Archives: News

Animal testing in Hauts-de-France: more rulings in favour of true transparency

Animal testing in Hauts-de-France: more rulings in favour of true transparency

Animal testing in Hauts-de-France: more rulings in favour of true transparency
30.05.2022
Hauts-de-France
Animal testing in Hauts-de-France: more rulings in favour of true transparency
Animal testing

On 18 May 2022, the Amiens Administrative Tribunal returned its decision concerning three case files in which the Somme, Aisne, and Oise Prefectures refused to provide animal testing laboratory inspection reports. Henceforth, the Prefectures must provide the documents requested within two months, without obscuring the names of the laboratories nor the non-conformities observed. Ineris, the University of Picardie and the Nestlé Research and Development Centre in Amiens will be particularly concerned.

A series of rulings for transparency

It has to be said that on 30 December, the Lille Court ordered the Nord Prefecture to submit their inspection reports, leaving the door open to concealments. This was one of the few rulings that accepted anything other than blacking out the names of those employed by laboratories and veterinary inspectors.

The Prefecture took the opportunity to hide non-compliance on the reports released, contradicting with the legal precedent already established by seven rulings on identical case files in the rest of France, following many positive opinions from the Committee for Access to Administrative Documents.

On 25 March, the same court in Lille had ordered the Pas-de-Calais Prefecture to release their inspection reports, this time by restricting the acceptable concealments in the name of physical people, conforming to the legal precedent which then reached around twenty very clear rulings.

When the ruling happened at the Amiens Court, around thirty rulings had been returned in this way by around twenty administrative tribunals.

Vague excuses for protecting obscurity

But around fifteen other identical case files are still waiting to be judged – as if the Prefectures still have any doubt about their right to disrespect the law.

It is always the same story. Prefectures have condemned the ‘violent’ actions of animal activists, without being able to state a single example of this kind of action. They fear the damage that laboratories could suffer if the public learnt that experiments causing animal suffering were happening there, without taking into account the fact that the majority of these laboratories are public establishments that do not hide that they are participating in animal testing. Ironically, faced with the efforts that we must go to to obtain accurate information, numerous laboratories signed a “transparency charter” last year.

When we see the attitudes of the new Minister for Agriculture (in particular responsible for coordinating veterinary inspections in laboratories), we can say that our job is not over and that the fight for transparency and for the animals will continue to be a full-time job for a long time.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Discredit and distortion of the truth: Marineland’s games at the hearing on 25 May 2022

Discredit and distortion of the truth: Marineland’s games at the hearing on 25 May 2022

Discredit and distortion of the truth: Marineland’s games at the hearing on 25 May 2022
26.05.2022
Grasse
Discredit and distortion of the truth: Marineland’s games at the hearing on 25 May 2022
Exploitation for shows

At the interim relief expertise hearing following our summons on Marineland, the dolphinarium played the distortion of the truth and discredit card on the experts whose reports we delivered to the magistrates. It is a known method, if you want to counter the truth without any evidence: state that it is a lie and discredit the opposition.

We have just come out of the hearing at the Grasse Legal Tribunal, where Marineland treated us as liars, stated that the experts having written the reports on Inouk and Moana were anti-captivity activists, and even pleaded for us to leave them to work in peace… As if they could change jobs without exploiting animals!

To be precise, we simply requested that the tribunal decide to arrange for an independent expert. Neither did we demand to have access to the animals, or even for the experts that we appealed to have them. The aim is to assess Inouk and of Moana’s state of health (and to a greater extent that of the water and the facilities, but still with the same aim). Following this logic, the management team at Marineland should agree with us! Why refuse?

“The stakes are important in this case file”

The President of the Tribunal announced in the preface: «I know that the stakes are important in this case file. I will remind you nevertheless that we are in an emergency interim hearing and that your defence speeches must not be a mere reading of your respective scriptures.»

Teeth and skin: we have exposed Inouk and Moana’s serious health problems

Our lawyer then spoke and reminded everyone that the subject — the state of health of the orcas who are being kept at Marineland — could be seen as unusual, but that the proceedings remain common. A request for an expert opinion on the state of the tanks, the water, and the problems that this has on the state of health and welfare of the orcas kept at the dolphinarium.

She recalled the damning reports that highlighted a very damaged state of health for Moana, 11 years old, and Inouk, 23 years old.

Dr Visser could see sub-dermal tissue damage on Moana:

«[She] recommends that Moana be taken to a sanctuary beside the sea where there would be more space, with natural seawater and appropriate medical aftercare. At the least, he should no longer be expected to perform circus tricks in exchange for his food, his participation in shows should stop immediately and he should not be expected to perform while he has subdermal tissue damage. Other less stressful activities should be put in place to help maintain Moana’s physical form, including daily exercise sessions during which he is not required to ‘perform’. The aggravation of the sub-dermal tissue damage is worrying because it indicates an underlying problem in this facility. »

As for Dr Gallego, he declared in his testimony:

«The orca Moana’s state of health as it appears in the images seems critical to me and requires urgent veterinary care. The pathological process that Moana seems to be suffering from is likely to put his life in danger. My professional opinion is therefore that Moana should be subject to diagnostic tests as quickly as possible and receive treatment conformant to the best standards of veterinary medicine for cetaceans.»

We added that an extensive medical analysis should therefore be carried out, and that it is for this reason that we are asking for a designated expert.

Marineland’s unchanneled aggression, lies, and fool’s games

The lawyer for the Côte d’Azur-based dolphinarium, on her turn, spoke and demonstrated an astonishing aggression as a defence. Regarding the condition in which the orcas are kept, she stated: “When we read One Voice’s publications, we are given the impression that the park is a kind of no man’s land that does not follow any rules. […] One Voice feels that the orcas should be nurtured in sanctuaries and more so in parks. Whether they like it or not, Marineland has a right to keep and use them.” Even at the detriment of their health, it seems…

Trampling over the diplomas and experience of the specialists we have called on

She claimed that we were breaking the law, then proceeded to a full bashing, dismissing the reports and opinions of marine biologist Ingrid Visser PhD, veterinarian Pierre Gallego, John Jett PhD, and Jeff Ventre MD by not recognising their competence, despite it being proven. “These people are not veterinarians or experts. The reports have been written by anti-captivity activists.” At no point did she say ‘professor’ or ‘doctor’, but ‘these people’, ‘these men’, or ‘this woman’.

Marineland’s argument? They are members of the Whale Sanctuary Project, the sanctuary under construction with which we have developed a partnership (in fact, they are members of the scientific council, which incidentally is not the case for Pierre Gallego, who is only an advisor). According to the park, they are therefore anti-captivity fanatics. From their side, the dolphinarium offers a trainer’s certificate. Including who is capable.

An expert… in training! And a veterinarian that does not specialise in orcas

According to the park, Inouk has had dental weakness since he was little, has been treated for it, and therefore does not suffer.
They presented a testimony from a ‘European zoological expert veterinarian’. Except this veterinarian consulting at Marineland is not a specialist in orcas, or even in cetaceans! It is also worth noting that he does not even reside in the region and therefore cannot ensure regular monitoring of the animals.
The opposing counsel finished by alleging that in the wild Inouk would already be dead… However, in the wild, the only endangered orcas are those that were wiped out by the captivity industry in the 1970s.

Equally for Moana, the dolphinarium swept aside the demonstration work by the specialists. According to them, the report that we presented “contained unclear photos”, and Dr Gallego “flaunted pseudo-problems”.
The dolphinarium then presented a testimonial from Mr Gojceta who took the initiative to come and see the situation for himself, alerted by our publications, we are told. But he is nothing more or less than a dolphin trainer, coordinator for bottlenose dolphins on the European Programme for endangered species. What is the link with orcas? Furthermore, he is not a veterinarian and resides in Attica where Ekinox was sent (Femke’s son), a Greek park condemned for having operated without any authorisation for 4 years.

Lies and crocodile tears

The lawyer claimed that our complaints for Inouk and Moana had been filed with no further action taken. Oh really?! What a strange statement even though we have not until this day received any classification decision. We have brought awareness to the industry that accuses those who defend animals of lying while lying themselves.

Finally, they have tried to appease the court by arguing that “the park staff feel insulted by these proceedings: they bring love and care to the animals” and that they should leave the dolphinarium in peace…

The decision should be returned on 30 June.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

One Voice is bringing Marineland in Antibes to justice for Moana and Inouk. The hearing is on 25 May in Grasse

One Voice is bringing Marineland in Antibes to justice for Moana and Inouk. The hearing is on 25 May in Grasse

One Voice is bringing Marineland in Antibes to justice for Moana and Inouk. The hearing is on 25 May in Grasse
20.05.2022
Antibes
One Voice is bringing Marineland in Antibes to justice for Moana and Inouk. The hearing is on 25 May in Grasse
Exploitation for shows

We have done everything we can to offer another life to Moana and Inouk, two of the four orcas being kept at Marineland in Antibes and whose state of health is very worrying. And we will keep going! After our campaigns to avoid them being transferred to China, our investigations and rallies, and, finally, the publication of expert reports following the complaints already under way for all French orcas, One Voice is now bringing the park to justice. The hearing will take place at the Grasse Legal Tribunal on 25 May 2022 at 8:30am.

The goal of our proceedings: to obtain an independent expert’s opinion

The objective of these interim proceedings is to obtain the appointment of an expert whose mission will be to establish a clinical assessment of Moana and Inouk’s state and of the conditions they’re being kept in, and to retrieve a number of official documents for this purpose.

In this case, the expert will specifically have to determine whether the state of health of Moana and Inouk allows them to participate in performances, determine whether the water quality and the establishment are capable of guaranteeing the well-being of these orcas, and to carry out all necessary tests.

Damning reports

This request for an expert is based on damning reports on Moana, who has markings on her skin which could be a sign of a serious disease, by New Zealand Marine Biologist Dr Ingrid Vissier who specialises in cetaceans, and on Inouk whose dental condition is one of the worst in all captive orcas worldwide.

The importance of respecting orcas and getting them out of dolphinariums

The animals belong to world heritage, as our guidance to the courts likes to remind us. In fact, without animals in the wild, we are robbing our children of these fantastic creatures who populate our planet alongside them.

And with regard to orcas, dolphins, and whales in particular, experts have reported on their sentience. The UN echoed this statement about the need to protect their cultures. In India, dolphinariums have incidentally been forbidden since 2013.

Complaints still under way

As a consequence of these reports, we have filed two complaints before the Grasse Prosecutor against the dolphinarium that is keeping them. On 8 April 2019 for Inouk and 12 November 2021 for Moana: for acts of mistreatment towards animals placed in Marineland’s custody, the placement or keeping of a wild captive animal in a habitat, environment, or establishment that may be the cause of suffering, and the illegal operation of an establishment keeping non-domestic species of animals.

These complaints are still under way. However, the urgency of the situation requires interim measures to be taken in order to limit the distress of these animals.

In addition, Inouk and Moana’s cases are not isolated cases and they question not only the quality of the care provided but also of the infrastructures and the water. We are just as worried for Wikie and Keijo. That’s the reason why a request for expert evidence has been initiated.

 

Inouk, 20-year-old male orca in captivity, suffering from chronic and extensive dental lesions

Expert report, March 2019 (Inouk, expert report, updated August 2020)

Download

Moana, 10-year-old male orca, born in captivity, with sub-dermal tissue damage

Report written for One Voice by (Dr) Ingrid N. Visser

Download

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

An appeal to Air France: stop transporting monkeys to labs!

An appeal to Air France: stop transporting monkeys to labs!

An appeal to Air France: stop transporting monkeys to labs!
20.05.2022
International
An appeal to Air France: stop transporting monkeys to labs!
Animal testing

Air France is a major transporter of non-human primates for research and toxicity testing (poisoning). Each year, the airline transports thousands of monkeys around the world, from Mauritius to Vietnam, flying them to laboratories in Europe and the United States.

Photo: Air France shipping crates with monkeys inside – Credit Cruelty Free International

One month ago, Action for Primates (UK), One Voice (France) and Stop Camarles (Spain) revealed that on 14 April, on its 473 flight from Mauritius, Air France had transported 100 constrained ‘passengers’ under duress in its hold: monkeys. They had been torn away from their families and social groups before being imprisoned in small crates, heading to Labcorp in the United Kingdom, a research company…

The worldwide trade of non-human primates for research purposes is a cruel and brutal activity responsible for the shipping of tens of thousands of monkeys around the world every year.

A journey towards horror…

Air France flights from Vietnam and from the island of Mauritius to the United States involve flight times of 20 hours or more, plus a stopover in Paris. At the end of their nightmarish journeys, these monkeys, destined to spend their lives in a metal cage thousands of kilometres away from their families, are subjected to experiments and tests that make them suffer in an unimaginable way, with death as the only way out; far from their life of freedom in their homes in the jungle.

Many macaques transported by Air France are intended for European primate supply companies, including Silabe (Simian Laboratory Europe), Bioprim in France and Camarney S.L in Spain. The monkeys are then transferred to laboratories and contractual test facilities throughout Europe, particularly in France, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom, where they are intended to be used in toxicity testing, a scientific term meaning that they are poisoned. No more, no less.

Toxicity testing is carried out to evaluate undesirable reactions to medications or chemical products, mainly with the aim of developing commercial products for humans. Monkeys are immobilised and the medications are administered in different ways, including intravenously (directly into the blood stream) or by pumping it through a tube that is forced into their mouth to reach the stomach. Tests such as these involve immense suffering and can lead to vomiting, convulsions, weight loss, internal bleeding, organ failure, and even death. Those who do not die are all killed at the end of the tests to study their organs.

Some recent Air France flights…

On 12 September 2021, sixty long-tailed macaques were exported by Vietnam Monkey Breeding & Development Joint Venture and transported by Air France from Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh) to Paris (Charles de Gaulle). On 10 October 2021, once again sixty more took the same journey. On 13 February 2022, one hundred and twenty went and on 13 March 2022, another eighty.

American Airlines, British Airways, United Airlines, Eva Air, Air Canada, China Airlines, Kenya Airways…

Following international concern, many passenger airline companies put an end to their involvement in this trade by refusing to transport monkeys to laboratories. Other passenger and freight carriers have also declared their intention not to be implicated in this activity. But Air France continues these trips.

We are urging people to consider these monkeys, who could be imprisoned in the baggage hold beneath, terrified, alone, and far from their homes, before using Air France. Instead of this, choose an airline company that refuses to send monkeys thousands of kilometres around the world, for them to end their days suffering and dying in the cold metal cage of a laboratory.

Add your voice to that of Action for Primates, One Voice, and Stop Camarles in our appeal to Air France for them to stop transporting monkeys for research and to join many other airline companies who refuse to play a role in this trade.

Send a message to
Anne Rigail, Managing Director: anne.rigail@airfrance.fr and copy in: Philippe Boronat: philippe.boronat@airfrance.fr and Guilhem Laurans: gulaurans@airfrance.fr

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Four emergency interim proceedings in Bretagne and Pays de la Loire to save western jackdaws

Four emergency interim proceedings in Bretagne and Pays de la Loire to save western jackdaws

Four emergency interim proceedings in Bretagne and Pays de la Loire to save western jackdaws
19.05.2022
France
Four emergency interim proceedings in Bretagne and Pays de la Loire to save western jackdaws
Wildlife

This escalation of horror directed towards western jackdaws in numerous departments must stop. We are attacking four prefectoral decrees that once again authorise the massacres of these protected birds in their thousands. We have started an emergency interim proceeding and a plea submission in Morbihan, but also in Côtes-d’Armor, Finistère, and Maine-et-Loire. Several hearings have been set: three in Bretagne on 25 May at 10am at the Rennes Administrative Tribunal, and one in Maine-et-Loire on 23 May at 3pm in Nantes.

The Prefects in the west of the country predicted that 16,000 western jackdaws would be slaughtered in Finistère, 8000 in Côtes-d’Armor, 3000 in Morbihan and 635 in Maine-et-Loire. It is unbearable! We condemn these mass cullings and the fact that the jackdaws that are injured can be dying in atrocious pain while their orphan babies die of hunger.

Let’s not forget that the birds concerned are corvids that benefit from a status intended to protect them, contrary to their cousins, rooks and crows, considered as pests or as a species that can be classified as ‘likely to cause damage’, throughout France.

The cherry on the cake of the State’s inhumanity: not only are the authorisations to kill birds (already in bad shape, given the 6th mass extinction that is taking place right now) published in their tens by Prefectures, but these birds are coincidentally not protected! With their exemptions for western jackdaws, each Prefecture therefore in reality more or less allows their extinction! It is always the same: as soon as we must act for the planet, climate, or animals, private human interests systematically come to the fore, ruining any effort to redress the balance and any hope of change.

Cullings boost reproduction

In several areas, we have too often observed that the attackers are totally unaware of the behaviour of jackdaws!

A recent study from DREAL Bretagne (Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing), long awaited and finally published in Spring 2022, incidentally shows that these massive annual cullings do not make it possible to reduce damage and that the fixed quotas of birds to kill are not based on any scientific justification. The study also brings up lines of thought surrounding the evolution of agricultural practices. We should add that this damage is debatable and is not necessarily a result of jackdaws…

We will stop at nothing and will start our work again as many times as necessary to defend jackdaws, crows, or ravens, who are such intelligent birds. We are therefore requesting the cancellation and urgent suspension of these four decrees authorising the massive and imminent culling of thousands of birds from a protected species. Nothing justifies these legalised killings that occur right in the middle of the nesting and rearing period of the young!

In Maine-et-Loire, the urgent applications judge has set the hearing in Nantes at 3pm on 23 May. In Morbihan, Côtes-d’Armor, and Finistère, the hearing date is grouped and finally set for 25 May at 10am at the Rennes Administrative Tribunal.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

The ECI For a Fur Free Europe: put an end to the fur industry in Europe

The ECI For a Fur Free Europe: put an end to the fur industry in Europe

The ECI For a Fur Free Europe: put an end to the fur industry in Europe
18.05.2022
Europe
The ECI For a Fur Free Europe: put an end to the fur industry in Europe
Fashion

Today, One Voice, the French representative for the international coalition Fur Free Alliance, has joined Eurogroup for Animals to celebrate the launch of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) For a Fur Free Europe. In one year, we will have to collect a million signatures from within the European Union member countries to finally put an end to fur in Europe.

The Fur Free Europe ECI has asked the EU to forbid the breeding of animals for fur as well as marketing of products coming from fur farms, because fur is against ethics, dangerous, and not sustainable:

  • The complex behavioural needs of wild animals cannot be met in fur farms: locking them up in small cages for the sole purpose of killing them, or primarily for the value of their fur, cannot be made legal for domestic species either.
  • Fur farms represent a risk to human and animal health, as proven by the COVID-19 pandemic, when hundreds of mink farms were affected by the coronavirus outbreak and new variants of the virus were passed from animals to humans.
  • Breeding animals for fur has a significant environmental impact as the treatment and dying of fur requires the use of toxic chemical products. In terms of soil pollution from toxic metals, fur production is classified among the five most polluting industries.
  • The fur industry also constitutes a serious threat for native biodiversity. Certain farmed species, such as American mink and raccoon dogs, have escaped fur farms and are now considered as an exotic invasive species causing significant damage to native European wildlife.

During a meeting of the European Union Council (Agriculture and Fisheries), the Netherlands and Austria filed an information note, supported by Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, and Slovakia, requesting that the European Commission forbids breeding animals for fur. The appeal to put an end to breeding animals for fur in the EU for animal welfare, public health, and ethical consideration reasons has been supported by a total of twelve member states during deliberations on the document.

The Fur Free Europe ECI was officially registered by the European Commission on 16/03/2022 and will run from 18/05/2022 for one year.

« For years One Voice kept showing the true face of the fur industry. The images from the investigation that we led in France to condemn the prison conditions of minks and the devastating effects on the environment have of course shocked the public, French parliamentarians, and even members of the European Parliament.
Our legal proceedings have allowed us to apply pressure on farms and to prevent them from growing, making their business model impossible to maintain.

Fur no longer pleases consumers, because the reality of what it involves is blindingly obvious. In France, wild animal fur farms are now banned by law. Let’s make sure that this great victory is spread everywhere among our neighbours in Europe!
European citizens must join and sign the For a Fur Free Europe ECI. »

Muriel Arnal, Founding President of One Voice

“There has never been a more urgent need for Europe to make the cruel and unnecessary fur trade history. The fur industry not only treats animals inhumanely for a product no one needs, but has also been shown to be a breeding ground for outbreaks of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, as well as having a serious negative environmental impact. We know that public opinion in Europe opposes the fur industry and we need European citizens to act now by signing this ECI”, said Joh Vinding, President of Fur Free Alliance.

“We have an unprecedented opportunity to finally put an end to this cruel and unnecessary practice. European citizens have been asking for it for a long time, and their wishes started changing the fashion system, with many historic brands going fur free. Last year’s AGRIFISH Council proved that now there is also a political will. We call on the public to help us make history and ban fur once and for all, and on the European Institutions to support the public demand”, said Reineke Hameleers, CEO of Eurogroup for Animals.

Sign the For a Fur Free Europe ECI

Notes

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Act now for a fur free Europe

Act now for a fur free Europe

Act now for a fur free Europe
18.05.2022
Europe
Act now for a fur free Europe
Fashion

Fur farm animals are subjected to intense confinement, arranged in rows in small cages. They suffer from self-mutilation, infected wounds, missing limbs, and cannibalism. Breeding animals for fur goes against the most basic concept of animal welfare.

The European Citizens’ Initiative “Fur Free Europe” is asking the EU to:

  • Ban fur farms
  • Ban products from fur farms on the European market

Be an active part of this historic event! Act now by signing your name on the Initiative (at the bottom of the page). It is not just a simple petition. Once we have reached 1 million valid signatures, the European Commission will have to react and take action.

Why ban fur farming and products from fur farms?

IMMORAL

The complex behavioural needs of wild animal species, such as foxes and mink, that are bred for their fur, are unable to be fulfilled on fur farms. Shutting animals inside small cages only to kill them, or primarily, so that the value of their fur will also no longer be legal, as is the case for domestic species such as rabbits and chinchillas. Breeding animals for fur is immoral, no matter where it takes place, and that is why we are also asking for a ban on the sale of fur that comes from intensive fur production.

DANGEROUS

Fur farms present a risk to animal and human health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of mink farms were affected by coronavirus outbreaks, and we discovered that animals had transmitted new variants of the virus, SARS-CoV-2, to humans.

UNSUSTAINABLE

Fur farming introduces a significant environmental impact and poses a serious threat to native biodiversity. Since it escaped breeding farms, the American mink is present all over the European Union and has led to significant damage to native European wildlife. The treatment and dying of fur requires the use of toxic chemical products. The treatment and dying of furs is among the five most polluting industries in terms of soil pollution by toxic metals.

Why now?

Fur farming and its by-products should belong in the past: the time has come to create a fur-free Europe. The European Union has a unique opportunity to achieve this:

  • The fur industry is facing an economic and health crisis due to COVID-19.
  • Twelve EU countries have recently asked the European Commission to reflect on the possibility of permanently banning animals for fur in the EU and to submit a legal proposal to achieve this.
  • The European Commission is currently reviewing EU legislation relating to animal welfare. This review constitutes an opportunity to put a ban in place on the production and selling of fur at the same time.
  • Hundreds of brands have stopped using fur, thus answering to the ethical demands of their clients.

We have a unique opportunity to succeed. Act now so that we can get there together.

What is a European Citizens’ Initiative?

A European Citizens’ Initiative is a unique and effective way for EU citizens to contribute to the shape of our future by asking the European Commission to propose new laws.

It is not just a simple petition. Once we have reached 1 million valid signatures, the European Commission will have to react and take action.

To achieve this, the Initiative requires citizens to provide their personal data to confirm their support. Be reassured that your information can only be used for the purpose of supporting this Initiative, and not for any other purpose. Fur Free Europe is conformant with all legal requirements, with GDPR, and with data protection regulations.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Egyptair: yet more miserable flights

Egyptair: yet more miserable flights

Egyptair: yet more miserable flights
17.05.2022
International
Egyptair: yet more miserable flights
Animal testing

The airline company Egyptair is back in Cambodia… We suspect them once again of picking up monkeys to send to the United States to research laboratories where they will be poisoned (toxicity testing).

Edit from 18 May

576 monkeys are on board @EgyptAir flight MS5052 which will land in New York. They will then be taken to Charles River Laboratories…

Egyptair is henceforth playing a major role in the global trade of non-human primates for research purposes. The airline transports thousands of individuals from Cambodia and Mauritius to their death in American laboratories. Thanks to an employee at JFK airport in New York, we have been warned about these wretched transportations. Not much later than last week, on 12 May, Egyptair transported 462 long-tailed macaques, exported for Bioculture and Noveprim, from Mauritius to JFK for the Charles River account.

Each imprisoned on their sides in a small travel carrier, the monkeys travelled in the hold. They endured an approximately 22-hour flight, with one stopover in Cairo and many additional hours on the road in a lorry to and from the airports. A gruelling journey before certain death in atrocious suffering at the laboratories. What a horrendous way to treat these sensitive and intelligent animals!

Add your voice to that of Action for Primates, One Voice, and Stop Camarles by sending an email urging Egyptair to join the many airline companies who have refused to be implicated in this cruel global trade of monkeys:

Photo: juvenile long-tailed macaques in a breeding farm in Cambodia, Cruelty Free International

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Let’s stop scaring off bears that have been reintroduced in the Pyrenees!

Let’s stop scaring off bears that have been reintroduced in the Pyrenees!

Let’s stop scaring off bears that have been reintroduced in the Pyrenees!
17.05.2022
Pyrénées
Let’s stop scaring off bears that have been reintroduced in the Pyrenees!
Wildlife

You are a female bear in the ancestral forests of Slovenia. You live your life in complete freedom, you have a family, and you are respected by communities. With ‘Saviour Syndrome’ having reached French leaders, it was decided that you would be captured, torn from your territory and your loved ones, transported and then released in a place that you would have to discover and in which the majority of humans around you are hostile and armed…Ministerial decrees have been issued every year since 2019 allowing the scaring of bears on a trial basis, but a draft decree plans to make this system permanent. Participate in the public consultation with us to avoid this!

The protection of animals called into question

In France, we protect species that have disappeared or nearly disappeared. Just like wolves, bears are part of a species whose members are not supposed to be hunted (Berne Convention, Washington Convention, European Directive ‘Habitats’, and the decrees of 23 April 2007 and 9 July 1999). Well that is the theory; the reality is quite different. Their species is not kept safe because their members are non-existent on French soil. As soon as one of them arrives, either naturally for the wolves, or by being ‘reintroduced’, farmers and hunters wait for them no matter what, weapons in hand. How absurd to tear these animals away from their homes to release them in a country that is hostile towards them!

We can legitimately question the government’s logic, who arrange for warning shots on the bears that they themselves uprooted… The aim was however that they reproduce and settle in long-term, with all of the risks that this brings.

Warning shots authorised

Yes, you read that right. Since 2019, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food have authorised the cancellation of scaring measures ‘on a trial basis’. These measures can be ‘simple’ (sound, olfactory, visual scaring) or ‘intense’ (double detonation cartridges, plastic bullet cartridges). These decrees are said to be ‘executive’. They then let the Prefects issue additional decrees, authorising scaring when they consider the regular conditions set by the executive decrees to have been met and therefore to be insufficient. The interests of the farmers, who send their herds of animals to the abattoir, always come before wildlife.

A battle waged for years!

The decree of 27 June 2019, which put in place scaring measures for brown bears in the Pyrenees on a trial basis to prevent damage to herds, as well as that of 12 June 2002, have been attacked by many associations who defend the environment and animals and have both been partially annulled by the State Council, respectively on 4 February 2021 and 25 April 2022. This second partial annulment is explained by the fact that when the 2019 decree was partially annulled, the 2020 one had already been issued. These are therefore two similar decrees, with measures relating to intense scaring not having been revised…

We therefore hope that this year, the decree of 31 May 2021 will be completely annulled. We have filed a plea and still do not have the date of the hearing. At the same time, a public consultation opened on 19/05/2022, for a decree proposal

that plans to make bear scaring a success. Join us in rejecting this proposal!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Western jackdaws: a massacre to be suspended in Morbihan. The hearing is on 25 May in Rennes

Western jackdaws: a massacre to be suspended in Morbihan. The hearing is on 25 May in Rennes

Western jackdaws: a massacre to be suspended in Morbihan. The hearing is on 25 May in Rennes
13.05.2022
Morbihan
Western jackdaws: a massacre to be suspended in Morbihan. The hearing is on 25 May in Rennes
Wildlife

We were still wondering not long ago what France could have against these birds, and against corvids in particular. The saga continues… This time, it is the western jackdaws who are the Morbihan Prefect’s target. The Prefect has just authorised the massacre of 1800 of these birds from a protected species, from 26 April until mid-December 2022. And he is not holding back on the possibility of raising this limit to 3000 individuals! One Voice is requesting the annulment and urgent suspension of this decree. The emergency interim proceeding hearing is set for 25 May at 10am at the Rennes Administrative Tribunal.

As usual — you would think the prefectural decrees were copied and pasted from each other regardless of the department — the reasons cited are “significant harm to crops”. However, this damage is in strong decline in relation to last year and nothing indicates that western jackdaws are responsible for it. To support these arguments, we have a study that opposes the Prefecture.

Change agricultural practices, understand the species better, and find alternatives to killing

In this study, two components are equally highlighted.
On one hand, the need to find alternative solutions to slaughtering animals. The relevance of this ‘solution’ must be called into question (many studies have in fact highlighted the ineffective or even counter-productive character of these massacres carried out by humans). On the other hand, that it is vital to better understand the species to provide responses to fight against any potential damage, before it happens.
She also mentions several possibilities of evolving agricultural practices.

A sizeable ally

These components are taken up by the Regional Scientific Council for Natural Heritage [CSRPN] who gave an unfavourable opinion of this decree. We are therefore not alone in supporting this point of view.

Distorting the study according to one’s own interests: the end for justifying means?

The Prefecture only refers to the estimate of the population in the Department appearing in the March 2022 study to justify the limit of 1800 birds, while the study clearly indicates that this estimate cannot be used as a basis to define a ‘harvest’ quota!

Fledglings risk agony!

Additionally, these demolitions are going to occur right in the middle of the nesting and rearing period of the young. We recall that according to the European Union Court of Justice, animal welfare must be taken into account by the authority who grants the exemption… so, by the Prefecture. Indeed, in the framework of these ‘demolitions’ by shooting, the jackdaws who will not be killed by a shot will be in agony, just like the babies whose parents will be killed are condemned to die of hunger.

All of these reasons have led us to request the urgent suspension of this decree authorising the massive and imminent culling of thousands of birds from — what is more! — a protected species and which launches a serious attack on their welfare! We are also asking for the annulment of this decree via a fundamental appeal which will be judged later. The emergency interim proceeding judge has set the hearing date for 25 May at the Rennes Administrative Tribunal.

Photo: hedera.baltica – CC BY-SA 2.0

Translated from the French by Joely Justice