putting on 70 kilograms in a month and having gone from 107 kilograms four days after his arrival, with his ribs visible under the skin, to being a lion in good health weighing between 150 and 200 kilograms. At the refuge, he had finally been treated and was enjoying life in his well-deserved retirement.

Muriel Arnal, Founding President of One Voice, who is very moved by the sudden loss of Jon stated:

«Only a few more weeks and Jon would have discovered the park that was waiting for him. We had already imagined him basking in the shade of the trees in the mild Tuscan nights. Our only consolation is knowing that he had been treated, treasured, and fed like he never had been before. He had become a real mischievous and confident lion. Jon had no documents; a lion with his identification would have ended up at the taxidermist! What are authorities waiting for to make laws apply to circus animals?»

Waiting on justice’s green light

We were awaiting the final decision from the prosecutor to see if we could send him to the sanctuary in Italy where we had been assured that five spaces were awaiting him and his four companions, for a semi-free life. The transfer had been set for May.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Indonesia must stop capturing monkeys for animal experimentation!

Indonesia must stop capturing monkeys for animal experimentation!
28.01.2022
Indonesia must stop capturing monkeys for animal experimentation!
Animal testing

We are working on a campaign together with our partner, Action for Primates, who have just revealed terrible images of the capture of long-tailed macaques in Indonesia destined to be exported for animal experimentation.

On their site, our partner has distributed the reality of the capture of monkeys living in family groups in the wild in Indonesia, carried out on behalf of renewable biofuel laboratories all over the world. The prospect of cruelty and violence inflicted on these animals during their capture, namely the beatings and knife wounds, is unbearable. Such brutal and barbaric treatment is incidentally a violation of the international guidelines on animal welfare (1).

Harrowing scenes reveal the brutality of these captures

The monkeys are captured inside large nets then manually taken by force and often dragged by the tail. Others are pinned to the ground under the trapper’s foot, grabbed by the neck, and lifted with their front limbs forced behind their backs. They are piled up either head-first in bags or with others in wooden crates. The bodies of some are abandoned on site, while the babies are torn from their mothers’ arms, causing huge distress to the detriment of both. Murder is also committed on a dazed male who, after having been almost beaten to death, had his throat slit with a machete. All of this is of the greatest indifference to the men who are doing this as their job.

Indonesia: well-known for the capture of long-tailed macaques

In 2021, the Indonesian government authorised the resumption of capturing and exporting wild long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) – despite widespread worldwide concerns when it comes to the inherent brutality of this practice (2) and the growing realisation of the vulnerability of this species in conservation plans. Hundreds of wild monkeys have consequently been captured, being torn from their natural environment and from their family, and social groups.

As elsewhere, capturing wild animals is justified by governments and local populations by the supposed inconvenience that the monkeys cause to farmers and residents. In reality, they should tackle the problem at the root, specifically questioning deforestation and food waste disposal which attract monkeys into the villages; because the expansion of human activities and their endless growing encroachment on the natural world tragically lead to negative interactions, which are fully avoidable, between macaques and humans.

France is at the forefront when it comes to primate experimentation in Europe

The monkeys coming from Indonesia are essentially destined to go to China or to the United States (4). The long-tailed macaques are the main non-human primate species used in regulatory toxicology (or poisons) testing, a sector where the majority of non-human primates are exploited. These tests are carried out to evaluate undesirable reactions to medications (or chemical products) and generally entail huge suffering.

«The capture of long-tailed macaques is an outrageous act of violence. Families torn apart, a male looking to defend his family unceremoniously beaten, babies separated from their mothers… How many survive such suffering and stress? And when we know what awaits them in the laboratories… These animals from Indonesia are mainly sent to China and to the United States, but in the European Union, France is the place where most of them die on the laboratory benches, particularly for experimentation which leads to severe pain!»Muriel Arnal, Founding President of One Voice

France is the biggest consumer of monkeys for animal experimentation in the whole of the European Union, and primarily for conducting experiments leading to severe suffering. France is shamefully in first place; we see how the infants are torn from their mothers, these animals on their own land, and when we learn of the legal torture that waits for them after hours or even days of travel, if they don’t die from fear first. In European laboratories there are potentially still some monkeys who have experienced this trauma.

«The capture of non-human primates in the wild unquestionably causes immense suffering for these animals. The way in which they are treated and manipulated, as can be seen in the videos, is brutal and barbaric, and constitutes a clear violation of the international guidelines on animal welfare. Such cruelty – beating and killing alpha males, taking infants away from their mothers, dragging the monkeys by their non-prehensile tails in a way which can cause serious injury to the spinal cord, pinning their front limbs behind their back so violently that they may dislocate or fracture – must not be tolerated. No more trapping wild monkeys. I urge other animal welfare specialists to resolutely oppose the Indonesian authorities and international organisations. »Nedim C. Buyukmihci, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California

We are taking action!

We and Action for Primates are asking the Indonesian government to discontinue the capture and transportation of wild monkeys destined for research and toxicology testing, as well as farms used to export their offspring. We need your help to strengthen this request. We have set out a sample letter that you can adapt and send to the Indonesian embassy to urge their government to stop the capture and exportation of wild monkeys to laboratories.

Letter to be addressed to: Indonesian Embassy in France, 47-49 rue Cortambert, 75116 Paris, France or by email to konsuler.paris@kemlu.go.id.

Download the sample letter

Sign the petition (in English) for the attention of the Indonesian Minister for the Environment

Sign the petition

References

International Primatological Society (IPS) (International Guidelines for the Acquisition, Care and Breeding of Non-Human Primates: Methods of Capture): “The capture of primates from the wild is challenging and potentially dangerous for the animals. Inexperienced handling can lead to significant morbidity and mortality for the animals. Methods used to capture and handle primates, which vary widely between species and countries, should always be humane and cause minimal stress. Institutions should ensure that anyone trapping primates is adequately trained and competent in humane methods of capture.” “Capture methods should not render animals, or their troop members, unduly susceptible to injury or death.” (http://www.internationalprimatologicalsociety.org/policy-statements-and-guidelines/)
Recognising the challenge of the welfare and health of animals as well as the ethical issues resulting from the capture of non-human primates in the wild, the EU has decided to put an end to its participation in the capture of wild monkeys for scientific or breeding purposes. From 2022, the EU will only authorise the use of non-human primates in research if they come from animals bred in captivity (F2/F2+ generation) and from self-sufficient colonies. (Article 10) (Directive : https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2010/63/oj)
In 2020, an assessment of long-tailed macaques carried out by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, the most comprehensive inventory of the conservation status of biological species at international level, re-evaluated their status, henceforth classing them as ‘Vulnerable’. We have seen a decline in their population, which reflects the growing worries regarding the conservation status of the species. Eudey, A., Kumar, A., Singh, M. and Boonratana, R., 2021, Macaca fascicularis (modified version of the 2020 assessment). The 2021 IUCN Red List of Endangered Species: e.T12551A204494260 https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUC…
Data submitted to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): https://trade.cites.org/en/cit…

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Wild animal farming in France: a disastrous situation

Wild animal farming in France: a disastrous situation
25.01.2022
Wild animal farming in France: a disastrous situation
Wildlife

We have revealed a map of wild animal breeding farms (excluding birds and lagomorphs) in France. Gathering and consolidating this information has required a huge amount of work and we are still fighting with the Department Prefectures to obtain it. Measuring the extent of the problem is, clearly, not to everyone’s taste.

There are hundreds of them. The wild animal breeding farms (excluding birds and lagomorphs) is corrupting our country. Following our investigation in mid-December, we have listed them along with their eventual purpose: either for hunting or to the butchers. (1)

Take a look at the map of official ‘big game’ breeding farms in France

Born to be killed

The map that we are revealing is the result of work undertaken in 2019 and is spine-chilling: tens of thousands of ungulates, mainly wild boars and deer, are being kept in captivity to satisfy wildlife amateurs’ need to kill or their taste buds by transforming them into meat pies. In fact, whether they are released in a ‘natural space’ or sent to the abattoir, these animals meet the same morbid destiny: bleeding to death. The only variation to their fate is the time preceding their agony and the methods used to persecute them. After hours of being hunted or transported, some perish by being shot, others by being hit with hunting spears, or even being ripped to shreds by the dogs.

A power struggle with the management

The census of these breeding farms that are officially exploiting wild animals and making them suffer these kinds of horrors is not an easy job. Despite the Environmental Code ensuring that everyone has the right to access this information, we have had to fight hard with the Prefectoral services to get it. Letters and reminders have however not been sufficient to incite some departments to break their radio silence. We very often have to involve the Committee for Access to Administrative Documents for them to do something. But, despite their favourable opinion, the administration still refuses to respond to us. The map that we are publishing today at the moment only gives a glimpse into the reality, which is likely much worse. We intend to fully shed light on the extent of the problem by following our investigations and by fighting to gather the information. And if we have to go through justice to reach our goal, we will go up against the prefectures who do not want to cooperate!

Let’s close down the wild animal breeding farms: sign the petition

Note

(1) According to Article R. 413-24 of the Environmental Code (https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000006837792), the establishments engaged in the farming, sale, or transit of game species that can be hunted are divided into two categories:

Category A: The establishments in which all or some animals detained are directly or by way of their lineage destined to be released into the wild.
Category B: The establishments in which all of the animals detained have another eventual purpose, namely meat production.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Threats to poach wolves: we are filing a complaint!

Threats to poach wolves: we are filing a complaint!
24.01.2022
Threats to poach wolves: we are filing a complaint!
Wildlife

A farmers union is calling for the illegal massacre of wolves and hiding the bodies? We are filing a complaint. Wolves must be respected and protected. As for the State, they must take responsibility and stop engaging in double dealings.

At the beginning of December 2021, the Haute-Vienne Rural Organisation published a press release on the presence of wolves, in which it is written in black and white: “In Haute-Vienne, we have pellets and poison and will regulate by ourselves!”

Taking this idea up on Saturday 22 January, Florian Tournade, President of the same union in the Creuse department, has thus confirmed in front of the camera for France 3, in Nouvelle Aquitaine: “For us, the solution is poison and pellets. We invite farmers to take their hunting rifles and to kill the wolves without saying anything. We must do this discretely to make the bodies disappear. The Rural Organisation will reimburse the pellets and the bags of lime.” They even drive the point home by asking all farmers to exterminate wolves.

Around a hundred wolves are already massacred every year with the State’s approval

A farmers union calling for organised crime on members of a protected species? The Ministry of the Ecological Transition reacted quickly, announcing that they were opening an enquiry… but knowing that the State authorised the annual massacre of more than one hundred wolves, we were shocked to read the Minister’s falsely indignant tweet.

We are filing a complaint at the Guéret Legal Tribunal

Poaching of a protected species is a crime, punishable by several years in prison. Incitement to commit a crime is also prohibited by law.

We are filing a complaint for collusion by incitement to destroy specimens from a protected animal species and provocation to commit a crime through mass media. The Pet’s Rescue France association is also joining our complaint.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

The harrowing cry for help from the Zavatta Circus lions in Freneuse

The harrowing cry for help from the Zavatta Circus lions in Freneuse
24.01.2022
The harrowing cry for help from the Zavatta Circus lions in Freneuse
Exploitation for shows

They were roaring in a closed trailer… in the dark and overcrowded for more than a month. The lions and lionesses were hidden in a trailer and closed in for four weeks in a town in the Yvelines department. We are filing a complaint against the Zavatta Circus Fleury production.

Since mid-December, the Zavatta Circus, belonging to Jackson Fleury, set up its yellow lorries in Freneuse in an industrial area. The mayor had specifically allowed the set up to be authorised without any wild animals, to correspond to the beliefs of the city council and its electors. The circus had accepted and was able to put on their shows during all of the holidays and more, without big cats on the programme.

Roars as so many cries for help

But three days before leaving, the roaring of the big cats could be heard in the neighbourhood, coming from closed trailers. The town’s Mayoress therefore asked for our help. At the same time, their presence was confirmed by an opening of a metal gate which gave a glimpse of a lioness and a lion…

Social skills in fraud and lies

The police went to visit these places. And conveniently, if we are to believe the circus members, the lorry ‘had just arrived’ when the inspection by the authorities took place. However, a neighbour, who our investigator met yesterday when the circus demonstrated the material, attested to them having been there for several weeks. So the animals had not once been taken out of the trailer in thirty-two days!

The circus members have no respect for the animals that they exploit. For them they are just a source of income. Our non-stop work has allowed an increased awareness for around twenty years. The fact that the circus members prefer to hold them prisoner for several weeks in a row is even more proof that their well-being is the least of their worries!

A complaint filed at the Versailles Legal Tribunal

We are filing a complaint for non-standard operation of an establishment keeping animals of non-domestic species, mistreatment by a professional, and the placing or keeping in a habitat, environment, or facility which may be the cause of suffering.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Whistle-blowers: 36 associations and trade unions are calling out senators

Whistle-blowers: 36 associations and trade unions are calling out senators
19.01.2022
Whistle-blowers: 36 associations and trade unions are calling out senators
Other campaign of One Voice

On Wednesday 19 January, while senators were getting ready to discuss the bill aiming to improve protection for whistle-blowers, 36 organisations from civil society, comprising of associations, trade unions, and whistle-blowers, gathered together before the Senate to call upon senators to clarify and reinforce protection measures for whistle-blowers in France.

On Monday, these same organisations published an opinion column to remind of the importance of protecting whistle-blowers who are “first in line to defend general interests”.

This action aims to call out parliamentarians and public opinions on the dangers presented by the laws voted upon by the Senate for the rights of whistle-blowers and the freedom to inform and alert. Many amendments filed by the senators effectively come back to the benefits of the Sapin II law and break the requirements of the European guidelines that this bill is intended to change. While France has just taken chairmanship in the European Union, it risks becoming bottom of the class.

This guideline, passed by the European Union in 2019 thanks to rallying from civil society, does however constitute a major step forward in recognising and protecting the look-out role that whistle-blowers play in times where our freedom and rights are threatened everywhere in Europe. Whether they signal risks of public health crises to the authorities like Irène Frachon (Mediator), or reveal the mysteries of tax fraud like Antoine Deltour (Luxleaks) or of mass surveillance like Edward Snowden (NSA), whistle-blowers establish a safety net for our democracy. Yet they are too often facing retaliation and threats that the Sapin II law, despite its progress, has not been able to overcome.

The bill passed unanimously by the National Assembly on 17 November responds in part to these shortcomings. It goes over the many demands of the organisations gathered today before the Senate which, in a report dated 22 November, maintained that it represented a “considerable step forward for whistle-blowers, whose rights are strengthened”.

Many senators nevertheless propose that we revisit these arrangements, going back to the European guidelines on the Sapin II law itself.

For the organisations gathered before the Senate, these amendments, if they are passed, will constitute a colossal threat, susceptible to persuading a number of citizens not to inform on abuse which they are witness to and to put those who nevertheless decide to take the plunge at risk. Nowadays, whistle-blowers put themselves at risk of true social and professional suicide. The implementation law must remedy this situation, rather than aggravate it, for the good of everyone.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

One Voice is re-entering the fray for Angora rabbits

One Voice is re-entering the fray for Angora rabbits
17.01.2022
One Voice is re-entering the fray for Angora rabbits
Fashion

Six years after our first investigation infiltrating the breeders exploiting Angora rabbits, they continue to scream in pain and terror. We are filing a negligence complaint at the European Union Court of Justice and a preliminary review alongside the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

A long-haul field survey

In 2016, our investigators went to establishments where rabbits were writhing in pain. The owners had shown them how to stretch them out and attach their paws to a plank of wood in order to be able to better pull off their fur by the fistful helped with a comb. Including around the eyes and genital area, where their skin tore, leaving them without protection from the cold, and bleeding. Their cries of terror and their attempts to escape were all the more terrible to witness.

The footage that we subsequently revealed, in 2018 and 2020, showed that none of that had changed and even that one of the breeders plucked the rabbits to music while whistling as if it were nothing. Our petition is still online.

A legal battle in France and at European level

The living conditions and the exploitation of these animals are guided by European and national regulations on breeding or production animals. In this context, after our first investigation, we requested that the Minister of Agriculture and Food forbid the collection of rabbit fur by ‘depilation’ (official term), as well as the sale and purchase of products containing rabbit fur collected in this way. Faced with their implicit refusal, we went to the State Council.
On this occasion, we produced Professor Broom’s main report condemning this practice and the associated breeding methods and put back into question the trustworthiness and effectiveness of Lagodendron, a plant which is supposed to help the rabbits fur fall out more easily.
In June 2019, the State Council rejected our requests mainly on the basis that the sloughing of rabbits every quarter is natural and that the method used is painless (combing and using Lagodendron). It also hid behind a Good Practice Guide, developed by the industry itself! But who better than the executioners to say that there is no suffering? We will come back to impartiality.

Following this decision, we filed a complaint before the European Commission French State on 11 June 2020. This complaint is based on the fact that “the member states have made arrangements for owners or keepers to take all appropriate measures in order to guarantee the welfare of their animals and in order to ensure that said animals do not undergo any pain, suffering, or unnecessary harm”, and that “the natural or artificial breeding methods that cause or could potentially cause suffering or harm to the animals concerned must not be practised. This arrangement does not preclude certain methods likely to cause suffering or minimal or momentary injury, or call for a procedure that is not likely to cause lasting damage, while these methods are authorised by national measures.”

But in November 2020, the Commission closed the file. According to them, we did not provide sufficient information proving the existence of a general practice, a problem with the national legislation’s conformity with the Union laws, or a systematic lack of French authorities in Union law.

However, they recalled beforehand that this issue does fall under their jurisdiction…

Two procedures relaunched in light of new information

We therefore consulted Professor Broom once again, who was this time looking at the Good Practice Guide from the Institut technique de l’aviculture (ITAVI: France’s Technical Institute that is an expert in the poultry, rabbit, and fish sectors). And on 2 April 2021, we received his conclusions.

The evidence appearing in the ITAVI Guide — the photos, videos, and the scientific literature — attest to the existence of many major problems when it comes to the welfare of Angora rabbits in all breeding farms carrying out combing and pulling out fur. Professor Donald Maurice Broom

In particular, he recommends that Angora rabbits, who need more care than other breeding rabbits, may not be lifted up by their fur or ears or attached by their paws, and may be put under sedation if necessary before and during the fur collection, which must incidentally be done by cutting the fur and not by pulling on it. Heat-related stress should also be reduced to a minimum.

Simultaneously, the French Rural Code and Maritime Fishing Code was enhanced by a new prohibition on 18 December 2020: “It is forbidden for all those who, to whatever end it may be, breed, look after, or possess domestic or wild animals tamed or kept in captivity… to implement breeding techniques likely to lead to unnecessary suffering to the animals, considering the sensitivity of the species concerned and the physiological stage of the animals.
In order to ensure that the living conditions of the breeding animals meet the biological needs of their species, the minister in charge of agriculture may impose the monitoring of professional breeders’ establishments for the implementation of breeding practices that respect animal welfare”.

As the laws have evolved, and strengthened by the new evaluation from Professor Broom, we are once again asking the Minister for Agriculture for a preliminary plea on this issue on breeding techniques likely to cause unnecessary suffering to an animal considering the sensitivity of the species concerned. At the same time, we are filing a new complaint before the European Commission on the basis of this expert report. We are organising a weekend to raise awareness of Angora rabbits’ suffering in France on 22 and 23 January 2022 (follow the link to our report for more information).

Who is Professor Broom?

Professor Broom holds a Master of Arts, a PhD, and a PhD in Science from the University of Cambridge.

He worked as a lecturer and then as an associate professor in the Zoology department and was positioned at the University of Reading from 1967 to 1986, then in the veterinary medicine department as a Professor of Animal Welfare at the University of Cambridge from 1986 to 2009. He has led research in biology and veterinary medicine since 1964 and was still doing so in 2018. This research relates to animal behaviour, the physiology of stress, animal welfare, animal management, disease transmission, as well as interactions between humans and other species. He studied in particular the effects of living conditions, management procedures, transport, handling, and culling on animal welfare. He has published 260 referenced scientific articles and eleven books, notably Stress and Animal Welfare (in collaboration with K. G. Johnson), Sentience and Animal Welfare, and Domestic Animal Behaviour and Welfare (in collaboration with A. F. Fraser).

In the framework of his consulting work concerning animal welfare alongside governments, he has held the following responsibilities:

President of the European Union Scientific Committee in the ‘Animal Welfare’ section, 1990-1997.
Vice-president of the European Union Scientific Committee for Animal Health and Welfare, 1997-2003.
Vice-president and member of the Animal Health and Welfare scientific panel of the European Food Safety Authority, 2003-2012.
At the request of the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs, he produced a 75-page study on animal welfare in the European Union which was published in January 2017.
President of the task force for animal welfare during transport by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), 2003-2007.
Scientific advisor alongside the Convention for the Protection of Animals Kept for Farming Purposes standing committee, 1987-2000.
Board member for the Welfare of Animals Kept for Farming Purposes (British Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food), 1991-1999.
Member of the Animal Procedures Committee (Home Office, United Kingdom), 1998-2006.
He personally testified on subjects relating to animal welfare at the European Parliament, World Trade Organisation, and alongside tribunals in several countries as an expert witness.
He led scientific research on animal behaviour, physiology, production, and protection since 1964. He has been a member of the panel and task force for EFSA who have produced a report on the welfare of rabbits (EFSA, 2005) and task forces who have produced reports on handling, transport, and culling of farmed animals, including rabbits. He therefore proves a specialised knowledge in domains of management and rabbit welfare in farming, as well as during transport and culling.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

The squeals of Angora rabbits: One Voice is blowing the whistle in 16 towns in France on 22 and 23 January 2022

The squeals of Angora rabbits: One Voice is blowing the whistle in 16 towns in France on 22 and 23 January 2022
17.01.2022
The squeals of Angora rabbits: One Voice is blowing the whistle in 16 towns in France on 22 and 23 January 2022
Fashion

One Voice is organising a coordinated national effort among its activists in sixteen French towns in the last weekend of January, to warn of the fate of Angora rabbits whose fur is torn out multiple times a year for the vanity and comfort of certain humans. They howl during the plucking process, and flaps of skin are often ripped off them along with the fur, documented by our investigations done several years apart for six years (in 2016, 2018, and 2020). After disappointments relating to this case in the past in the face of justice, the association relaunched, with new information, two legal proceedings: a negligence complaint before the European Commission and a preliminary appeal to the Minister of Agriculture.

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